Thursday, June 22, 2006

Slow and steady

Knit and re-knit and re-knit. The wedding shawl/afghan (I've been told it's not a shawl but an afghan) is going very slowly. I've changed my mind five times on the pattern. Last night, I almost gave up and decided to keep the thing for myself. This morning I decided it was nice but not what I had in mind - too lacy. So this morning's commute was spent ripping out the shawl.

Tonight's reincarnation of the shawl is an Orenburg lace pattern. A simple border with a repeating snowflake pattern in the middle. I've just finished the first border and turned the first corner. Yah!

Sunday, June 18, 2006

I must be insane!

I'm putting all knitting and fibre projects on hold for the next two weeks. Now that I think about it, it might not have been such a good idea. My cousin's wedding is in two weeks - July 2nd, to be exact. I have no idea what to get them for a wedding present. They're not registered anywhere and when asked, they say they don't need anything. I hate people like that. Ugh! What do you get them?!

Tonight I decided to knit them a big ol'shawl. Something they can snuggle up together under during the cold Vancouver winter nights. I have just under two weeks...13 days, to be exact...to knit AND BLOCK this shawl! Thank goodness for the stash! I have 4 balls of Zephyr in Emerald green. This stuff will look gorgeous even if I knit the thing plain garter stitch. I've decided on the Madli shawl pattern, expanded to make it wider and without nepps, of course. Having made this once, the pattern is easy enough to knit quickly.

Anyhow, I probably won't be blogging much until this shawl is done (Or July 2nd comes around). I do have a back-up plan if I don't make the deadline. The cheater's way out is a gift certificate from the Bay, with a note that the shawl will follow.

Sunday, June 11, 2006

Knit In Public

Yes, I did Knit In Public but not at the Official Knit In Public. I opted out to knit at a coffee bar while watching World Cup Soccer with friends. Not sure if that was a good idea, as several rows needed to be "fixed". This is the Sweater Surprise.

In my usual lazy fashion, I'm knitting the two fronts and back together as one piece. The odd uneveness you see is where I put in the faux seam. The yarn is Mandarin Petit 100% Egyptian cotton, knitted on 3.25mm needles. The surprise is I'm not sure how this will turn out since I'm making it up as I go.

I passed on the Langley Fleece sale this year. I have too many fleece that I need to go through. On the other hand, I have decided to get the Pat Green Triple Picker so that means I can process more fleece quickly. I told the hubby that if he wanted his sweater by winter, I'll have to get a Triple Picker. :D Plus, there's no doubt that the Gang will bring fleece back to share from Black Sheep. I don't feel like I'm missing anything from passing on the Langley sale. I have enough Romney.

I know I've always said that I don't like to return yarn. But in a moment of sanity, I decided that the 6 skeins of purple was not really enough for what I wanted. I brought them back to the LYS and exchanged it for 10 skeins of Elspeth Lavold's Hempathy in Citrine. That stuff is really scrumptous to knit with! This weekend, I went back and brought the bag of black. For a cotton/hemp blend, I expected it to be much stiffer but it is really drapey and soft. It knits like silk. Originally, I had thought top-down cardie but now I wanted something to show off the drape of the fabric better. Have to give this one more thought.

Tuesday, June 06, 2006

Today...

Today I accomplished nothing at work. All day long, I worked very hard doing what I needed to do, only to find at the end of the day, everything was cancelled. I'm back to exactly where I started at 7am this morning.

Much like today's knitting. I casted on for a sweater last night and did the ribbing. Then I knitted during my morning commute (I gave up my nap) and at lunchtime, and on the commute on the way home. A good eight inches into this sweater, I decided I really didn't like the looks of the fabric. Everything was ripped out and I started over again. This time, I went with my gut feelings and used the smaller needle size.