cosmicpluto knits!

WIP roundup

Thanks so much for the great reception of the Rayne pattern! I’m working on the back photos, but it might take a few days…

In the meanwhile, I’m trying very hard to stay on track with stuff that I need to get done, but I must say that the urge to cast on something new is overwhelming – even though I did cast on something new just yesterday!

So, instead of actual progress, how about a current (as in, they still hold my interest) WIP roundup.

- Noro blanket. Xmas present. The panels are all done – they were certainly fast knitting! They’re shown on a double bed, so the blanket’s going to be pretty sizeable once I put the borders in. I’m going to crochet in some black alpaca between the panels and around the whole thing.

- Xmas presents #1, #2, and #3 – Well. #1 is started. Nothing else has been, but I’m hoping one of the other ones that I’ve been planning (a shawl) goes really fast. We’ll see – that’s one I want to cast on for right now!

- Treeline Stripe sweater – I love love love this sweater and really want it to be done so I can wear it! Alas, haven’t really done anything with it lately. The body is done to the underarm and one sleeve is done to the underarm.

- Drops A-line jacket – back and 1.5 fronts done. Quick knitting, but…

Everything’s being overshadowed by a secret project that needs to be done for the end of the month. Which is getting there, now that I’m feeling the crunch (even more) and really trying to knit faster.

Projects I’m tempted by? A cabled sweater based on one Alexis was wearing last week; the Gathered Pullover from the latest Interweave; colourwork mittens; some sort of new winter headgear.

So much to knit, so little time!

wip/rip parade, day 1

A loooong time ago, I started this sweater.

I think it was last September, because I distinctly remember knitting it on the way to the Knitter’s Fair in KW. It’s a top-down raglan in Blue Sky Alpacas sportweight, in black. Boring black.

I had a concept of a sweater, and this one didn’t cut it! I ripped it out last week in a fit of fall cleaning. I’m planning to use the yarn for BSA’s Rectangle Shawl pattern. And with any luck, I’ll return some of the unused skeins back to the store in order to purchase new stuff. Trying to sort of take stock of the stash (it has grown to rather embarrassing proportions), reassign projects, etc.

Stay tuned for more wip/rip – there’s lots to come!

Funny/cute photo of the day, if you like cats (I sort of don’t, mostly the allergy thing):

Kuma in the silk garden at last week’s knit night.

eye candy

Possibly the most fabulous yarn ever, but then again, I say that to all the skeins! This is Savannah DK by the Fibre Company, and is composed of wool, cotton, soy, and linen.

It’s not very stretchy, but the colours are just fabulous and it is sooooo soft. The plan? Road to Golden from the latest Knitscene.

goin’ on a big boat

I am completely infatuated, must make it NOW obsessed with the Stitch Diva Hairpin Lace Skirt.

I’ve got a slight step up on the technique, anyway – I’ve seen Denny do it! And I know how to single crochet, too. I am totally going to make it for my trip.

Trip? Yep, I’m a-goin’ away, in a little less than a month, for two weeks. It’ll be the longest vacation (as in, away from home) that I’ve been on in more than five years – I stopped going with my parents and sisters on their summer vacations (usually to Florida) in favour of staying home in a nice big house by myself.

This year, though, there’s a different plan: my sister and I shall fly down to Texas on the 20th of May, where we will stay with my cousins in Austin for about a week doing fun things – it sure looks like a fun place!

Then my parents will fly down and we’ll board a Big Boat for a western caribbean cruise – Jamaica, the Caymans and Cozumel. I’m a bit apprehensive about the boat part (and the plane part, for that matter) but I’m sure it’ll be lots of fun. And there’s lots of cousins the same age to hang out with. It’s going to be a bit insane – there’s 24 people in our party! We even have a minibus booked for the trip from Houston to the port in Galveston.

Anyway. That long winded description of the trip = need new hairpin skirt. This brings me to a related point: since I have decided that Maryland isn’t going to fly (REALLY can’t afford to go by myself, plus I wouldn’t be able to drive once there…so yeah, also, can’t find anyone else to go with) I have decided that I can spend whatever the hell I want at the Frolic on Saturday.

Important math:
a) I will spend hundreds of dollars less at the Frolic than I would at Maryland.
b) I’ll be working, and therefore will have less time to spend walking around and spending money (although I’ll be sure to get enough time in there!)
and
c) since I’ll be working, that’ll offset a bit of the spending.

Not math, but:
d) I’ve made a list of stuff I want, which includes some kind of swishy drapey ribbon yarn (so not me yarn) for the skirt.

Gotta go spin the water out of that completed sweatercoat!

random and pictureless

It is rainy and grey and I don’t want to make the trek (50 minutes) down to school for one class. Blegh. But, it’s my man’s 22nd birthday and I will meet up with him downtown. So all is good. And since it’s warm, I can wear my new(ish) Gore-Tex jacket.

I ran out of one colour of the log cabin (a random ball of blue with a bit of red from long ago) as I was binding off that section. So I subbed in some other blue (which was leftover, not enough to do a section) for the bind off. Realization: the bind off yarn doesn’t show from the right side! Good good.

I still can’t decide between mitred squares and mini log cabins for the STR blanket. Not that I’m going to be starting it anytime soon. Did I mention that we got in a shipment of Socks that Rock lightweight at lettuce knit? You can call Denny today and do mail order! *ducks* Call or go soon, it’s going be sold out fast!

After more than a week of the elimination diet, my skin is finally starting to look better. Just starting, mind you – definitely not spectaular results yet. But I guess it’s giving me a bit of encouragement when I’m really, really starting to get tired of this. I want EVERYTHING. Even things I didn’t eat much before, like French toast. Mmmmmm, french toast. And eggs. And fake bacon.

As soon as my yarn arrives I’m going to start the cabled little jacket thing (#15, I think it is?) from the latest Vogue. In cream Andean Silk – that thing calls for a LOT of yarn – 9 skeins of Cascade 220 for a 35″ (which, by the way, is the biggest size. Bummer, man). So I ordered 20 balls.

I also bought some dupioni silk from Fabricland, way on sale – 30% off $18.99/m. I bought both a chocolate brown and a nice rose-y pink-y colour for holiday skirts. So this year I won’t just be wearing my usual red top and black pants! Cream sweater and brown skirt = awesome. I’m going to just jump into a skirt pattern without making a muslin, but I have used the pattern before and hey, I know how to make a skirt. I’m hoping for fairly long but I only bought 2 m, so I might have to go back and get some more. Maybe get megan to serge the insides of the seams for me (I usually just zigzag ‘em but since she’s got the fancy serger it would look super!).

Well, that got long eh? I’ve got 2 big papers (10 and 20 pages), a poster session, and two exams before I’m free of school for the rest of the month. I’m out on the 14th. So a lot of this will have to wait until then!

things other people have said

The Knitpicks circs? Friggin’ rock. Well…I will say that this opinion is currently limited to the 2 mm ‘classic’ circular. I’m not that hot on the interchangeables – too heavy, I don’t like having to screw on the tips (and some of them were really hard to get on; also, hard to grip due to slipperyness), and I found them too loud. Denise needles are nice and quiet.

The point is really nice, though. I started this sock on Addis and switched to the Knitpicks, and that super pointy tip sure helps with the twists! It just gets right in there!

They’re the “Traveler’s Stockings” from Knitting on the Road, in some superwash sock yarn I dyed, and I’m really liking it. I’m glad this chart ends after 35 rows, though – it’s a bit slow for me. I do like knitting stockinette socks – just round and round, little to no thinking involved. Needed a bit of a challenge, though, and I think these qualify.

I’m done the body of Raspy (photo taken earlier in the day):

I’ve started a sleeve. I think I’ll take out some rows here and there, but I don’t want them too end up too short!

I’ve had itchy fingers lately (both figuratively and literally – damn eczema is flaring up a bit) and I want to cast on for a whole bunch of things at once. I think I just might…the other thing is that I want to buy yarn for projects I want to knit. Ha! Like I’m going to immediately cast on for all these things?

The stash thing is kind of getting out of hand. So I’ve got a plan, I think a doable one – no yarn buying till the Kitchener-Waterloo Knitter’s Fair, where I can buy some stuff; then, no yarn buying till Rhinebeck. I have plenty to keep me busy!

And just a quick aside in finishing of old projects – anyone have a recommendation of where I can buy some 8 mm mother of pearl beads to put on my Vintage Blue Cardigan? I want to go non-plastic on this one.

ETA: Alexandra suggested and ebay seller and I’ve already bought some! Vintage round buttons with a shank for nine cents each. Can’t beat that! Thanks for all the suggestions.