FOmania!

Almost everything is completely finished: knitted, woven, blocked, photographed and given away. I'm still steadily working on my shawl, a few rows here & there. I expect it will be finished soon. I've been working on it for so long now, it's become kind of a comfort thing. I've grown much more proficient since I began the shawl and now it's a breeze to work the pattern. It's going to be very strange when I finally complete it.

I'm still searching for another ball of Sugar 'N Cream to complete the last couple of inches on the Baby Kimono and then will have to sew it up. About half the ends are woven in on the Baby Blanket now. I was hoping to finish it by this weekend, but I had to finish Waterlily. That will teach me to leave UFOs lying around for a month!

Ok, I can't get my photos uploaded right now, so I guess I'll have to try again tomorrow!

Almost There

I have finished knitting Waterlily! There was some confusion when it came time to undoing my provisional cast-on but everything worked out. It fits too! Now there comes the monumental task of weaving in millions of ends which fills me with dread. I have started, but it is very slow going as the ribbon yarn does not like to pull through stitches, plus I'm a little concerned with the looseness of the stitches. I don't want to be wearing an unraveling top. I will finish it by Sunday, I swear! Until then here's a pic of pretty flowers from my Grandmother's garden.

Waterlily Update

I finished the shaping of both fronts of my top and I'm working on the middle back. Tonight I'll start on the straps of the back and should have the top finished by the end of the week. I'm surprised at how fast a knit it is, but it does call for rather large needles (13, 11, & 10.5). It's a very easy & straight-forward pattern and I think it was a good choice for my first garment. Of course, I did manage to fudge something along the way & decrease some stitches or something. I'm not really sure what I did wrong, other than not counting the stitches on every row (!), however after inspection, everything is going smoothly again and all looks good. I just hope it fits okay and is somewhat flattering. Hopefully I will be wearing it at my family's birthday/ pool party this weekend.

I have some Lamb's Pride on the way from Kyarns 'cause it's on sale, apparently prices are going up on August 1st. It will be used to make some Xmas pressies and some Fuzzy Feet for me. I think it would be good to make the slippers before I make socks.

Until I finish my top and post some photos, here's one of my kitty Amelie. She loves to show off her shaved belly.

First Time!

Now that I'm *this close* to finishing the baby items, I can start my Waterlily Top. It will be my first proper garment. I cast on yesterday and have knit a few inches already...so far, so good. I managed to successfully cast on using the provisional method, so that's the first new trick I've learned knitting this project. I've already switched to the second needle size and I'm hoping to stay focused on this so I can complete it in a couple of weeks. I LOVE these colors, it's nice to watch them fade into one another.

Kool-Aid Pithy Hat

Ok, so my hat is done. Next time, I have to be more careful when choosing which colors to wear near my face. I wanted to make this pattern and I had the right amount of yarn, more in fact, but I really neglected the fact that bright green & blue would contrast highly with my fair skin and red hair. Ah well, maybe if I let my hair go back to its original color someday, the hat will look better.

Anyway, the knitting got a lot easier a few rows into it. The knit 2 tog tbl could be tricky though. The pattern is from Little Turtle Knits. I think the purse stitch is very pretty and shows off the gradual changes in color very well. I used US size 9 16" bamboo circs for all but the first few rows.

It's a little uncomfortable modeling a wool hat when it's 100 degrees outside! I'm glad to be done with this impulse project and get on with other things.

In other knitting news, I was so close to finishing my Baby Kimono yesterday when I ran out of yarn! Eeek, I hate that! So now I have to trek all the way out to Hobby Lobby to get another skein of Sugar 'n Cream that probably won't match my dye lot just so I can knit a lousy 2 or 3 inches. How annoying!

New Yarn!!

I finally used my birthday gift certificate for kpixie and bought some sock yarn. I'd better actually start knitting socks before I succumb to any more sock yarn! The yarn by All Things Heather is hand painted in the softest, most beautiful colors. This one's called Cornflower.

Finally Some 100% Finished Objects!

It's about time. I really seem to burn right through projects, knitting like crazy then binding off and forgetting about them. I suppose I should be happy with myself that I at least finish the knitting part. I just need to get into a new frame of mind and remind myself that "finishing" is just that- completing the project entirely. Anyway, a few are finished now and my Kool-Aid dyed hat is just about to come flying off the needles, and I promise to weave in the ends right away. Hats are easy anyway, only 2 little strands to worry about...Photos to come soon, soon.

Dyeing Day

So I finally devoted time to Kool-Aid Dying over this long weekend. I used Knit Picks Wool of the Andes Worsted in Natural and followed

Knitty's tutorial

For my first skein,I wanted it to be variegated with Lime Green and Bright Purple, but found that grape Kool-Aid does not look very purple, so I stocked up on various blues and pinks to experiment with in the future to find a good purple. I went with blue & green instead.

First, I soaked the yarn in mild soap (Method dishwashing liquid) and mixed my colors: 5 packets each Blue Moon Berry & Lemon-Lime, along with 12 Tbsp of water each.



Next, I spread the yarn on a plastic garbage bag and began diligently squirting Kool-Aid onto the yarn with a turkey baster.



Then I popped it into the microwave and alternated zapping & waiting until the water was almost clear. It looks like I didn't miss any white spots.




Now it was time for more soaking, another soap bath and a few more rinses.




Finally hung up to dry overnight and then wound into a skein.





Easy-peasy! I've never washed yarn before, but I think I did ok. Everything went smoothly and I think my yarn looks smashing! The hardest part is waiting for the yarn to dry. I immediately started knitting a horrendously finger-hurting pattern that I will hopefully stick with because the finished products are so cute. My next skein will be 4 or 5 different shades of pinks and reds.

I have a stack of FOs that have been completed in the past few weeks, but still need the ends woven in. Uggh, how I hate doing that! I wish I could be one of those people who love finishing as much as knitting, but alas as soon as the last stitch is bound off I am casting on again in a matter of minutes. Luckily my sweet Greg does a lot of weaving for me and he is excellent at it. I hope to post all these projects soon.