So close!

This is where I am with Mariah. It actually looks like a sweater now!



Only 12 more rows and then I'll get to start the hood. And then all the knitting will be finished. Yippee!

I went window shopping on Knitpicks today. I don't want to order anything right now (or else I'll be too tempted to cast on for a new project) but if I did, I would order:

10 ball of Wool of the Andes in Sapphire Heather. That would be for what's probably going to be my next sweater (a very simple cardigan from a past issue of FCEK)

2 balls of Knitpicks Simple Stripe in Autumn.

Knitpicks classic circular needles in size 1 (one 24" and one 32/).

I would also order colour cards for Andean Silk, Palette, Merino Style and Shadow & Gossamer. I badly want a Wool of the Andes colour card but they don't seem to sell them anymore. Bummer.

Anyways, all of this would bring me to a grand total of 41.86$ + shipping (I'm in Canada so no free shipping for me, sadly). It's still pretty cheap.

*sigh* A girl can dream.

If everything goes according to my plan, I'll make an order in mid-August so I'll be sure to have to yarn on hand when I'm allowed ready to start a new project. Of course, by then I'll probably have changed my mind about what the next project will be so I may decide to order something else entirely. In the meantime, the virtual order will remain in my Knitpicks cart.

Month of the UFOs

As I've mentionned before, it is my goal to finish my current projects before I start new ones (though the fair isle sock doesn't count as a current project, I'm still not sure I'll ever finish it, let alone its twin). To keep me motivated, I joined this:



I invite all of you who want to finish those beautiful objects to join too!

I was hoping to post progress pics, but I'm at my mom's for the weekend and I forgot my camera. But here's an update anyways:

Mariah: Things are going well, but I have to tell you, those yoke rows are going a lot slower than I expected. Of course there's over 300 stitches on the needles (the good news is that I decrease every right side row). I'm not sure I'll finish it before the end of my holidays, but I'll try.

Kiri: I worked on it today during the hour long bus ride to my mom's. I love that thing, which is good because it's going to be almost the only thing I'll work on after I finish Mariah.

I say *almost* because of course I'll need to cast on a pair of socks (or maybe I'll go with slippers) so I have something to bring to knitting meetups. But new socks don't count as new projects (as long as I don't have more than one OTN, fair isle socks non included).

I got an email from Elann this week about a sale on this nice hemp yarn. I was very tempted since I remember a beautiful pattern made with hemp in a back issue of Interweave. I resisted, though, because I have many things on my dream knit list already. The colour I wanted (raspberry) is all gone anyways.

I'll end this post by saying that I love the orange sweater on the front of the new Knit Simple. Love it.

Go Red Sox!

The red socks are DONE. I love the colours and I'm currently wearing them even though the weather is not really one for warm socks. My appartment is pretty cool though so I'm not sweating.

I feel like I hadn't had a finished object to post in forever! In fact, when I uploaded the red socks pic in my 2006 finished objects gallery, I realized I have only completed seven projects this year so far. It's crazy.

In comparison, last year I finished something like 20 projects.

I mean, my goal isn't to knit more and more each year, so it's really no big deal. Mariah was (is!) a challenging project for me and I prefer to finish it than to knit 20 hats and scarves. I guess I was just surprised today to see so few finished objects so far this year.

I am happy to say, though, that Mariah will definitely be finished this year! My goal was to have her done by August 6th and if I don't get distracted by other projects life, there should be no problem. In fact, I finished (re)knitting the sleeves! So now I only have to join all the pieces and knit the yoke and hood. And sew the zipper.

In other news, the fall previews are up for Interweave Knits and Vogue knitting. They've actually been up for quite sometime now (especially the IK ones) but I don't think I've mentionned them yet. Both issues look promising. IK once again have great patterns by Montreal based designers : Véronik Avery, Mona Schmidt and Kate Gilbert.

Other good news (or bad news, from the wallet's point of view): KnitPicks has new yarn AND new colours for some of their old yarns. I WANT THEM ALL!

Books!

I received the books I ordered from Elann.




I love the way Elizabeth Zimmermann writes. And the afghan project is something I'd like to do someday. Will I ever get around to it? Who knows!

Projects update

Mariah:
Sleeves are going well. I'm actually a little bit further than that. My goal is to finish them by the end of next week, but I'm not sure it's going to happen. We'll see.

Kiri: I've only knitted a few row of it since the last time. I'm too much into Mariah to even think about finishing this one right now.

Red Socks: I turned the heel and am now on the gusset on sock #2.

To blog or not to blog

There's currently a thread in the Knitters' review forums on knitting blogs and the fact that there are a lot of them. The original poster thinks there are too many uninteresting ones. I guess it depends on what you think is interesting. I know some people love blogs with techniques and tutorials. I like them too, though they aren't the ones I read regularly (I usually find them when I'm googling a particular technique, and boy am I glad they exist).

I like to read about other people's projects. Mostly because it gives me inspiration (not that I need any new projects ideas right now ;) ). For instance, I have now added this cardigan to my list of future projects. Not because I like it so much on the pattern picture, but because I've seen it finished on this blog (see her 4th of July post). Gorgeous!

I also like to read blog posts on project I'm currently making. If you've made Mariah, I've probably read your blog. Seeing pictures of it finished motivates me to work on mine.

I also like to read knitting blogs simply because knitters are so damn cool and nice. Saying there are too many knitting blogs is like saying there are too many flavours of ice cream. You can choose to eat only vanilla if you want, but I like variety (and now I'm craving a mint & chocolate chips ice cream cone).

Projects update:

Mariah: I've picked it up again! I know that some people don't like KnitPicks's Wool of the Andes, but I personally adore it. I've done quite a bit of progress on the sleeves in the past week. My goal is to finish them in the next two weeks and to finish the sweater by the time my holidays are over (I'll be off from work from July 28 to August 5). I think it's a pretty reasonnable goal.

Kiri: I frogged half of it and I don't think I'll touch it much until I'm done with Mariah. But I will finish it, I promise.

Red socks: I'm almost up to the heel flap on the second sock. I love them!

Completion and destruction

I didn't feel too good and the end of last week so I ordered two books : Barbara Walker's Learn to Knit Afghan and Knitting Without Tears by Elizabeth Zimmerman. I should receive them sometime next week or the one after.

Ongoing projects update:

Mariah: Still haven't touched it. That should change too cause I have a feeling I'll put the shawl aside for a while (see below).

Kiri shawl: See that pic:



That was the shawl after, I don't know, six repeats or soo. Notice the little pale blue thread close to the needle? That's a lifeline. I religiously used lifelines for these six repeats and then I got cocky. I hadn't really made a big mistake so far, so why use lifelines? I'm now on the 9th repeat and I've done something wrong that I can't identify. As much as I don't want to rip it all back to that six-repeat lifeline, I think it'll be easier to do so than to try to find the mistake and fix it. :(

Red socks: Of course, with the shawl catastrophe, I needed an easy knit so I worked on the sock.



And the rib is almost done on sock #2.