End of January

I've spent the month destashing   -- it is a wonderful feeling just to let go of yarns that you might actually like, but are tired of the color ... or "whatever".  Luckily, there seems to be plenty of people who are happy to take some unwanted items,  so I take a bag of something to every knitting "sit and knit" group. 

I had hoped to finish the Polska mittens, but for some reason don't care for the yarn.- Knit Picks Palette.  It is a little too "superwash" feeling for me, but the colors are vibrant and  the first mitten blocked beautifully.  I know I'll love them when I am done, so I  will take the project with me next time we go to the mountains, and then I'll be more in the mood to work on them.  I did start another SpillyJane project (her project for NaKniMitMo12 ) and like the Jamieson Spindrift  I'm using.  It is very "grabby" and is so wonderful for colorwork. 

While going through things I found an Ishbel shawl that has sat for ages waiting to be blocked.  I love the color, but know I won't buy that kind of yarn again.  I just prefer more "natural" wool feel than the "slick feeling" and look.  The shawl is now blocked, and is now sitting to have the ends woven in.  Totally finishing things just doesn't seem to be my strongpoint! 

Speaking of slick feeling -- I do love yarns that have silk in them though.  I picked up a Veera cowl pattern that I had been working on in December and then a couple of days later frogged it.  Sigh.  I was off, I think, by one row in the herringbone section, and in another section had such a loose wrap it looked like there was a hole.  I'm just too fussy now with my projects to keep working on something that makes me crazy.  But that means I now still "have" that wonderful yarn from Margaret to work with again.  Margaret, from French Market Fibers, has her own Ravelry group now, so go check it out! 

Although I am a loose knitter, I seem to have a death grip on my needles and often bend them, even the wooden ones!  MY LYS has some of the "new" Knitters Pride dpns, and I'm trying them in the small sizes.  So far, so good!  I am reluctant to ditch my "warped" Clover dpns though, as I never know when I might need one to replace a "lost" one.  I always seem to be dropping one in furniture or on the floor, and then taking forever to find it. 

In the "real" world, we did finally get some snow in the mountains.  And it rained here at home ... some.  I wonder what February will bring?  I just hope the snow lasts so that when we get back up there, there will be enough for people to have fun skiing! 

Stripe Study Shawl

I'm thrilled that Veera Välimäki from 100% Rain is having such success with her knitting designs:  my Stripe Study Shawl appears to be the 1,841st of the finished ones on Ravelry :)  She has many other shawl designs, and we are all waiting for a February release of another one.


My Stripe Study (and there will be more) was knit in Malabrigo Sock yarn in Turner/Candombe colorways.  This is one of my favorite yarns as I am drawn to the super tight-twisted yarns.  Malabrigo has a lot of colors in this line, too, so the sky is the limit for combinations.  


I'm tidying up my stash (again!) and have seen that a Stripe Study has been made in Zauberball and doubled alapca lace by Plymouth .... if I can find the Plymouth lace, that will be my next Stripe Study.  It will be a lot lighter than this one, and perhaps a tiny bit smaller :)  I very gently blocked this Stripe Study, otherwise I would have been able to pull it out long enough to sleep wrapped up in it!

More "new" knitting video podcasts

I'm finding and listening to more "new to me"  knitting video podcasts:

Knit1hearttoo

Craft Stash

Knitting in Circles

Rain, snow, and WIPs

It is FINALLY raining here in the Central Valley (late afternoon today) and snowing in the Sierra ... whew!  It has been heartbreaking for the ski industry and "satellite" businesses connected with snow, but the cattle also need rain for grass .... it will be interesting to see how much "dump" we get AND hopefully we will get more.  The weather news was all anyone out and about has been talking about, so hopefully we will  take the inclement weather in stride and be happy for it.

I finished one of the SpillyJane Polska mittens and hope to cast on this weekend for the second.  I'm not that "in love" with the Knit Picks yarn (Palette) but the colors are fabulous and I am sure I will be happy when the pair is done.

Meanwhile, I'm at the final edge of my Stripe Study shawl in Malabrigo sock -- so I hope to get that done in the next couple of days.  I will be going to a few knitting groups in the next couple of weeks, so I am keeping my fingers crossed that I can keep pushing forward on WIPs and FOs.  I've done well so far this month!

The family afghan got repaired -- yay!  Cascade 220 came to the rescue; the "old" (34 years) yarn was Brunswick Germantown wool, which is no longer made.  I was amazed to see it still in people's stashes though!

Weekending

I"m going to try to get my SpillyJane "Polska" WIP mittens done by the end of the month -- I'm finding KALs etc a good push to really get stuff off the needles (well, so far anyway for 2012 LOL)  I worked on the mittens at my LYS sit and knit yesterday, and am hoping to get the first mitten finished tonight (photo tomorrow, I hope)

I'm  working on a "Stripe Study" shawl by Veera -- there are so many wonderful variants of this on Ravelry  I'm using Malabrigo sock and like the colors, but really want to do one in a light colorway of Madelintosh.  If I ever get my sewing room tidied up from looking for the Polska WIP (OMG, you can't imagine the stuff I had to go through to find it) hopefully I might even find the Madelinetosh "antler" color that I think I MAY have.

And I've found another dynamite video podcast that I like (I don't watch all of them) -- Moonie Knits with Maya Moonie.  Check it out! 

Soft Yarn, Soft Cowl

Margaret from French Market Fibers gifted me a 383 yard "test" skein of MCN (merino, cashmere & nylon -- I had to look that up myself once) and it has been made up into a lusciously soft cowl.

the pattern is
Variance, by Lisa Mutch of Northbound Knitting

The yarn is quite soft;  I was slightly surprised :) and then realized I usually knit with much tighter twist yarn that produces a "denser" fabric.  This turn out perfect, however, as the cowl is super soft against my neck.  I added 15 extra stitches between the sections to make it a tad bit longer, so I can wear it doubled or even wrap it up at my chin level 3 times.  I'm wearing it now!  Thanks so much, Margaret! 

FO: Jellyfish Scarf aka "Inky"

I've had the most fun with this pattern!  I'm actually usually squeamish around these sorts of creatures, but know I'm going to really enjoy wearing this scarf from Sarah Peterson in the Interweave Knits Accessories 2011 issue.

So:  here is the Jellyfish Scarf.  Details are on my Ravelry project page.

And now I must put the knitting away for a while.  We are winding up our winter holiday - alas no snow - so I need to get a reality check on getting ready to leave (read: clean up to close up) and then we will venture back down to the Central Valley (home) and a little less "free time". 

Stash: future Van Doesburg

I need to take frequent breaks from the jellyfish shawl (see post below) so of course I'm always poking around on Ravely or someone's blog.

I realized a couple of days ago that while up here in the mountains I have worn my

Aestlight Shawl from The Shetland Trader practically non-stop.  I also have one skein of The Sanguine Gryphon Little Traveller left in my stash, so I'm thinking of using it for

Lisa Mutch's Van Doesburg shawl.  I always need something to "counter" lace/colorwork or to have to work on in the car, and this looks like it might fit the bill.

Lisa is Northboundknitting and has wonderful yarns and patterns.  I'm sitting on my hands NOT to order yarn for her shawl though ... too bad for her LOL.  I still have a lovely skein of hers that I won in a giveaway -- when I get ready to use it, I will look for "more" or something else to go with it on her etsy.com site. I've been working on Lisa's Variance during the holiday season in the car and am probably 80% finished with it.

 I do really like the Little Traveller and hope that one of the "new" companies out of The Sanguine Gryphon will be re-issuing the yarn.  It is "sproongy" but very very comfortable -- not scratchy nor does it make you "sweaty."

Back to the jellyfish! 

2012 and getting organized, in the best ways we can

Thanks to a link on the aplayfullday podcast blog, Tami at Tami's Amis and other creations has a nice little plug for WIP Wednesdays and FO Fridays ..  we all think about these from time to time, but this is a nice way to put a little more structure into all our goals

.... which seem to be everywhere in the knitting world:  WORK ON THE STASH.  (ps.  good luck!) I know I'm going to have a hard time with that as I'm always finding some new "eye candy" yarn that I THINK I need. :)

2012 .... moving forward!

I had actually thought I would put the blog on hiatus, but have reconsidered!  I've played around with putting knitting items I like up on Posterous, on tumblr .... there are just too many places and I just need to get organized LOL.  I also  try not to get on Pinterest too often -- I can spend an entire day there!

SO.  I do have a few knitting goals for 2012:  work on finishing up my (many) "beloved" WIPs, and work on knitting down the stash.  AND I want to knit a sweater for myself -- it has been years since I've made anything but the "box style" early EZ type.  And I so have to smile -- yes, I did a lopi YEARS ago.  As much as I love colorwork, I don't really need to do one of them again.  They are warm, and I don't live in Russia anymore LOL.

We are winding up our stay in the Sierra California mountains (still no snow this year!) and I'm trying to finish a very fun project: (progress shot)

the blue cable section is quite long; I haven't measured it yet.  I won't be able to take a full-length shot until I get home though:  there are no "plain" surfaces up here on which to get a shot that is not "mountain wood".

                                     the jellyfish scarf from Interweave Knits Accessories 2011

I'm using Shibui Silk cloud in ivory for the "jellyfish" part (2nd part of pattern) and have used  "wrought iron colorway" mohair lace from Margaret from french market fibers on etsy.com.  The cable part of the pattern with the inky blue mohair is really nice, and the ivory part with the Shibui Silk cloud is going well.  My scarf doesn't look quite as ruffly though -- but it will still be fun to wear!  The mohair is light and fluffy, but oh-so-warm, so I'm hoping that I get good use out of it.
From the yarn(s) websites:
Shibui Silk cloud

unfortunately I didn't take a photo of the skein of mohair lace from Margaret, so we'll have to wait for my FO project.  I have 10 grams left from the original 50 grams, so I may try and play around with that in a photo.

I'm using size US8 Addi Natura circular needles -- they grab the mohair and silk well!