Lace it up

So Ms Tara advised me to just give in to the lace lust and I'll admit I was tempted, but it wasn't until I got a comment from Robyn that I really got THE CALL.

Robyn casually mentionned hosting an Ishbel knitalong and I, not knowing what I was in for, looked up the pattern on Ravelry.

Instant. love. I want. I need. Must make now.

I can't fight it. I must give in to the call of the lace.

I joined the knitalong and will cast on on June 19. Anyone else want to join? You know you want to...

Goal #3! Hat trick completed!

We have a hat trick, ladies and gentlemen! Three hats finished in January and I'd still have time for a fourth one (I think I'll stop at three though).



Pattern: Short-Row Hat by Veronik Avery.
Yarn: AmiAmi Faith
Needles: 4mm, US6

I love the hat. Love. But I'm a bit sad because I've used my last skein of AmiAmi Faith. I love that yarn and it's not available anymore (as far as I know, someone correct me if I'm wrong). I'm telling you, if anyone has some skeins of this in their stash, I would be ready to buy or trade for it. I love it that much. This is my fourth Short-Row Hat and they always look gorgeous.

I think I'm suffering from the winter blues again. It happens every winter, but it usually starts at the end of February/beginning of March. It sucks, but I'll manage.

To make me feel better, I decided to shop (of course). I hadn't ordered from Knitpick in a while (I try to buy locally when I can), but I needed some new size 7 tips for my Options set. While I was there, I got new DPNs, a book and a bit of yarn. It should be here any day now. More details (and pics) when I get it!

Two goals for me, two goals for him

Pattern: Zig Zag Beanie, by Dawn Leeseman (IK, Fall 2008)
Yarn: Some acrylic leftover... Bernat satin I think.
Needles: US 8/5 mm and US 9/5.5 mm circulars, US 9/5.5 mm DPNs
Modifications: I cast on for 90 sts instead of 80 because 80 looked too small and I didn't want to change needle size. I followed the rest of the instructions as is and improvised a bit for the decrease.

So this was HAT #2 for the Hat trick knitalong. Only one left! I'm wearing my Habs jersey on the pic because we had tickets to see the Habs play against the Capitals at the Bell Centre tonight. Once again, I was lucky to see a fantastic game. We won 5-4, the game was very exciting (Sergei Kostitsyn scored the winning goal 20 seconds before the end of the game!) and my man, Tomas Plekanec, scored 2 goals and was named first star of the game!



Now I need to choose a new pattern for hat #3!

She shoots, she scores!

I scored the first goal of my hat trick this afternoon, while watching the Habs play against the Panthers (we're ahead 5-3 right now). I would have finished it last night during the Canada-Russia game (what a game too!), but I didn't have the right DPNs.



Pattern: Madge by Jillian Moreno
Yarn: Classic Elite Yarns Desert, colour 2027
Needles: US9/5.5 mm circulars and DPNs
Modifications: The hat would have been way way way too short if I had knit it as is. After I finished the 19 rows of the pattern, I knit rows 1-10 again before starting the decreases.

Now I need to decide what my goal #2 will be. Stay tuned!

Hat trick!

Is there anything more fun than starting the new year with a challenge? I'm not taking any resolution this year, but I am participating in the HAT TRICK challenge with members of the Puck this! group on Ravelry.

The goal is to do a hat trick, i.e. to knit three hats, during the month of January. Details here. I was already planning on knitting hats to destash this winter so this is the perfect challenge for me.

I started tonight by casting on for Madge (too bad the Habs lost while I was knitting) and I'm confident I'll finish it during the next couple of days. It's a pretty quick knit. Pictures coming up soon!

Summer of socks 2008

These days, all I want to do is knit socks. Mostly because I want to use my sock yarn, so I can buy new sock yarn without feeling guilty.

So I decided to join in on the fun of Summer of Socks 2008. It starts on June 21st, until September 1st.

I didn't enter the "most knit socks" contest, because I'll be lucky if I finish two pairs (I am still planning on knitting other things). I also didn't enter the "vacation" contest, because my vacation will be in September, most likely.

I just decided to set my own personal sock knitting goals. I would like to finish the second Cable net sock (I'm actually hoping to finish it before the Summer of Socks starts, but we'll see). And then I'd like to knit three pairs of socks. Not sure I can do it, but I sure will try.

I WILL NOT BUY ANY SOCK YARN UNTIL THE END OF THE SUMMER.

The Lotus Yarn sock club yarn doesn't count because it's already bought. Oh and I still have some gift certificate from Effiloché that I might use to buy sock yarn. Ok screw what I just wrote, I will most likely buy sock yarn. Which is why I need to knit socks.

Speaking of which, did you see the Knitty surprises? The sweater is very nice (Tempest), but I don't think I'll ever knit it. But the socks (Froot Loop) are already in my queue!

Ok look at the time. I need to get ready for work (of course that happens when all I really want to do is look at patterns online or knit!)

Honey, I'm hooome!

Ok so I haven't updated in a while. Bad blogger.

The past few weeks have been odd in that I had no desire to knit. I did knit a little, but most of the time I just didn't feel like it. I still loved to look at patterns online and to read knitting blogs though. But that's why I didn't write in what, over a week now? Almost two maybe. Ouch.

I think I'm getting my knitting mojo back though. I went to Knit Night last night and I had a good time. We switched locations and went to a place called Java-U and it was great. So much better than the Second Cup we usually go to! The power went off for about 10 minutes at some point and we got to knit by candlelight which was nice.

I've been working mostly on theCable Net socks these days:



I'm telling you, they are the most complicated socks I've ever worked on. It's not that it's difficult, it just took me a long time to remember what every symbol in the chart means. Now that I do, it's going a bit quicker. Still, I don't think I'll finish them any time soon!

Tara and Needs-a-blog-Kate decided to do a Cardigan for Merry knit-along and I decided to virtually join them just because it's so damn cute! I looked through my stash and found some Bernat Softee Baby that I didn't know what to do with so I think I'll use it for this project. I'm not super crazy about acrylic but I don't mind using it once in a while. The colour is a super bright blue. I think it's even brighter than the one I used for the Cardigan of doom (I'll update you on that project in another post).

I'll end this post with a link to the spring preview of Interweave Knits. Looks like it's going to be a good issue!

M.I.A.

Sorry I've been missing in action lately. I couldn't do a WIP report because my camera has no battery and things have been CRA-ZY! Everything should be back to normal soon and I'll be back to regular blogging.

In the meantime, check out the the Fearless Knitting KAL, hosted by Melanie of Lotus Knits! (who has a contest going on on her blog btw, check it out!). It's a year-long KAL and the goal is to conquer your fears. You want to knit socks but DPNs scare you? You want to try fair-isle? You want to master steeking? This KAL is for you. We'll encourage each other to learn new skills in 2008.

I already have a few goals in mind, but I usually post them in my end-of-the-year post so they will have to wait.

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?

Socktopia!

I was planning on making a pair of socks a month this year and I found out there's a cool knitalong that could help me accomplish just that.



I couldn't resist joining Socktopia. I just love challenges. I have no idea what I'll do for January just yet, we'll see.

Speaking of socks, I'm LOVING the Monkey socks and I'm LOVING the Austermann Step yarn I'm knitting them with even more. I'm already almost done with the first sock, I just can't get away from it. But I really need to take a break and get back to the blue cardigan. I started redoing the front yesterday and I just couldn't get into it. *sigh* I must finish it.