Quick Ravelympics Update.

I've almost finished my first Chevalier mitten! Only the thumb is left to be done. Here it is a few days ago:



It's much more impressive-looking now, so new photos will follow before too long. I'm pretty ridiculously proud of it so far -- it's definitely one of the more complicated patterns I've attempted! Not that it's really hard to do, exactly, but you definitely have to pay attention.

Though the actual thumb isn't done yet, the little thumb hole looks good. I was nervous about this because the thumbs on Dashing and Fetching came out looking a little weird. On Chevalier you need to cast on stitches in the middle of a row to bridge the gap above the thumb-hole. I'd only previously attempted casting on in the middle of the row under the sleeves on my Cloud Bolero and, to put it as kindly as I can...it looked like crap. After some Googling, though, I found this marvelous tutorial on how to cast-on in the middle of a project. I followed it and everything looks lovely!

I've also made some progress on Evangeline. Here's the first mitt a few days ago:


It's gotten just a bit longer since then.

No pictures for Juniper yet. I did cast on for it on the 8th, because I liked the idea of starting all of my projects on the first day, but it needs to be restarted. I was doing the medium/44 stitch version because I'm probably going to give the mitts to Brian, but it was coming out looking much too huge. It did look pretty cool, though, so I'm looking forward to restarting! After all of this cabling it'll be nice to do something a little mindless. (Honestly, even the phrase "miles of stockinette" is sounding slightly appealing at the moment...)

Anticipation + a new cowl.

Just a few more days until the Ravelympics!! I'm so so eager to start my projects. I bought the last of the necessary yarn & needles yesterday (or, more accurately, my supremely generous/enabling Aunt Andrea bought them for me during our day of adventures). Here's what I'm making (Ravelry links):

• Chevalier Mittens for me, in a gorgeous dusty blue Cascade 220 Heather.
• Evangeline, elbow length, for my wonderful friend Linn. (Usually I don't blog about in-progress gifts for friends unless I'm fairly certain said friends don't read this. Linn does read this, actually, but I'm making an exception for the Ravelympics & I'm sure she'll understand.) She's allergic to all animal fibers and I'm not too experienced with plant fiber so I picked up some beautiful turquoise-y Berroco Comfort. It's an acrylic/nylon blend and probably the softest synthetic yarn I've ever felt.
• Juniper Mitts using the rest of my Mountain Goat yarn in the Juniper colorway (that's the stuff I used on my cowl). I haven't decided yet about keeping these or giving them away.

So do you think I can manage all of that in 17 days?! It'll be fun to try, anyway!

Last night I started a new cowl, since I loved the last one so much and I'd been dying to cast on for something with the Malabrigo Silky Merino I bought recently. This yarn, you guys! It is beyond perfect. I've gotten carried away and proposed marriage to it a few times. It's soft, it's squishy, it's a dream to work with, and the color is just beautiful:


(That's my lavender plant creeping in at the top of the photo.)
The cowl is just star stitch, inspired by the Holding Hands, Feeding Ducks scarf. I had to practice the stitch a lot before I started this -- it's a little tricky! It's not exactly easy on the hands, either, what with all the p3tog. But isn't it lovely?

A few notes & questions.

1. I've gone ahead & signed up for the Ravelympics. What are the Ravelympics? I'm not entirely sure. I think the basic idea is that you pick a project (or a couple) to complete during the Olympics, something that'll be a challenge for you to finish in that amount of time. I'm being super-ambitious with this and have three mitten patterns I'm going to attempt! Really if I finish one pair I'll be impressed with myself, but I figured I may as well aim high. So my event is the Mitten Medley, but I don't have a team yet. Are any of you on teams you'd like me to join?


2. I reached the heel on my new sock today! Yay! Details & pictures as soon as there's actually something interesting to show you.


3. For the rest of the summer I'm sticking to small, accessory-type items, but I've got my heart pretty set on making a sweater in the fall. At first I was really fixated on the idea of a hoodie, but now I'm thinking the hood isn't so essential (I never use the hoods on hoodies I own, anyway). I do want it to be versatile, though, something easy to wear that I can get a ton of use out of over the winter. I'm browsing patterns now but I'd love suggestions! I'm open to cardigans or pullovers. Here are just a few of the possibilities I've gathered so far (Ravelry links):
   • Rogue
   • Jumper with Hood
   • Sunshine
   • Dollar and a Half Cardigan
   • Central Park Hoodie


4. Tuesday Panera crew, I miss you all! This summer hasn't been that busy for me or anything, but somehow Tuesday evenings are the one time I always seem to have something going on. I'm sorry that it works out that way, but I just wanted to note that I haven't forgotten you (quite the contrary!) & that look forward to being able to make it down there sometime soon. ♥!

Meh.

If two items can constitute a "spree," I think we can say I'm on a finishing spree! Or in a finishing frenzy, or something. Either way, this morning I dug out the hat that had been abandoned since May and took the 5 minutes to finally finish it off. It's Mary Jane's Pithy Hat. I was pretty in love with the pattern when I first saw it, but now I'm less sure:



Maybe I should've made it slouchier? Maybe all hats just look kinda weird on me? I don't know. I'm thinking I'll keep it until it gets cold out and see if I come to like wearing it. If not I'll just give it away.



The pattern was really easy but I didn't enjoy working on it much. Almost all the stitches are either k2tog through the back loop or p2tog. Both of those will kinda hurt your hands after a while! It's also riddled with errors, as I'm pretty sure you can see, because I did most of the knitting in public/I'm lazy about fixing things.

Oh well. Tomorrow = yarn-shopping and today I started a new pair of socks! More on that soon.

I actually finished something!

For the first time in months, I have an FO to share! It's that cowl I mentioned last time, and I think it might be the first of many cowls for me. To be honest I've always had somewhat mixed feelings about them. I never see anyone wearing one in real life, and many of the pictures I've seen on Ravelry make them look kind of awkward to wear. A couple months ago I was pretty sure I would never make or wear one, but then one of my favorite knit-bloggers, Lolly, went on something of a crazy cowl-making spree and I found myself more & more intrigued. Finally she shared her Sherbrooke cowl pattern/recipe and as soon as I got that gorgeous Mountain Colors yarn I knew they were a match made in heaven!


The yarn is Mountain Colors Mountain Goat in Juniper. As always, full project details are on Ravelry!

The pattern was easy as pie, the kind of thing you could knock off in a day or two if you wanted to. I, of course, only knit on it once or twice a week, never for more than a couple minutes at a time, so it took me a little longer. The pattern recommends making the cowl 16" long so it can be stretched up over the head like a hood. My first thought was, "God, that would look really dorky" but my second thought was, "I live in Michigan, anything that might keep my ears warm is a good idea." So I was going to go for the full length, but last night I tried it on at about 10" or so and realized I wanted it much shorter. I frogged back to about 6.5" and that seems to be a perfect length for me. I can fold it over itself once and it looks really smooth and nice, or I can unfold it and have it look sorta wrinkly and floppy and cozy. Either way it's wonderfully warm and I know I'm going to wear it to death once it gets cold out!


I do have to say that the yarn is a little itchy, which I didn't even notice until now. I think I was too smitten with the color to even think about how it felt.

Aunt Andrea and I are going yarn-shopping this weekend, so hopefully I'll have another new project to share soon! Or, you know, I could finish the hat that's been sitting untouched for two months, but...yeah, I'll probably just start another cowl or some socks!

No, really! I mean it this time!

From now on I am updating this thing at least once per week, whether I have anything to say or not! Sound good?

I still don't have much to tell you about knitting. I'm working on a Sherbrooke Cowl, using Mountain Colors Mountain Goat yarn in the most beautiful colorway, Juniper. It's an easy, fun project but it's going slowly for me, since I only work on it about once a week, while I'm tutoring my brother Danny (who turned ten the other day, can you believe that?!).


Here it is a few weeks ago -- it's grown several inches since then. I took that picture to illustrate my resourcefulness regarding stitch markers. See, I bought the needles for this project right before attending a belly dance performance at Crazy Wisdom (which was amazing, by the way). I had the yarn in my bag, of course, and I just could not resist casting on while waiting for the dancers to begin! I hadn't brought any stitch markers, though, so I made use of one of my rings. It was a little bulky to knit around but it got the job done.

Too hot to knit!

Oh, yikes, has it really been over a month yet again? It has, and I don't even have that much to show for it. What can I say, summer weather doesn't really inspire me to knit much. I know some of you make some really cute tanks and whatnot, but I just haven't found any of those that really grab me, at least not yet. Instead I've decided to use my summer knitting time on small winter accessories, some for me & some to give away when it gets a little colder out. At the moment I have a hat & a scarf on the needles, both of which haven't been touched for weeks & weeks. The hat's for me and the scarf is for a friend.

I've been enjoying my summer despite the lack of knitting, though! I've been reading constantly, of course, and doing yoga, cooking, baking, & working in my garden.

Oh, wait, I do have something I can show you! Here's my friend Steve modeling the hat I made him ages ago:


I took way too long to send it to him, but since he lives in Alberta he said it's still useful, even this time of year. I'm glad!

Also, I had the good fortune to win a copy of Sew U Home Stretch from Dramatis Personae a while back! Thanks to that & some of the other beautiful hand-sewn items I've seen around, I'm itching to actually learn how to use my machine. With any luck, you'll see some sewing posts here soon!

Cloud Bolero: SO much better!

I ripped out that silly picot edging and did garter stitch instead:



I think garter was what I was originally planning when I started this 8 million years ago, but some Ravelers had such cute picot-edged versions that I guess I forgot. Anyway, yesterday a very helpful commenter suggested that garter would help tone down the flaring at the bottom without me needing to do any shaping (thanks!). It definitely did help. The loose fit still bothers me a little, but only a little. Overall I really like this!

I'll probably make another someday, with sleeves, but this one is really great for throwing over tank tops or sundresses. I'd love to find a nice brooch to fasten it at the top, but for now wearing it open is fine too.

The pattern is pretty great but I hated the way it was written & had some real trouble following it -- of course, a lot of that was probably just the fact that it was my first lace project. The thing that bothered me the most was that she has you cast on extra stitches to fill the gap created by binding off the sleeve stitches. Maybe it's just the way I did it, but it makes the underarm area of my sweater look horrible and just sort of adds unnecessary bulk to an already loose-fitting garment. So, next time around I'll be skipping that part. Still, I think the designer is a genius and I want to make more of her stuff soon! She has some great hats and I'm developing a slight hat obsession right now. :)

Cloud Bolero: Kinda Finished.

So I'm done with the Cloud Bolero & my feelings are very mixed:


(Try to ignore all those ends I haven't yet woven in!)
Don't get me wrong, I think it might be the prettiest thing I've ever knit! But I am much less than thrilled with the picot edging (translation: all those silly little triangles at the bottom) and also with the way it fits. It's perfect around my neck & shoulders, but it really flares out at the bottom. Soooooooo I think I have to rip out the picot edging (which I suspect will be a hellish endeavor) & maaaybe even go back farther to add shaping (which I am probably too lazy to do). I am totally not excited to do those things, which of course is why I am taking & posting pictures rather than doing them. :)

NOT DEAD! (+ my first pair of socks!)

Hi, blog, remember me? No? That's ok, it's been a million years and I don't really have a very good excuse. I know there were final exams in there somewhere, & then my wonderful friend Linn visited for a week, but really I could've taken the time to put up a post or two even in the middle of those things.

Sorry. I'll be better from here on out, I promise!*

The upside of me having abandoned you for nearly a whole month is that now I have lots of cool things to show you. I won't cram them all into one post, but for now I will show you my completed pair of socks:

Aren't they lovely? I finished the second one while my friend Linn was visiting from Toronto. We took a trip down to Illinois to visit my beloved Aunt Deb while she was here, & on the way we knit & knit & knit. Here's the trippiest sock-in-progress photo you ever will see, taken in Chicago's famous "bean" sculpture:


And here we are knitting in Millennium Park:


A busload of senior citizens happened to arrive while we were doing that, and of course many of the women told us how happy they were to see us knitting, and one old man asked to take that picture. Cute! (Yes, Linn is borrowing a Calorimetry I made.)

When I finally did finish that sock, it might've attacked Linn:

Ahahahaha! Best sock photo EVER!

You can see the rest of the pictures from Linn's visit here.

So, I think S. succeeded in her mission & got me a little bit addicted to sock-knitting. There will definitely be more in my future! For these I used the provisional cast-on, short row toe, & short row heel. I hated the provisional cast-on the first time around, but the second time I used a smoother cotton yarn for the crocheted part & found I didn't mind it at all. Also, the short row heel on my first sock is a little holey but on the second one I just picked up some stitches where the holes were threatening to form & it looks perfect. I definitely liked the toe-up method overall, but I am interested to learn some more toe & heel methods in the future!

Since then I've been working on a pair of legwarmers adapted from a sock pattern -- more on those soon. Cherie Amour is on hiatus still, but yesterday I finally picked the Cloud Bolero back up. It had been lying neglected & untouched for longer than this blog had, if you can believe that. Now I'm in the middle of binding off the body (woohoo!) & I need to hurry up & decide what I want to do about sleeves. The original pattern doesn't really have any & I keep waffling on whether I want to stick with that or not, and then of course if I am going to do sleeves I need to figure out how I want to approach them. Hmmm...

Anyway, I promise it won't be a month until next time!


* Maybe.