PJ Day

Time to get the violins out, cos I'm feeling poorly - the taking the day off work, watching junk telly, wearing PJ's, feeling sorry for myself kind of poorly. However, the good news is that I caught up with some blog photos (yes, it's actually daylight in my apartment while I'm at home!).

Firstly, some of you may be wondering what happened to the Natucket Jacket I was knitting from the 2006 winter Interweave knits. Did I manage to fix it? Does it fit now? Where the hell is it? Honestly, I've been putting off posting about it, it still makes me sad now (5 weeks after, what shall be referred to as "the incident"). Anyway, here is a quick look at the result of "the incident".



I never did get to plan c (re-seaming) - plan b involved some water and a tumble dryer, one of the sleeves got a little too damp the felted result of which you can see on the right. There are other parts of the cardigan that are felted, and yet it still remains a lot too wide and a little too short, it is not savable, not even slightly. The cardigan resides in the back of the closet now, until I finally have the heart to throw it out.

On to a brighter note, I finished something else, which actually fits, and I'm totally in love with it. I think that these are my most favorite socks ever (aren't the latest pair always?). I went a bit nuts taking photographs of the socks, I won't bore you with all of them.



Yarn: 1 skein of Brooklyn Handspun's stunning Signature Yarn in "Rose Mocha" - man do I love this yarn, it's soft, the colors are gorgeous, apparently it fluffs up great after washing [can't wait to wash them] AND it's superwash.
Needles: 32" Addis, US #2.
Pattern: "Ripple Weave Socks" from the Fall 2006 issue of Vogue Knitting.
Adaptations: I opted for a garter stitch short row heel, thanks to gleek for her version. I also added a p1, k1tbl at the beginning of the k row of the sole, and k1tbl, p1 at the end of that row. This helped the pattern 'pop' and gave a little symmetry for me.





Close-up of the garter stitch short row heel, isn't it great?

There are more pictures (sock, mitten and spinning) to share, but I will save them. Just so you know, the Nantucket jacket has ensured that my future includes only small projects - socks, mitts/glitts, hats etc.

That was fast!

Sewing machine is here already - I can't quite believe that it came that fast. Okay, right I have to go play with the machine and the new fabric I got. While I'm busy doing that, here's a couple of shots of my first finished Ripple Weave Sock from the Fall 2006 issue of Vogue Knitting.

FO-licious.

EDIT: I just added new, better pics of the socks and shawl.

Man alive I've been busy, and I have lots to show for it too. Last night was the weekly meet with the spiders, at my favorite coffee shop, which is always a pleasure. And a double pleasure it was, as we got to meet both Colleen, who's in visiting from Boston, and Neoknits Melissa, who's a total sweetheart.

I had to dash off to get changed and off out again to The Rodeo Bar to meet up with Sharon, her hubby and friends to see some some live music (thanks so much for the magazine Sharon). Much fun was had my all, a little too much for Mr. B. who was bouncing off the ceilings after 3 of their famous Margaritas.

Okay, on to the real stuff. I promised FO's and here I am delivering. First of all we have the Wyvern socks:

Pattern: Wyvern Socks by Marnie Maclean
Yarn: This was knitpicks superwash - hand-dyed by yours truly.
Needles: Pony Pearls US#2
Adaptations: None

Next up with have the swallowtail shawl which I started last Friday at the Point (and re-started on Friday), was finished on Thursday - 5 days to knit, now that is a quick knit, I guess it helps that I was home sick on Monday, I found knitting to be very soothing :)



Pattern: Swallowtail Shawl from the Fall issue of Interweave Knits 2006
Yarn: Yummy Baby Cashmere from elann.com - 3 1/3 balls.
Needles: Denises US #7.
Adaptations: I did one less repeat of the Budding Lace 2 since I thought I was going to run out of yarn - ha!

I'm not sure I'm that into shawls, I don't know if I'm really a shawl kind of girl - I think I will stick with rectangular shapes if I'm to make any more. One more thing to show you. The spun and plyed Sage Merino from Carolina Homespun.


I love the subtle colors in this yarn. I'm just not convinced that I should have plyed it - I guess I got Katie's advice too late. I'm still pretty happy with it though.

One last picture (assuming I haven't completely bored you to tears). This is progress so far on the Ripple Weave socks from this years fall issue of Vogue Knitting. I love the yarn, and the pattern (it is so much like Cookie's Pomotamus socks). I like the Addis, except my toxic sweat is already getting to them - GAH!

Spin, spun and all that.

It seems as though you have spoken with a most positive tone! I was so inspired by everyones enthusiasm, that I got started right away with the spinning. I already have one bobbin of plyed merino-silk. It's not much to look at in it's natural state so I won't bore you with pics. I have to admit that I'm not so happy with my spinning on this one, most likely it's just a result of me being a bit rusty, I will practice more this weekend (time permitting).

I met with the spiders last night again - God I'm really loving knitting with others, I have no idea why I didn't do it before. Anyway, after admiring the yarn of Lisa's sock in progress, Marie pulled out of her bag some skeins of her hand-dyed merino (what Lisa was knitting with). I was blown away by the beauty of the one you see below - how could I resist it? I was so excited to get my hands on this that I clean forgot to ask the name of the colorway, oopsie. Isn't it stunning? and let me tell you, it's soooo soft. Go check out Brooklyn Handspun's online store now, no affiliation, yada, yada, yada - just very satisfied with my yarn purchase, look see...




By the way, today is the 12th anniversary of the day that Mr. B. and I started dating. We moved in together about 6 months after that, and married 10 years after that. And before you say it, no, I don't look old enough, but we were mere children when we met (honest!). My how time flies.