'09 Knitting Resolutions

As I mentioned last year, I'm no longer doing knitting resolutions, as I am doing monthly goals instead. This year I signed up for NaKniSweMoDo . Yes, I know a collective gasp of shock has rippled through the crowd. Although I didn't finish a ton of sweaters for 2008, I'm using NaKniSweMoDo to motivate me to turn many of the sweater yarn amounts I have into sweaters. One of the main points of this idea that I embrace is turning WIPs into FOs, as well as counting vests and tanks for adult-sizes as finished objects as well. These points work well for me and I'm motivated to do it. I've been planning some various sweater projects.

I'll be the first to admit that I'm not the fastest knitter around, although I do okay. But I am fairly persistent with knitting and even enjoying the long slog of some sweaters. My main goal is to end up with more sweaters that what I started with. My goal is 12, but if I don't make it, I won't beat myself up about it.

I started out the New Year with casting on for a vest. Last year, I got the bright idea to knit a few vests, as I do actually like vests. I cast on for the Back to School U-Neck on the first of the year and have been making good progress so far. I started out on a 32-inch cord, but it was too long and had to move down to a 24-inch needle. Once I did that, the 2x2 ribbing started flying.

That's the first project on the needles for NaKniSweMoDo project. Here we go!

January Knitting Goals/December Knitting Goals Wrap-Up

In December, I  postulated what I expected to complete that month. Those results were semi-satisfactory. 50% of my goals were accomplished.

As mentioned in the previous post , I completed the Sister scarf, as well as the Good Luck cowl. The Ribby Pulli sweater is still going strong. I worked on the yoke, but realized that apparently my row gauge was different than the pattern called for. After I completed my decreases, I still had 4 inches of knitting to do, for the sweater to fit correctly. Once done, then I had to pick up a zillion stitches around the neck for 2x2 ribbing. However, I did not pay attention to the amount of stitches I was supposed to pick up. With Bonne Marie's  patterns, I should already know that she is very thorough. I just picked up stitches and didn't count the number that I had. I'm sure I had far too many. When I finished the neck, I was so happy that I wove in the ends, my first mistake, and tried it on Big disappointment, as the neck is too floppy, which makes the sweater not wearable.

Darn it all, but I'm sure once I get the rip the neck and redo, I'll be on the right path. This sweater really does not want to be completed. Or rather, I guess I get the pleasure of knitting with Silky Wool a bit longer.

I never even made it to working on a hat at all. I really need to get on it. It's been pretty cold here lately, so you would think I would be motivated. Lately, I've been in a mood of casting on. Startitis has been going around in these parts.

Knitting goals for January:

1. In the spirit of keeping warm, I should knit myself a hat. Hopefully with leftovers from my Malabrigo Ruffles scarf.

2. Finish M2's candy corn socks. I'm on the second sock and have finished turning the heel and picked up the stitches. I've finished the increases and just straight knitting on the foot. Hopefully I should be able to finish them this month. I'm ready to cast on a pair of socks for me.

3. Continue to make progress on my new vest project.

4. Cast on for a second Ruffles scarf.

The End of 2008

A lot of people are doing end of the year round-up posts. This year, I don't really feel up to it. I've been off work since Wednesday evening and haven't done much except knit. If the spirit doesn't move me, I decided to just not worry about actually doing it. I have a couple of projects that were finished in 2008 and thought I'd blog about those instead.

None of these projects is actually modeled, but at least there are photos and that'a saying a lot right now.

I was working on a scarf for my sister. It has been completed, but still not sent out. Bad sister, I know.

The pattern is Tipsy Rib scarf, pattern here , courtesy of Flint Knits 

Yarn used, Knit One, Crochet Two Camelino 

I love the pattern and the yarn. The yarn felt reasonably soft in the ball, but knitting it was an even better experience. It has a very pleasurable hand. I think my sister will be pleased with the yarn. And what made it better is that my sister didn't want a very long scarf, which made knitting it go much quicker for me. I like scarves, but the monotony of scarves gets to me after a time.

Next up, a couple of cowls were finished. I'd mentioned the Good Luck Cowl  before. It's been completed, as well as blocked. I love the finished product and the yarn that I used for this. I do feel that I should have widened it by adding a repeat to make the circumference bigger. If I get to making another one, then I will do so. With this pattern, I used Lonesome Stone Mountain Feat yarn in the Shimmering Desert colorway.

The last cowl knit was the Gloria Cowl . This is obviously a simple and easy pattern. Just stockinette and using sock yarn doubled. I used more of my sock yarn "collection" of Red Rocks Fiber Works in the Blasted colorway. Love this colorway. Not so sure of this cowl. Actually, I don't like the cowl at all. I cast on the amount of stitches the pattern called for in version 1, but then increased to 110 stitches. This would have been fine, if I were still knitting in sockweight yarn. But once I doubled it, I did not need it to be this wide, so it's too wide. I may rip it at some time and reclaim the sock yarn for socks. Once I knit with it, I really liked the colors. For now, the yarn can "rest" in the cowl, until I'm ready.

I'll be back soon with status on my December goals, my January knitting goals and resolutions, if any.

FO: Just Enough Ruffles

Other than knitting feverishly on the Ribby Pulli, I managed to start and finish a project in less than 48 hours. While it was not big needle knitting, the Just Enough Ruffles Scarf is knit up in some lovely Malabrigo, which feels like butter when you're knitting it. I started it a week ago on Sunday and knit all day Sunday, then came home on Monday and finished up the scarf. I want to knit a couple more. They go so quickly and so much fun to make! I love the ruffles, which make me feel all girly, but not too twee, just right.

Pattern Specifications:

Pattern: Just Enough Ruffles by Laura Chau

Yarn: Malabrigo yarn in Chestnut colorway, 2 skeins (used about 1.5 skeins)

Needle Size: US 9 (5.5 mm)

Modifications: None, knit as written, including short rows. I guess it's true, if you (read: me) do short rows and it hasn't been a year, it's a lot easier for me to work them. Although I did have to make an emergency call to my friend Susan for so some short-row help.

December Knitting Goals

Yes, it is that time again. I do find that having knitting goals helps to keep me more focused, as opposed to just knitting willy-nilly and casting on for tons of projects.

1) To finish the Ribby Pulli- should be doable. I'm fairly close .

2) Finish my sister's scarf. I finally cast on for the black scarf of doom for my sister, as a replacement for the scarf my sister lost last year. I'm about halfway through, so I really should get crackin' on this thing. I sort of hit a lull, but it's about time this scarf accompanied me to work again for my lunchtime knitting breaks. I'm using the Tipsy Rib scarf pattern (pdf) by Flint Knits and I love how it's working up. I gave my sister a choice of patterns and the Tipsy Rib was my favorite and she picked it as her scarf-to-be.

3)  Finish the Good Luck Cowl . Should be very do-able.

4) Possibly knit a hat out of the leftovers from fingering weight yarn I used to knit the cowl.

With Christmas coming, I don't think I will tax myself with too many goals for December.

Happy knitting all.

NaKniSweMo Wrap-up

NaKniSweMo came and went. And while I was "unofficially" participating, I did try very hard to finish my Ribby Pulli, but I did not complete the sweater. I did get much further along than I started and I'm pretty happy about that. I finished both sleeves, attached the sleeves to the body and began working the body back and forth and split for the neckline.

I'm assuming that my row gauge is different or I am not completely following the pattern correctly regarding the decreases, because I have still have about 4 inches left of the body to go. All in all though, it's not a bad go.

There's been a lot of progress since the picture above and I feel like I am in the home stretch. I'm really loving the Silky Wool . This yarn knits up so wonderfully and the garment is very lightweight, but has a nice amount of warmth. Not too hot, just right. I can't wait to wear it.

Now, that NaKniSweMo is over, I will still be working on finishing the Ribby Pulli. I also cast on for a new cardigan, but I haven't made much progress on it. For December, I really want to focus on some accessories. A cowl has been cast on using fingering weight yarn and it's going pretty nicely. I'm pleased as punch to work on a pattern that my friend, Chris , designed. It is the Good Luck Cowl and I love how it's turning out. I'm about halfway through, but I do hope it fits. I am wondering if I should have added an additional 10-20 stitches, but we'll see what size it turns out when completed and blocked.

I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving. We sure did here. I cooked most of the dinner and my favorite part of the meal was sweet potato pie. It took a good amount of time to prepare, but oh, so worth it.

And that is all for me tonight. Talk to you soon. . .

FO Report: Artemis Socks

Hi all,

I'm happy to be back and with a finished project. A pair of socks using MaryKay's  yarn. I really adored the pattern, although I opted to not make a pair of fraternal socks, but identical socks. Of course, I loved working with MaryKay's yarn. The colorway, DrinkMe, is beautiful and I couldn't wait to cast on with it. But after casting on for the first sock and making great progress, I let the sock linger.

I finally finished up the socks a week or two ago. When I knit up these socks, I think I should have made a smaller size. The foot on one sock is larger than should be. Or I suppose I could have knit the sock a bit tighter on a smaller needle, hmm don't know, but I love the socks. They're a bit large. I could always give them to someone else, but I doubt that will happen. I may try to intentionally felt them, we shall see. I did love the pattern. I'm sure I will knit them again.

Project Specs:
Pattern  Artemis Socks  by Kirsten Kapur
Yarn: Red Rocks Fiber Works Snowmass Sock Yarn in Drink Me colorway
Modifications: none, knit as written using 64 stitches

I'm happy to have knocked a project off the needles. I am still working on the Ribby Pulli. Both sleeves have now been finished, now to join them to the body so that I can begin yoking! :-)

Please be sure to check out my friend Mary Kay's new yarn shop. You've heard me talk about her yarns before. They are so beautiful to me. She truly has an eye for color. Now, she's not just available locally, but worldwide. You can find Mary Kay at her Red Rocks Fiber Works online shop. Mary Kay doesn't just do yarn, but also does fiber. You won't be disappointed!

Sweater Knitting Weather

With the advent of cooler weather, I've gotten the fever for knitting sweaters. I decided to unofficially join NaKniSweMo. Unofficially, because the moment I sign up for these things, I seem to not follow through. I've made progress on my Ribby Pulli finally. For some reason, when I started this sweater last year, I put it down for awhile, when I started a different sweater. Then I seemed to have sleeve aversion, as the Ribby Pulli is a bottom-up raglan and when I cast on for the sleeves, I kept screwing up the ribbing. It's actually a simple 2x2 ribbing, but it starts off as P2, K2, P2 and since the amount of stitches isn't a divisible by 4, I kept getting hung up on my ribbing. Really silly, but at the time, I wasn't in the right frame of mind.

Here's a pic of my Ribby Pulli in case you might have forgotten it, heh!

 and now with added sleevage:

So I've got one sleeve down, one more to go. I can't wait to join the body altogether.

And if that wasn't enough, I also started another project, a cardigan, the Meringue Yoke Cardigan by Ann Budd. A sweater project which I'd queued in Ravelry awhile back and egged on by Joan , I felt the urge to cast on for this sweater. The yarn was a purchase from a fellow blogger who was destashing, using worsted weight black tweed silk. I'm loving the yarn, but as I have cast on for the entire body, each row is a bit slow going for now. My first priority is finishing the Ribby Pulli though. 

Thanks everyone for all of your well wishes. I made it through the procedure and actually have no recollection of the procedure, which is nice. I'm just waiting for the lab results now. I'm also happy for the election results, obviously.

I'll be back with more blogging and even a FO post.

Election Day

Hi all,
No time for a knitting post today, but hopefully a bit later this week.

Lots of things have been going on in the background, some of which have been health issues. We (meaning the GI doctor and myself) believe it may be a lactose intolerance peppered in with acid reflux. Tomorrow I will be having an upper endoscopy procedure in the afternoon.

Many things are on my mind. School is always busy, but this term is much better in terms of subject and teacher, a happy mix. But what I'm most concerned about is the state of our country. This is a time for a change and I hope that everyone who has the opportunity to vote will get out and vote. Help others vote if you can and make sure your vote is counted.

I voted early on Thursday and tomorrow I will anxiously await the results of this election. I pray the time for change is really happening.

Post with knitting coming soon, I promise. I even finished a pair of socks during Socktober.

Remember to get out and Barack the Vote!!