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Add another project to the queue:
Eris

quite gorgeous, no?

Playing with the blog design, as you can see. Not sure if I like it or not, so bear with me as I continue to play. Also open to some contructive criticism if you have any.

Good news and Bad news

The good news first. I turned the heel on the first Husband-Sock this week. I'm using the same wide-wale rib pattern that I used on my Cape Pogue Socks. I like this yarn, it is masculine and simple, but not boring at all what with its subtle striping. More importantly, husband likes it too.

husband sock

On to the bad news:


I'm calling it my "One Skein Blunder". I got caught up in all those cute little shrugs I was seeing dotting the knit-blog landscape. I whipped out one of my dyeing experiments and whipped this up in one day while I stayed home from work with a vomiting PumpkinBoy. It was a fun knit and I do like the way the colors knit up. However, I will never ever wear this. It is just about a half an inch too small, and one critical piece of information that I forgot is that I have HORRENDOUS posture (it is really really bad) and this little number does nothing but highlight my permanent hunchy stance. So, it will sit back in the stash armoire and await a frogging when I decide what to do with it.

Impending Doom

So, my little profile over to the right says I'm "thirty-something" and it does not lie. Next week I will be 30-something plus one (but still squarely in my 30's, thank you very much). My dearest husband asked me what I would like for my birthday, saying something along the lines of: "I was thinking of a computer game, but you don't really play those anymore, then books, but since you started knitting you don't read much anymore, and then I thought knitting stuff, but you already have everything you need." Ha! He misunderestimates us knitters, no? (thanks GWB, I love the new words you create) While I have a stash and patterns that could keep me knitting well into the next year, I by no means have everything I need.

So I took some time to do a little browsing and I think I have an idea of what I'd like. As if knitting a white shirt was not insanity enough, I'm thinking about buying the kit to knit this:


insanity?

It is Butterfly from Jade Starmore. Isn't it pretty? The only real problem is that I've never done any stranded knitting really and that its an itty bitty gauge. Do you remember how insane Devan drove me, and that was a baby sweater! I'm pretty sure I can do this though, the description itself says "I also wanted to make this design suitable for knitters new to stranded colour knitting". Do you see!? Its a perfect project to continue my own knitting brainwashing technique to make me more of a process knitter. My guess is it would take me forever and forever to do, but I think I might go for it. What do you all think?

Nothin' But a T Done

I actually managed to finish this Friday night. The sleeve to your right is a little poofy, I think I'm going to rip it out and reset it, but other than that I really like this and its eminently wearable. And yes, I know I am insane to make myself a white shirt - this is a disappointment waiting to happen if I plan to wear it anywhere but work. Toddler-raising and white garments do not go so well together.

NBaT

Pattern: Nothin' but a T shirt, from Magknits
Yarn: Brown Sheep Cotton Fleece, in Cotton Ball and Candy Apple Red
Needles: Densie #7
Notes: Love the folded hem, and the shape of this is perfect to start with and riff on to come up with other versions. I think this would make a nice V-neck top as well.

Distractions

Its been much much too hot and humid to knit with wool the past week. So, last Friday I popped out to one of my LYS-es and purchased a handful of Cotton Fleece to knit Nothin' but a T Shirt. I've been wanting to knit this for a while, and was happy to find a more affordable yarn substitution than the Rowan Calmer it calls for.


in pieces

This is a very fast knit, I have but half a sleeve left and then seaming and doing the neck band. I'm hoping it will be ready to wear by the end of the weekend. Whee.

I also made myself a custom image header for the blog, I'm sure you didn't miss it. I've always enjoyed working with image editing software, but I need to have a GOAL in order to actually practice my skills, so I gave myself an assignment. It is simple, but I like it, and it might just inspire me to do a little bit of updating here at PumpkinKnits.

Ahem, a hem (Rogue Update #2)

Sometimes when working on a project, I create mental worry stones for myself. With Rogue, my big worry has been the hem. The pattern has you knit about 12 rows on smaller needles either k1p1 rib or twisted stockinette (TS) , that will get folded to the back and sewn as a hem - this gives the bottom of the sweater and sleeves some weight, and it looks really good. I dutifully knit my hem in TS, and its been laying there, curling and silly looking as I continued knitting the body. It bothered me though - not the way I had knit it, or that it wouldn't look good, I was just bothered by the fact that I would have to sew it down and that I had some unanswered questions. Should I use the project yarn to sew it, or plain sewing thread, will it be a pain to keep the bias of the TS laying flat as I sew, etc etc. I just keep playing these questions in my head, thus creating a mental hurdle for myself that I just don't want to tackle.

So, when I completed the body to the shoulders, I came so close to just continuing to ignore the hem and saving my worry stone. I knew this would then cause a problem for me when it came to finishing the garment though, as by then I would have been worrying on this for far too long to JUST DO IT like I knew I had to. So, I bit the bullet and sewed my hem last night before casting on for the sleeves. I really didn't want to use yarn, as I thought that would be way too bulky and look pretty craptacular. Also, regular sewing thread seemed a bit flimsy to me. I was poking around and realized, hey, Husband-socks are pretty much the same color as this yarn, and they came with matching reinforcing thread, maybe that will work. TA-DA!


So I had my match (colors are a bit wonky in all of these - the Rogue yarn is seemingly impossible to get a true photo of). In no time, I hand-knit the hem, the TS biased around nicely and everything went perfect. Yay me!

WS seam


RS seam

And for posterity, here is me trying on for fit - perfect - gotta love the "magic" of actually swatching. (All of the dingly-danglies at the neck are the stitch holders holding the live stitches that will start the hood, and a handful of locking stitch markers that I used to mark my wraps on my short row wraps that are there)


I suppose I will come across a new worry stone for this project, most likely something to do with the hood. I plan to do both sleeves at once next, then tackle the hood.

I like prizes!

I never win raffles/lotteries/things like that - really, I'm not being and old Eyeore here, I just don't. A while back I sent Claudia a little donation for her MS ride. I'm always a fan of blog-prize motivations, but for this one I would have donated no matter what. Anwyay, I was delighted to learn that my name got pulled from her dye-pot while I was away on vacation. Here is my prize, it arrived yesterday (photo and description lovingly swiped from Claudias site)


winner!! "This is a 2.7 oz. skein of pure silk, spun from silk caps dyed by Ellen's Half-Pint Farm. Its a 2 ply, lace weight spun with Claudia's patented variability of twist and grist."

It is quite beautiful and silky (duh!) I've been petting it frequently. Thanks Claudia, both for the prize as well as spending so much time and energy on your ride - it means a lot.

Back to the Real World

Well, the Pumpkin Family has completed vacating for two weeks. We had a wonderful time, relaxing both alone and with extended family. I managed to get a fair amount of knitting done.

Rogue's back has been completed, but sadly that is all I managed to knit on it. Tip for any of you about-to-vacation knitters: it is helpful, when travelling, to bring the pattern with you, especially when working on a complex, cabled sweater. Oops, sorry Rogue, you'll get the attention you deserve now that we're back home and I have a hard copy of the pattern to look at!

The vacation was a knitting success however, thanks to socks! I was able to complete the Aran Braid socks:


Project Specs:
pattern: Aran Braid Socks
yarn: Froehlich Wolle, color 7446
needles: brittany #2

And, after a visit to the local (to my vacation spot) Heath and Hen Yarn and Quilt Shop, I picked up a new sock pattern to make my "Cape Pogue Socks":


Project Specs:
pattern: Ann Norling, Wide Wale Rib
yarn: LionBrand Magic Stripes, regatta stripe
needles: Skakel #3

These are for me, and I love them. They are fraternal twins, and the colors remind me of our vacation spot, hence the name. While at the yarn shop on the island, I picked up a bit more yarn (surprise, surprise). Some Lang JaWoll color in nice manly colors (on the needles already for husband-socks) and some Opal sock yarn for the stash.

That is all folks, I am beat after the first day back to work post-vacation.