Weekly WIP Report

I am back with the Weekly WIP Report after taking a week off due to sheer laziness. For the past week, I've been pretty obsessed with Coachella.



You gotta love a top that doesn't require any seaming. I put it on scrap yarn and it looks like it will fit. I'm giving myself two weeks (max!) to finish it so I can wear it before summer turns into fall.

I also cast on for a new pair of socks.



No pattern, just a simple 3X1 rib on the leg and foot. They're going to be for my mom so I have to make them quite a bit bigger than when I make socks for myself. I'm using Austermann Step, which I love.

I had planned on making Cablenet as my next socks but I opted for a simple pair instead because I really want to complete a pair of socks for the first month of SAM4 and I'm not sure I'll be able to finish cabled socks in one month. But I do see Cablenet in my future.

Oh and have you seen the preview for the fall 2007 issue of Interweave Knits? It looks fabulous. I'm in love with the cover pattern.

Oooh gifts!

Before I talk about the great package I received today, I will mention that I got the brand new Harry Potter book and that knitting will probably be set aside for a little while. I promise I won't post any spoiler on this blog, and I hope you guys will do the same.

So now, the gift. I got my last package from my Secret Pal, who happens to be Melanie. I am totally in love with everything she sent.



So what you see is yarn, fantastic organic chocolate (I already ate some!) and a fabulous-smelling soap.



The label says Huacaya Alpaca + Chiengora. Chiengora? Isn't that dog yarn? How cool! The only thing I'm worried about is that I'm allergic to dogs. I've been petting the yarn for a while now and I seem to be ok so I'm assuming either it's not really dog hair or I'm really allergic to dog's saliva and not the hair. Who knows. I have over 460 yards of it and I'd really like to make a shawl. I just need to find the perfect pattern (I accept suggestions).

Anyways. I hadn't planned on signing up for Secret Pal 11, but I just changed my mind. Sign-ups are up until July 31st, so visit this site if you want to play!

Oh I almost forgot to mention: I just cast on for another project : Coachella. I'll post WIP pics soon.

Roza!

I have a FO to present to you:



Pattern: Roza's socks, by Grumperina. Pattern in the Spring 2007 issue of Interweave Knits.
Yarn: Fearless Fibers sock yarn, in the Raspberry colourway.
Needles: 2.25mm bamboo dpns

I LOVE THEM! They fit perfectly, they are incredibly soft and just perfect. I will definitely buy Fearless Fibers yarn again (and I still have a skein in green for another pair!)

Odie asked me in a comment if I had received my Knitpicks book order. Well the answer is yes! I got them on Wednesday but I wasn't home so I had to go and get them at the post office and I was finally able to do it today. I got Folk Socks and Knitting Vintage Socks (both by Nancy Bush) and the first volume of Vogue Knitting Stitchionary. I only looked at them a little bit but I think I'll really like them.

Sock a Month Knitalong 3 is coming to an end and I signed up for Sock a Month Knitalong 4, which starts in August. I didn't knit a sock every month during SAM3, unfortunately, but I still enjoyed it very much. I encourage every sock knitter to join!

Weekly WIP Report

This past week was fun because I finally finished Isabella (see last post for pics). That meant I could start a new project. But instead, I decided to work on the Kiri shawl.



I know this is supposed to be an easy pattern and all, but it's really kicking my ass. I had to frog quite a bit (thank God for lifelines!) when I realized a big boo-boo and now I'm on the fourth pattern repeat. And I keep making mistakes. But I will finish it, I promise.

I've also made quite a bit of progress on the ouch-my-fingers-hurt scarf:



I really like the colour, and even the fabric, but the yarn doesn't feel good in my hands. I think I'm working on it fast because I really want to start the Woven Trellis scarf and I don't want to have too many projects at once.

I didn't work on Roza's socks this past week so I didn't bother taking pics. I'm hoping I'll finally be able to go to a knitting meet-up this Wednesday (I haven't been since April!) and I'll bring them and work on them there.

I may, or may not, cast on for Coachella this week...

It seems like the whole knitting blogosphere has been hit by the Mystery Stole 3 bug. I will admit that I was tempted. But I didn't sign up and now it's too late. I regret it a little when I see all the WIPs on everyone's blog, but I really should try to finish Kiri before I try something like this. There will be a Mystery Stole 4 someday, right?

Fini!

I finished Isabella! Finally! I only have bad unflattering pics to post because I'm all alone and had to take them myself.





(Now if this picture doesn't convince me to go to the gym tomorrow, I don't know what will)

Specifics:

Pattern: Isabella from Knitty, size small
Yarn: Katia Mississippi 3 (not sure how much I used)
Needles: 2.25 mm circulars (and 3.0 mm dpns for the armholes)

I'm not 100% happy with it. It's not flattering. The seaming is so-so. But I'm happy it's finished.

I'm not sure what I'm going to start next. I actually want to work a bit on the Kiri shawl and I want to finish the pink scarf before I cast on for the Woven Trellis one so I may not start anything new for a while. We'll see.

I'm still waiting for my books from Knitpicks (they shipped on the 9th so I think I'll get them soon). But I found Maggie Righetti's Knitting in Plain English at Chapters yesterday and couldn't resist buying it (they usually never have it in stock when I go). I love the book so far.

Weekly WIP Report

Hey all! This is going to be a picture-less post because my batteries are dead, so no camera.

I finished all the knitting on Isabella. I seamed. I did the hem. And then I did the armholes. I picked up stitches, knit, did the eyelet row knit. I did the other side. And then I realized that the armholes are now wayyyy to small to fit my big arms. So I'll have to redo them and try to pick up more stitches maybe? Or bind off with bigger needles? The armholes were fine before I did the picot edging thing. Oh well. I'll tackle this tomorrow or later this week. I'm sure I'll find a way to fix this.

I didn't work much on Roza's socks because I really wanted to finish Isabella. I've just turned the heel on sock 2. I'll pick it back up this week and should finish it soon. (BTW, Melanie from Lotus Knits asked me what yarn I was using. It's superwash merino sock yarn by Fearless Fibers. I love the yarn, it's very, very soft and a dream to knit with.

I also cast on for a very simple ribbed scarf using some Bernat Masala acrylic that my mom gave me last Christmas (the scarf will be for her). I am NOT enjoying knitting with this yarn, but I love the colours and the fabric itself is soft enough. Oh and I realize that I DO have a picture, though it's much longer than that now:



See? Nice colours.

I kind of regret starting it though because I've since bought the yarn for the Woven Trellis scarf (yes Robyn, it's the one that I'm making!) and I'd rather be working on that, but I don't want to have too many projects on the needles. But I'll probably cast on for it soon because it will be my "knitting meet-ups" project (when I finally am able to go again).

If any of you don't know, Knitpicks is having a book sale : 40% on all books (as of tonight, Sunday, it was still going on. I don't know when it ends). I couldn't resist (especially with the strong Canadian dollar!) and I bought three books. Knitting Vintage Socks, Folk Socks and Vogue Knitting Stitchionary Volume 1 : Knit & Purl. I eventually want to own all three Stitchionary, but I figured I needed to show at least a little bit of self-control! ;) Now that I've ordered, I see so many more books I would have liked to order, but I know I'll be happy with the ones I've chosen.

I'm ending with a totally off topic post : I can finally watch the first season of Heroes! I've heard good things about the show but I couldn't watch it when it aired because I only had four channels (two in French, two in English) on my old TV. But the season will air soon on a French channel and I was sent the first five episodes on DVD (I should get the rest of the season soon). They're in French, and I hate watching dubbed TV, but it'll have to do. At least I'll be all caught up for season 2 (and I'll watch that one in English). I watched the first episode tonight and it was great!

Order of the Phoenix (Knitting spoilers only ;) )

I went to an advanced screening of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix this morning and I'm happy to say that I really like it! I wasn't sure I would, because book 5 is my least favourite so far (I find angry Harry annoying). But it was good.

I'm not going to say more because I don't want to spoil it for anyone. But I can say that Hermione has a beautiful sweater in one scene. White with fair isle on the yoke. And I'm sure we'll see Weasley twins scarves popping up on the Web in the near future (they receive them on Christmas. Arthur Weasley has a nice one too). Luna Lovegood had a nice sweater too. A blue one, with a texture similar to Thermal from Knitty.

You know you're obsessed with knitting when you notice the knits at the movies :)

So today is a good day, but yesterday was bad, so bad. So I figured I needed some cheering up. I went to my LYS to buy the new Knitscene and I also picked up some Berroco Ultra Alpaca:







I'll be using it to make the woven scarf, on the cover of last winter's Vogue Knitting (I think it was winter). It's going to be a beautiful scarf and I'll be able to wear it with hat of every colour!

Have a nice weekend everyone!

So close to an FO!

So I've been a little depressed lately because everytime I think things can't get any worst at work, something new happens to prove me wrong. I need a new job. But I digress.

At least knitting makes me happy, right? And I'm very proud to say that I finished the seaming on Isabella. Bo-ring! I'm not 100% happy with the seaming, but it's getting better with each sweater I make. No pic yet though, because I still have that picot edging thing to do. The good news is that the top fits well. The bad news is that I don't like the left side of the lace part. It looks weird, so much so that I first thought I had dropped a stitch and not realized it, but nope. Oh well. I'll post pictures when it's all done.

I'm really itching to move on to another project though. I want to work on the Kiri Shawl, but I also want to start something new. Thanks to Ravelry, I now have 21 projects in my queue, and the list will probably double by the time I start something ;) Wanna see?











That's a lot of knitting...

Weekly WIP Report

After a week off, I'm back with the Weekly WIP Report (after having drank way too much wine. Any spelling mistake must be forgiven. Thanks).

I have made great progress on my two favourite WIPs this week. First, Isabella.



The knitting is done, the shoulder seaming is done and one side seam is done. It looks like it will fit but I'm still unhappy with the seaming. I really need to find a seaming class or teacher because I really suck at it. I still have the picot edging left to do and I'll admit it scares me a little.



Roza's socks are going fantastically well. I finished sock number one and I'm about midleg on sock #2. The yarn is beautiful and soft and I want to buy many more skeins.

I'll also take this opportunity to admit that I'm totally addicted to Ravelry and that it made me add a million projects to my queue. Like the Endpaper mitts. I had seen them before but now I've seen more FOs and I really want to make them, even though my first attempt at fair isle didn't go too well. Also, in an attempt to destash a little, I've added Coachella and the Odessa hat to my queue. Will they ever make it to my needles, only time will tell.

Now, my goal is to finish both Isabella and Roza's socks this week (hey, it could happen!) and then move on to the Kiri shawl, a shrug and a pair of socks.