2010 in review

I did say I was done blogging here, but I put together these lovely 2010 FO mosaics and wanted to share. Links will take you to the original picture on Flickr.

Yarns I Spun, and the Fiber they Came From


1. Corduory and Flannel, 2. 4 oz superfine merino, 3. Fangorn, 4. 5 oz BFL, 5. Snobby Spinners, 6. Two-ply, 7. Superwash Merino, 8. Carolina Red, 9. Indigo-Dyed Fiber, 10. Indigo-Dyed Swirl, 11. Underworld, 12. Underworld Swirl, 13. Bonnie Lass, 14. Plump Three Ply, 15. Sticks and Stones, 16. Hand-Carded Rolags, 17. Gradient Skeins, 18. Fleece!, 19. Mini Navaho-Ply Skeins, 20. Gray Flannel, 21. Gray Flannel, 22. October 2010 High Society club, 23. FLUFF High Society, 24. Argyle, 25. Corriedale Top, 26. Dead Leaves, 27. Black Sea, 28. Fulled, 29. Humbug BFL, 30. 325 yards

My Knitted FOs


1. Twisted, 2. Ruffled Scarf, 3. Shawlette/Scarf, 4. Charcoal Daybreak, 5. Mitts, 6. Twin Bibs, 7. Pretty Thing FO, 8. Pinned, 9. Mocha Darkside Cowl, 10. Abstract Leaves Cowl, 11. Ammonite, 12. Lil' Bit yet again, 13. Sunglasses Case, 14. Vertical Keyhole Scarf, 15. Vertical Keyhole Scarf, 16. Planetarium and Peapod, 17. Jalepeno and Blackberry, 18. Fedora for the Trim, 19. Ruffle, 20. Back, 21. Jojo Hat, 22. Orange and Red with Black, 23. Dane Shawl, 24. Pinned, 25. Multnomah-esque, 26. Irish Hiking Hat, 27. Buttonholes, 28. Trimmed, 29. Holiday Birds, 30. On the Tree

I'm a Joiner

When it comes to knitting, I am such a joiner. Right now, I am participating in five -alongs of one type or another:

10 Shawls in 2010: A group trying to knit 10 shawls during the year. I have three completed (bending the rules a bit, I'll admit) and three on the needles, so I'm behind at the halfway point. But I'm almost done with grad school, so hopefully my record will improve.







Tour de Fleece: A Spin-along during the time frame of the Tour de France, which is July 3 to 25 this year. I've completed a skein of two-ply and have three singles ready for my first ever three-ply. I'm hoping to get a gradient spin in, but I suspect I won't have enough time to finish it by the deadline.



3-ply Challenge: The Snobby Spinners group on Ravelry is doing a three-ply challenge, and I'm spinning my first three ply (standard, not Navaho ply) for it. I have the singles ready and hope to ply tonight. This is part of Tour de Fleece too.

Sundara Summer Lace: The Sundara Yarn Love Group on Ravelry is have a lace knit-and-crochet-along. I started a new lace shawl, one of the 10 shawls in 2010, but I'm working more on other shawl projects right now.

Stashdown: Trying to knit up more of my stash than I am adding to it, with support from the The Yarn Snobs group on Ravelry. I joined this effort in April. On a yardage basis, I was just barely was successful in the second quarter of the year, but only because of several destashes. This quarter, I'm not doing great so far - I've fallen in love with hand-dyed fiber for spinning, and I think I'm about to rip out about 500 yards in a shawl in progress to redo the color striping.

And it's worth noting that my last post was about my efforts for the Ravelmpics/Knitting Olympics.

Above all, what I've really done is join Ravelry. And by doing so, I've found the online knitting presence I was looking for when I started this blog. I show my WIPs and FOs off there. I've made friends and found community - even some knitters I know in real life are on Rav too!

The timing of joining Rav coincided fairly closely with starting grad school, which meant my knitting blog suffered doubly. And now that I am almost done with grad school (I'm in my last quarter, yo), I've been thinking about how I want to spend my time, and the answer is definitely less time in front of a screen. So I am considering ending my knitting blog, as many others have done, either accidentally or on purpose. If there is any feedback, please do leave it, otherwise find me on Ravelry. And my free patterns are there too.

Olympics Finish Line

I had to abandon the Mara shawl when, after ripping out a week's worth of knitting (more on that in a future post), it became clear that I would not make the end-of-the Olympics deadline. Instead, I cast on the Lacy Baktus in some more of my handspun.



Pattern: Lacy Baktus by Terhi Montonen
Yarn: my handspun from superwash BFL from Cloudlover in the Fangorn colorway
Needles: US 8 / 5.0 mm
On Ravelry

This is a pattern where you weigh your yarn, knit half of it with increases every four rows, and then decrease every four rows. Well, I'm still pretty new at spinning, and weighing apparently wasn't the best judge of whether or not I'd used up half of my yardage. So, with one day left in the Olympics, I used up my yarn and still had at least three repeats to knit (#2 below) ... and so I frogged it back to past the center point to start the decreases earlier (#3).



I could have handled this with a bit more grace and a lot less stress if I wasn't knitting on a deadline. But I wanted the Ravelympics/Knitting Olympics medals, so here is the finished shawl/scarf (a little too big to fit in one frame):



It's a little shorter than I'd like, and I'm counting on the blocking (which certainly was not going to happen today too) to help stretch it out.

Winter Olympics

In honor of the Winter Olympics, I am participating in the related Knitting Olympics and Ravelympics knit-a-longs that began last night. I was originally thinking I'd do a series of small projects, and see what I could get done in 17 days, but the spirit of the Olympics is to challenge yourself, so I'm going big and going to attempt a full shawl. I may not finish, but I decided setting a big goal was success enough if need be.

I'm knitting Mara, a simple triangular garter stitch shawl with a ribbed and slightly ruffled edging. I'm planning on adding some shoulder shaping. Part of what makes this project medal-worthy is that I'm knitting it from my own handspun, Potentiality Handspun Falkland in a colorway I'm calling Blueberries and Chocolate. It's one pound and 1028 yards of fibery goodness.



I cast on last night. I planned to do this while watching the opening ceremonies, but as we don't have tv reception, I planned to watching the ceremonies via online streaming. I spent 40 minutes trying to find a feed that worked, and struck out multiple times and places. This was, let's say, extremely frustrating. In the end, I put a movie in the DVD player and cast on to a sweet and sappy coming of age story.

I am loving watching the colors change as I knit. I rarely knit in garter stitch, so I am impressed by the thick squooshiness of the fabric I'm making. And I'm just starting to add the shoulder shaping, so it's coming along great so far!

2009 in Review

In 2009 I became a bad blogger. I can point to graduate school as the primary cause of this, but now that it's February, and I have 8 months of school left, I think I have to admit defeat. So, rather than try to bring anyone who may still be reading this (and thank you if you are!) up to date on each project, I'm just going to show you the year in review.

Despite grad school, it was a productive year, although it looks like I concentrated on the accessories. More portable, and simple stitch patterns were definitely my friend this year.



1. Mini Sweater Trio, 2. Dolores Park Cowl, 3. Cowl'd and Frosty Morning, 4. "Camel" Cowl, 5. Spiral Cowl, 6. Herringbone Cowl, 7. Lichen Cowl, 8. Two-One Cowl, 9. Turn A Square Try #3, 10. Turn A Square Try #4, 11. Maine Morning Mitts, 12. Lollipop Hats, 13. Cabled Sampler Baby Blanket, 14. Sampler Baby Blanket, 15. Verona Shawl, 16. Deciduous Lace Shawl, 17. Barn Raising Quilt, 18. Susan Shawl, 19. Mitered Hanging Towels, 20. I-Love-Stockinette Baby Bibs, 21. Baby Goth, 22. Cotton Stripes Hat Trio, 23. Lace Ribbon Scarf, 24. Thorpe!, 25. Camera Sock, 26. Crofter's Cowl #1, 27. Crofter's Cowl #2, 28. Pretty Thing Cowl, 29. Toasty Mitts!, 30. Purl's Cashmere Cowl, 31. Vancouver Fog Mitts, 32. Gathered Scarf, 33. Hello Kitty Hat, 34. Scrunchable Hat, 35. Earflap Hat, 36. Ribbed Hat

I also had time for some spinning:



1. Corriedale Sliver, 2. Three Skeins, 3. 8 oz Eire Corriedale Pencil Roving, 4. Two Skeins of Eire, 5. 4 oz Shetland Top, 6. My Winding Wheel, 7. Green Yarns, 8. 4 oz BFL Top, 9. One Skein of Autumn Girl, 10. Hanspun, 11. Four Braids, 12. Falkland Fiber, 13. 4 oz of strips, 14. And then there were nine, 15. Blueberries & Chocolate

And I kept on accumulating yarn. The best:



1. Squoosh MCN in Brick, 2. Sundara Night Blossom, 3. CMF Wild Horses, 4. CMF Baby Camel/Merino, 5. Sweet Georgia Frozen, 6. Sweet Georgia Stillwater , 7. Graphite, 8. Mysterious Night, 9. Antoinette, 10. Aurora Borealis, 11. Fjord, 12. A Step in Time and Roasted Java, 13. Black Cherry ASM, 14. MadTosh Van Dyke Brown and Plucky Augustus, 15. Deadly Nightshade, 16. Pigeonroof Charcoals, 17. Sundara Poppy, 18. Charcoal over Blue Lagoon, 19. Deep Spaces, 20. Seasons Collection, 21. Black over Violet, 22. End of the Day FSM, 23. Brambleberry, 24. RPoGP, 25. Cashmere, 26. Fiberphile Batwings, 27. Arabian Nights, 28. Huckleberries FSM, 29. Delphiniums, 30. Rocky Shore, 31. Copper Rose, 32. Plum Pudding, 33. Smoke, 34. Chocolate Chambord, 35. Taj Mahal FSM, 36. Ember over Flame

Verona Shawl

For Project Spectrum Cardinal Directions North, and because a lot of stockinette stitch was very appealing to my grad-school-full brain, I knit up a Verona Shawl.



Pattern: Verona Shawl by Morehouse Merino Originals
Yarn: Morehouse Merino Lace in Hemlock colorway
Needles: US 9 / 5.5 mm
On Ravelry



It really was just what I needed. I could knit in class, while reading, when I was writing papers and needed and "thinking break." I've found stockinette is perfect for times like these.



This pattern is just a big stockinette rectangle. I had the yarn in my stash, more than is required (I used five balls, or 1100 yards) so I cast on 100 stitches. If I were to do it again, I might cast on even more - the rolling nature of stockinette means that it's not as wide as I'd like.



Given my desire to have it wider and the fact that I still have one ball of yarn left, I'm actually considering turning it into a L-shaped shawl. I'd do this by shortening what I have now, picking up stitches along one edge, and adding another rectangle at a right angle. This would be some more good grad school knitting. But I've got a few things on the needles to finish up first.

Candy Baby Hats

I picked up some multi-colored, mostly cotton yarn to make a matching set of hats for a co-worker expecting twins.



Pattern: One Skein Candy Baby Hat by Artful Yarns (on ball band of yarn)
Yarn: Artful Yarns Candy in the Lollipop colorway (9366)
Needles: US 6 / 4.0 mm
On Ravelry



Interestingly, the pattern is to knit it flat and then seam up the hat when done. I have to admit I didn't realize this - I mean, who would knit a stockinette hat flat? - and I thought it was just the little cord at the top that was knit flat. In any case, I knit it in the round, and finished with an i-cord rather than the nine-stitches-wide top flap per the pattern.

My co-worker was very happy with them, and now has three-month-old twins, a girl and a boy, so I'd say it was a success all around.

FO: Road Not Taken

I showed you this scarf first almost a year ago when I cast it on for easy travel knitting. I finished it at the end of last September (right as grad school started), but it took me, um, 9 months to get around to taking pictures. So, finally, here is:



Pattern: Road Not Taken Scarf by Lisa Lloyd
Yarn: Sundara sock yarn in Burnt Cranberry
Needles: US size 6
On Ravelry

This was an easy, pleasant knit. I found that I loved having a little bit of color to wrap around my face and a little bit of warmth around my neck last fall and winter. I especially loved to wear it with brown and white.



My only complaint is that the scarf curls a little, given the stockinette base and the fact that the lace pattern is three joined columns that easily fold at the joins. A very pretty pattern, though, and the hand-dyed yarn is divine.

FO: Falling Leaves Shawl

I finished this shawl many moons ago (July 2008, to be exact), although it took me a long time to block it. It was a holiday gift for my mother and so I waited until after December to post the FO, and then never did. So here it is:



Pattern: Falling Leaves Shawl by Katy Wight
Yarn: Berroco Ultra Alpaca in Oceanic
Needles: US size 7 / 4.5 mm
on Ravelry



This shawl is a stole, but all the decreases are k2tog, so the resulting fabric leans to one side, making a parallelogram shape. I thought it made an exceptionally photogenic project, especially with the shawl pin by Ruby Vegas.

A Slew of Sock Hop

Well, so much for getting caught up with my blogging in two weeks!

Back when I ripped my first try at the Pacific Waves Shawl, I found myself with lots of unused Crown Mountain Farms Sock Hop yarn. Since I had bought several of the skeins as remnants, and all the one I used were now in tiny little balls ...



... I decided I would look for stash-busting patterns to use up the yarn. My first project was the Turn-a-Square Hat by Jared Flood. By holding two strands of Sock Hop together, I was able to achieve heavy worsted weight, and adjusted for gauge accordingly. I ended up knitting this hat three times with different colorways before I finally called it good. The first attempt may have been the most photogenic while knitting ...



but I didn't like how I looked with white yarn right by my face. I tried a three-color combination, and finally settled on one colorway (San Francisco) where I let the striping in the handspun show off the square shape of the hat. It's much more subtle. My three attempts are the top row of this mosaic of Sock Hop projects:



I then knit a set of Maine Morning Mitts in the same Sock Hop colorway (though a different lot) to match (pictures #6 and #8). I love fingerless mitts, and expect this set will be the first of many. I wanted a cowl that would match the mitts, and couldn't find one on Ravelry that was just right, so I created my own easy-peasy pattern - the Two-One Cowl, pattern available for free download right here (as well as on the sidebar). Pictures are the second row of the mosaic.

I also knit a new little sunglasses case with leftovers - picture #9. Let me tell you, it's a joy to pull it out and use my handknitting on a regular basis! And last, but not least, I started a set of mini sweaters (picture #7) which will decorate my holiday tree this winter, and are a great way to use up tiny bits of yarn.

Crazy for Cowls

I apologize for it being so long since my last post. Grad school means the blogging is just not happening much. I am keeping my Ravelry up-to-date, though. I'm going to try to get caught up with posting FOs over the next week or two - I confess that I feel the pressure of being out of date!

Early in 2009, I knit a bunch of cowls in quick succession. Mostly as gifts, but I kept one, maybe two. I really enjoyed knitting cowls and foresee many of these in my future when the cold months roll around again.



1. Lichen Cowl by Lauren Weinhold in Crown Mountain Farms Sock Hop in the San Francisco colorway
2. Spiral Cowl by Keri McKiernan in Madelinetosh Pastoral in Nocturne (my favorite - the combination of the yarn and pattern is wonderful to wear)
3. Herringbone Cowl by Lauren Osborne in Sundara Yarn Aran Silky Merino in Charcoal over Blue Lagoon
4. Cowl'd and Frosty Morning by Kelly Herdrich in Malabrigo Yarn Chunky in Paris Night colorway
5. Baby Camel Cowl by Sonya Philip in Malabrigo Yarn Chunky in Tuareg colorway
6. Dolores Park Cowl by Parikha Mehta in Malabrigo Yarn Chunky in Burgundy

Lace Inspiration version 2

Do you remember this? (My post from June 2007 about how much I wanted to knit lace, and the shawls knit by others that were inspiring me to take the plunge.)

Welcome to January 2009:



1.Lace & Rhodedendron, 2. Fade Away, 3. Tuscany Shawl Detail, 4. Lace Leaf, 5. Shetland Triangle Detail, 6. Falling Leaves Shawl, 7. Winding Road, 8. Folded, 9. Diamonds

These are the shawls I've knit since June 2007. (Okay, Juno Regina is still a WIP). Next month will mark three years since I started knitting, and I'm pretty pleased to see myself accomplishing what I set out to learn to do and to create.

2008 in Review

1.Strawberry Hat, adult size, 2. Finished Kimono Shawl, 3. In the Breeze, 4. Tuscany Back, 5. Lace Leaf Back, 6. Sampler Baby Blanket, 7. Shetland Tied, 8. Draped, 9. Hat from Above, 10. Scrunchable Scarf, 11. A Happy Pair, 12. Pro Bono Handspun Hat, 13. Sidekick Again, 14. Pacific Waves, 15. Winding Road, 16. Shower Gift, 17. Juno Regina - one end down, 18. Finis!, 19. Koolhaas Again, 20. Alpaca Silk Cowl, 21. Stockinette Cowl, 22. Turn a Square Again, 23. Green & Grey Turn a Square, 24. Ribbing, 25. Scarf & Hat Set

It seems that the theme of my knitting year was lace and then some hats too. Looking back on my knitting goals for 2008, I'm happy to say that I have indeed knit lace triangles, designed and shared/published my first pattern, and did knit quite a bit from my stash.

My other big first of 2008 was learning to spin. Sadly, I haven't really maintained it since taking the classes. I borrowed a wheel from my knitting mentor, but I'm having trouble getting it to work, and with my second quarter of grad school just a few days away, it'll be three months before I have time to give it a try again.

As for my plans to knit from stash, I have also stashed quite a bit this year (but I am knitting from it, see?):



1. Burnt Cranberry, 2. Three Skeins, 3. Delicious, 4. 10 Skeins, 5. Crown Mountain Sock Hop Handspun Yarn, 6. Indigo-Dyed Super Sock Yarn, 7. Stacked, 8. Silky Wool, 9. Stonechat, 10. Indiecita, 11. Silk Lace, 12. Midnight Meadows, 13. Three Skeins, 14. Fingering Silky Merino, 15. Squoosh Dewberry, 16. Nocturne, 17. Silk Lace, 18. MadTosh Sock, 19. Lichen, 20. Norway Spruce, 21. Faubourg, 22. Gothic Rose, 23. Siren Two Sock Yarn, 24. Malabrigo, 25. Paris Night

On the yarn front, I've continued in the Sundara Seasons Club and have added the Madelinetosh Magnolia Society Club. I really enjoy the hand-dyed yarns and the surprise of packages in the mail. I also bought a bunch of handspun to knit with, and am finally get some projects finished with it. I stashed a bunch of Malabrigo Silky when the factory had a fire this summer, which I have yet to knit with.

Knitting goals for 2009:

• Knit a sweater (baby sweaters would count, but I have one in mind for me)
• Get the wheel working and do some spinning
• Stranded knitting (perhaps from some of that indie-dyed sock yarn)
  
• Share/publish another pattern or two
• Mainly, find time to knit while tackling four quarters of graduate school

I'm also looking forward to a class with Elsebeth Lavold at Madrona Fiber Arts in February and Nancy Bush at the Nordic Knitting Festival in March.

What are your knitting plans/dreams for 2009?

Great Feather & Fan Shawl Project of 2008

Seeing as today is the last day of 2008, I decided I really needed to get this shawl photographed and posted to the blog.



Pattern: Pacific Waves Shawl by Danielle Miner
Yarn: Sundara Aran Silky Merino in Charcoal over Blue Lagoon
Needles: US size 10 / 6 mm
On Ravelry

I originally started this shawl in Crown Mountain Sock Hop, but I didn't like how it knit up. Re-done in Sundara Aran Silky Merino in Charcoal over Blue Lagoon gave me pretty much exactly the shawl I wanted. The yarn is gorgeous, soft, and warm. And the color, totally delicious.



I was so delighted when I finished it that I started wearing it every where even though I hadn't blocked it. I think I've decided I like it as it is. I wouldn't mind if the scalloped edges would lay a little flatter, but I think blocking would stretch it out too much and make it much too large for me.



The other thing I really love about this pattern in the L-shape. There is a nice point that hangs down the back, but generous arms that lay across the front too. No slipping or bunching. I'm going to work on turning some of my favorite patterns into L-shaped shawls, I think.



A big winner in my book.

Knitting Calendar

And now for something completely different. I've turned some of my knitting photography into a calendar that is available on my CafePress store. A few of my favorite shots:





I apologize that it is so close to the new year - typically I make my calendars by the beginning of November - but the demands of grad school meant that I couldn't get to it until my break started. I plan to make greeting cards with the same images, but it may be spring break before I can really get to them.