Quick update

Have I mentioned that I'm a flake, who finds it difficult to follow through with things? Anyway, here are a couple things I've been working on:



Yarn: Colinette Cadenza in Velvet Bilberry.

On the left, a Calorimetry that lacks only a button. It has lacked said button for about a year now. On the right, one half of a pair of fingerless gloves. I was actually within an inch of finishing the second one when they were put away to hibernate. I pulled them out last week to finish for Mom's Christmas present...and found a hole waaaaaay down practically at the beginning. I have no idea how it got there. I suppose it could have been a moth, but why would there only have been one small hole? Anyway, I had to frog the whole thing, and it makes me want to throw up when I think about it so I haven't started over just yet.




Yarn: Art Yarns Supermerino in colorway 138, varying shades of purple and a little dark grey/black thrown in too. About 2.2 skeins for a scarf that's about 3.75" x 66".

Pattern: Yarn Harlot's One Row Scarf. Love love love this pattern...I fully intend to make more.

The lovely little closure is by Romi. Great investment - it holds the scarf in place to close that little gap that always seems to be between whatever's covering your neck and whatever's covering your chest. I can't wait to get one of her shawl pins...I'm finally getting into wearing my Clapotis but find it awkward to keep throwing it over my shoulder.








Yarn: Sublime Cashmere Merino Silk DK in colorway 0055, which feels and works up very much like Debbie Bliss Rialto (which I used for PPBS #2). The color is truest in the pic of the yarn itself.

Pea Pod baby sweater #3, for a baby that's now nearly a month old. Oops. I expect to finish it this week, though, and it should still fit her just fine.




Plymouth Yarn Happy Feet in colorway 18. This is also somewhat washed out by the flash. This is intended for a pair of fingertip-less gloves for Mr. Nekkid as soon as the baby sweater is finished. I'll be winging the pattern, because he has crazy skinny wrists but an otherwise normal-sized hand. I want them to fit him really well, so I may even do a wide rib on the hands...something to make them rather form-fitting. I don't expect to need both skeins; in fact, I'm hoping to have enough leftover to make myself a pair too.


Bigger, longer term goals that will require much more concentration and attention to detail:

- make Twist + Shout in that lavender Tesoro I've had forever. I have 22 balls, but would need about 3 more to make the size I need...well, a very kind Raveler is sharing hers with me. It's even the same dyelot! I'm expecting it to take a good long while.

- make Leo for Mr. Nekkid out of my Paton's Classic Merino in Chestnut Brown. I haven't decided yet...I may add a cream stripe across the chest.

- perhaps make Retrofit for Mr. Nekkid as well, although I'd do black and grey. This style would look great on him, but I'm quite intimidated by the prospect of installing a zipper. Seems like Grumperina had a really good zipper-installing blog post a while back...I'll have to see if I bookmarked it.

Oh yes, non-knitting-related update:



Meet Felipe (left) and Andi (right), our ferrets. Felipe is an adolescent male (about 6 months), and Andi is an adult female (about 2). The cat still doesn't know what to make of them.

WIPs

I'm trying this crazy thing. I'm finishing old projects before starting new ones. Weird, huh? I went through my stash and frogged a few things, and picked up others that have been in progress for a while. Project 1: Clapotis.



This is what it looked like when I picked it back up about a week ago. I was somewhere in the middle of the fourth straight row repeat.



This is what it looked like this morning. And I've done a few more rows...in fact, I just finished the tenth straight row repeat. Three more, and I get to start decreasing! WOOOO!!

Meanwhile, Friday night is sweater night at the LYS, so I finally got back to Mr. Nekkid's sweater last night. It looks incredibly similar to the last pic I took...just a few more rows of grey. I think the stripe is just about wide enough, and then soon I'll have to figure out just exactly how long the sleeves need to be. Eek.

Finally, a little yarn pr0n. I have absolutely no idea what I'm going to do with this, but it's MINE.



Six balls of Jo Sharp Silk Road Aran Tweed, from LYS sale wall (50% off!). I hope I have enough to make myself a nice cozy wrap or something.

Progress

The increases are done on sleeve #1. I tried it on him last night - it fits perfectly!! I originally intended to make one sleeve at a time, but I decided that won't do. I want them to be exactly the same. So I bought another #8 circ today...I'll work sleeve #2 to the same point I'm at on sleeve #1, and then probably alternate 5 rows at a time or something.



The sweater is about 8" long, and the sleeve is 12.5". Incidentally, this is just below the bend of his elbow. I increased 2 stitches every 5 rows, and the increases were done on row 65 (not counting the 10 rows of ribbing for the cuff). It's hard to capture in black yarn, but I love the way the increases look...



There's a strip of 3 stitches that remain constant, and you increase one before and one after. It almost looks sort of like a seam or something. Anyway. I'm going to go cast on for the other sleeve now, and watch some more Northern Exposure Season 1.

Sweater, day 2

It's about 5" from the cast-on edge so far, and I started the sleeve last night. I only got about 5 rows done. (It looks really tiny, but it's ribbed and stretches a LOT.) Although I obviously started a new skein of yarn for the sleeve, I have yet to use up a whole skein on the body. That makes me feel good - I think 7 skeins will be plenty. And if I have to...the collar can always be in the grey used for the stripe. :) But considering that I originally bought the yarn at Michael's and then found an extra skein in the same dyelot at Joann's, I don't think I have much to worry about. Although I'm still tempted to go buy just one more skein...especially since it's on sale this week!

A new project

Mr. Nekkid has been asking for a sweater for a while. I bought the yarn a few months ago, and it has been in dustproof, mothproof, catproof storage (aka the kind of plastic bag a set of sheets comes in) ever since. I'm not sure what came over me Friday night, but I suddenly HAD to swatch for it. And now, with some help from Elizabeth Zimmermann's book Knitting Without Tears, I am attempting to make a patternless, seamless sweater.

Here's what I'm working with:
- 7 skeins Patons Classic Wool in black
- 1 skein Lion Brand Wool-Ease in Oxford Grey (for a stripe across the chest)
- US #8 circular needles
- 5 stitches to the inch in stockinette
- 200 stitches cast on

I started off with 10 rows of 2x2 ribbing. Well, I intended to, anyway, but I forgot until I had a good 40-50 knit stitches on the first row...so the first row is knit, then the next 9 are in 2x2 ribbing. Thankfully, I don't think this is noticeable.

Once past the ribbing, the stockinette began. This picture shows where I stopped last night:



Sadly, black knitting doesn't photograph all that well, but you get the idea. That's probably a good 3,000 stitches right there...and I think I've nearly done that much again today. If I can keep this momentum going, maybe, just maybe, I'll have it done in time for our anniversary, which is in four weeks.

Oh yes, I also came up with a variation on my baby bib (pattern here). Instead of incorporating buttonholes into the strap, just knit it straight until it's long enough. Sew the button onto the strap, then use the eyelets on the body of the bib as buttonholes.

I think it's working!

I'm already inspired. So inspired, in fact, that tonight I finished Mr. Nekkid's scarf! This has been a WIP for, oh, six or seven months now. It was just really hard to work on it during an Oklahoma summer - it was like a little skinny lap blanket. But now it's done, just in time for the 70 degree November weather. >.<



Pattern: simple moss stitch, CO 23
Yarn: Debbie Bliss Cashmerino Superchunky in black
Needles: Crystal Palace Bamboo, sz. US 10.5
Finished size: approximately 5.5" wide by 6' long

Now I just need to finish the Pea Pod Baby Sweater for the baby that's due in January. It has lacked only attaching the sleeves for, oh, two months now. I've never actually done that before, and I want it to be just right. I need to take it to the LYS and get some help...but I'm trying to resist because that place is always bad for my budget. And it's already stretched pretty thin thanks to all the things we needed for the move. Oh well. Someday soon I'll just have to leave the CC at home and venture out...