Knitting on my mind

Having two projects on my needles really can't keep me from planning ten pieces ahead... the lace shawl that is a surprise for someone is coming along slooowwwly - it's challenging! I've gotten to the nupps and should have taken Gallia's advice - yarn over loosely because it's a drag to purl seven stitches together! The shrug should be done soon if I can find the time. I'm going to block the body/sleeves properly before adding the collar on.

Then there's...

'Cold Mountain' lace shawl... easier and more geometric than the one I'm working on now.

A baby version for some mini-practice before a real sweater... and yes, I do actually know a baby or two who might like it.

The REAL thing... I'm in love with the Lepidotera cardigan and think it would be fabulous in navy blue (don't you go copying me now...)

And the long promised hat for Ian (first one was gauged wrong and didn't fit :(

And speaking of knitting... I was visiting Orcas Island a few weeks ago and they're all artsy out there. When checking out a cafe/art collective thingamajig, I noticed some very simple knit hats (I could replicate them easily from looking at them) turned over the price tag and... WHAT THE @$#^?? $55!! Baby sweaters for $120... I get that they're handmade but all I could think was... I got to see how much I could get for a Bonnie-made hat on Etsy... Graduate knitting collective anyone?

The Stitch Goes On

In a flu-delerium fueled push, I finished TWO knitting projects in the last few weeks: my celtic cable neckwarmer and a diagonal lace pattern scarf that I started uh... over a year ago at a knitting circle put together by my friend and knitting guru, Amanda. Now I'm visiting my parents who just got back from Madrid and what kind of souvenir did they bring back for me? A scarf!! I definitely have scarf overload now so if I start any more they most absolutely must be gifts for someone.



The celtic cable pattern did show me that cables are a lot easier than they look! OK, I did have to rip out the first few rows several times before I got the hang of reading from a pattern but once I got in the groove it went really quickly and I am feeling inspired to try more cool-looking patterns.

I am actually working on a gift now, a 'chain link' pattern hat, but I can't say for who because then it would ruin the surprise! I chose a merino/mohair blend in a pretty teal color and I am thinking of doing a swirl hat with the leftovers and the leftover seafoam alpaca from the neckwarmer once I'm done. I did realize after I started though that this might not be the ideal yarn - it is a single ply which I now see doesn't show off the pattern as well as a multiple-ply yarn might. Oh well: Live and learn!

PS: Are you a knitting nerd? Are you on Ravelry.com? Be my friend - bonbr :)

Knitting!

Aw, I wish I had a better title for this post. But I HAVE recently gotten back into knitting. I used to knit during English class in high school. This wasn't a problem, because anyone who went to Berkeley High knows that Mr.Powers thought much deeper thoughts than "why is that student knitting while I'm talking?". He was probably thinking something like "man, I wish I was smoking a jay on Annapurna right now... wait, what was I telling these students again?", so he totally didn't mind. In fact, in spite of learning the purl stitch completely wrong, I have a hat that I knit in that class that I still wear and get compliments on today.
Now that I'm in graduate school with an adviser who loves hearing about the Big Picture, it has become nicely soothing to come home at night and follow straightforward and unambiguous instructions, be detail oriented and end up with something that looks like the picture. My latest project is a baby blanket for my friend's new son. It's a very simple pattern - just stockinette and a pattern in the opposite stitch, but it's big and I'm slow so it's taken a long time (baby Jonah is already three months old...) But now I only have ten more rows! Then it's on to something more challenging like learning cable patterns and lace stitches.