Tuesday, September 29, 2009

A quest for red

I'm getting there.

My search for the perfect red for a Christmas sweater is winding down.

I got this in the mail yesterday.

Madelinetosh worsted in scarlet.

Looks good on Runty.

I am thrilled. This is my first order with Madelinetosh and it looks like a start of a wonderful relationship. I have five skeins of this from EatSleepKnit.

Now the search for the pattern. I think this is going to be Mr. Greenjeans.
Then this morning I got an email from the Backwards Loop. They are getting Madtosh in tart this Thursday! Six skeins are on my way!

It's raining red on my party, and I'm enjoying it.

In the meantime this is what the hallway in front of my office looks like:


Boat anchors anyone?

Finally, finally we are getting rid of the old CRT monitors and replacing them all with the flat-screen LCDs. I got mine over a year ago (rank has its privileges.) but some offices have had to wait. Finally there is some year-end money to spend and they are replacing the old clunker monitors. About time!


Friday, September 25, 2009

TGIF

Just keep on knitting...

I have been pretty productive. The CPH for Julie is coming right along. I finished the fronts, back and sleeves. Now will have to join the shoulders and get to the hood. I am going to have a lot of yarn left over. The yardage requirement for the larger sizes in the pattern is way, way off!


In the meantime I whipped up a cute little vest from the Noro Mini Knits Book 2 by Jenny Watson:

A very quick knit in Noro Kureyon. The pattern calls for 200 grams for size small. I used more because I wanted to match the stripe sequence. This is color number 52. Stash yarn. At one point in time I was buying a lot of Noro yarn. Then I found out that a full-size sweater in Noro is a bit too colorful for me. A little vest like this is perfect. Just enough colors to jazz up a wardrobe but not too overwhelming.

Speaking of color. I dream of it. Dream of Color, I mean.


This is Dream in Color Dusky Aurora. I have had this for at least a year now. Every time I looked at it I said "Hmm, it's kind of dull." The colors are a little muddy. I wonder why I bought it. Then one day I decided to swatch it. Just to see what it would look like knitted up. I was really surprised how pretty it is knitted up. Perfect.

This is this sweater, from the Queensland Collection book 11 by Jenny Watson. I love her designs.


Front and back done. Now on to the sleeves.

My favorite color is blue. In fact I have too much blue stuff. It's time to deviate. Another trip to the stash came up with this.


Perfect red. This is Brooks Farm Solana. I picked this up a couple of years ago at the Maryland Sheep and Wool festival. Just two skeins -- 620 yards. I don't know why I only bought two skeins. I want to knit a Christmas sweater but that is not enough. It will have to be a shrug or a vest. Maybe a DIC shrug.

The red yarn I really want is this one:

Madelinetosh worsted in tart. It is out of stock everywhere. Hopefully EatSleepKnit will have some soon.

In the meantime I dusted off my wheel and picked up spinning again.

This is Mountain Colors in meadow. Very pretty jewel tones. Not my colors but it will make a nice shawlette gift, I think.

I will Navajo ply this. It is going to be gorgeous.

How many projects do I have ongoing? Now you know why I look forward to weekends!

91 knitting days until Christmas.


Thursday, September 24, 2009

Another shawlette

My latest addiction is knitting shawlettes/neckerchiefs with one skein of sock yarn.

This is Noro Kureyon sock. The pattern is Gaia, a free pattern on Ravelry.

Done in one week!

And gifted to BFF Pauline on her birthday.



Guess what I'm giving friends and family this Christmas!



Wednesday, September 02, 2009

Block it, block it, block it

It's amazing what a little water and soap can do.

Remember how I was fretting about the Central Park Hoodie.

It was never going to fit the intended recipient. I was ready to frog the whole thing and start over when I decided to give it a blocking. I have never fully blocked -- total immersion in water and stretching it out, that is -- before. Usually I just steam-ironed the edges prior to seaming.

Well, the CPH back took a plunge and Hey Presto!


The magic of blocking. I am blocking everything from now on.

Reassured, I started the fronts. I am knitting both sides at the same time.

I love this yarn. Dream in Color. I have two more sweaters to be knitted with DIC waiting to go.

Another WIP shaping up is the Gaia shawl.


This too will need serious blocking. But at least I don't have to worry about the size.