Merry Christmas - pssst...it's a sale!

Sweet Fiber yarns is having a holiday sale - 30% off all purchases over $30 (before shipping) - expires December 31, 2012. Canadians - shipping cost is $6 and don't forget there's HST.
Also, the Knit City colorway is still available on the Super Sweet Sock base, and also the Cashmerino Worsted base.

Free pattern from Tin Can Knits on ravelry.

and I'll be updating my Enabler tab as I see more sales, so if you get an update, and don't see any new changes to the Pages, look on that tab.

Happy Holidays.

Ta Da - # 12 of 12 Done!

Bound-off, finished, blocked, and pics -



Project: Blue Water Mahogany Cardi
Pattern: Water and Stone by Veera Valimaki
Yarn: Verdant Gryphon Bugga in Dyeing Poison Frog (3.16 sk)
Needles: US 6 SN,
Size 38" for the 36" - but I adjusted the stitch count to fit me, rather than blindly following the pattern.
Time taken: 7 weeks elapsed from swatching to bind-off. Mostly knit in the evenings, weekends, and some lunch hours for the parts of the body. 1-1.5 weeks in there, I also took a break from knitting as I was doing a lot of keying for work..Need to save my wrists.

Mods: The pattern is intended to be mid-thigh, I shortened this so it's a length I'll really wear year round. I used a provisional cast-on for the start. I also did a twisted rib instead of a rib, and matched the length of the cuffs to the hem, and I added an inch at the waist, since I'm long-waisted. Bind-off is using JSSBO, purl side on the cable portion so it curled less.

The yarn softened up so much and it's so drapey, it's really lovely, and the yarn shows off the cables nicely. I really enjoyed knitting this pattern, and made the cables without a cable needle. It took a bit of attention at the beginning to make sure the shoulders were set up correctly, and I was a bit frustrated that the design required you to pick up the sides of the starting piece, but it turned out great, and it's a necessary evil to place the cardigan on the back so that it sits below the plain stockinette piece.

Details:

Back cable and neck (left), and double cable on the front (right):



Front cable (left) and cuff (right):

 

I had hoped to finish this by the end of the year, and ended up finishing earlier than expected.
So, now I'm swatching for my next love - Pull me Over, with SG Codex from my stash (a BFL-silk blend). It's worsted weight, so a  bit of a shift from the last project. Colorway is Captain Nemo which is a blue-green teal..more on the green side to my eye than blue.

Knitting the Sleeves

I've had a few revelations this week... I realized tonight that I have been blindly following patterns for sleeves. The one I'm currently knitting says to decrease every 3". This is too steep for my arms. It seems that I should be knitting 3-1/4" to 4" before decreasing and I should stop before I complete all of the decreases. I came home tonight and measured my arm, and around my elbow. I will definitely have to try it on again before completing the next decrease row.

Other discovered these last few days - Phillips' Ginger Ale Soda - so yummy! It's cool and gingery without the regular bit of ginger ale like Canada Dry...veerrry nice and Ottavio Italian Bakery. I had no idea they have a coffee shop there and food. I succumber to a loaf of bread, some Prosciutto, and lovely soft cheese - soooo yummy! then, went back for a few bottles of soda.

This weekend - to put up my Christmas tree (I hope); also, Christmas Moss St. Market and a few errands. Hopefully, good weather - it's still in the 50s these days (yay!)

Also, note to self..I'd like some more HUE tights.

Cabling at the hem

I've reached the cable portion for the Water and Stone Cardi. Actually, the modified length I'm making. The pattern makes this cardi mid-thigh. I just don't wear the longer sweaters year round; I'm sure I'll get more use out of a cardi which is shorter, so I've knitted to 15" from the armhole (instead of going onto 18"), and I think I may only knit an inch or two of ribbing, instead of 4".

I'm thinking of knitting a twisted rib though to make it more decorative than a regular rib.

At the waist

Front:



Back:



I just re-looked at the pattern on this, and the length is 41" which is a wee bit long - not sure I'll knit down that far - I'd be sitting on it.

Yarn is really lovely, and I'm enjoying the cables.

Did I forget to post a pic of my finished Color Affection ?

Lovely cables

I'm making progress on my cables, and really loving knitting with this yarn.
The fabric was too loose at the gauge of the pattern, so I went down to a US6, and I need to knit 2 more inches to the underarm, since I have more rows to reach the same distance.







My Eye of Newt Arrived - lovely and more pink than I'd expected:



and I finally seamed my sleeves:



The weather's dipping below 50F these days, so I'm digging out my knitted garments. Need to finish adding buttons to my Fall Forest Cardi. I found some lovely metal leaves last month, so these will go well together.

Also, destashing again so I'll put up a page when I've updated all the pics, and adjusted prices for local pickup.

Oooh Oooh - A Bit of Excitement

(a) I'm finished my Modern Neopolitan Color Affliction aka Color Affection Shawl (#10)

It blocked out huge..now waiting for good light to take a picture.

(b) Swatching for Water and Stone - a lovely cabled cardi, with VG Bugga in Dyeing Poison Frog - a beautiful blend of blues and mahogany.

(c) I submitted this photo for  the 5th Monday Customer Photo Inspiration Contest  at Verdant Gryphon - the theme was samhain / Hallowe'en / Celebration of Death Festivities from other cultures - and it won with the most votes (found on google images):

 

Gryphon translated it into these lovelies:

Eidos: The Morrigan

Bugga: Eye of Newt

  Traveller: Samhain and Mondegreen: Ooh, ooh, windshield woman:

More info here on their blog from October 25, 2012

It's like a love child between Peacock Butterfly and Crimson Dropwing:

 

All snail photos copyright by Verdant Gryphon.

Silky Leaves shawl/shrug?

Silky Leaves Shawl/Shrug from the front - with the coppery tones up.

Back of Shrug/Shawl

Silky Leaves Shawl with blue at neck edge.

In progress pics

Codex Leaves Shawl
 
The codex leaves had started like this:



and ended up in strips. The placement of the strips was puzzling because I'd planned to alternate variegated and solid strips. Unfortunately, it ended up looking like a mish mash of clashing colours overall. So, I experimented with pairing the strips -





Pairing them seemed to be more pleasing.



When I crocheted them together though, they became a little more 3-D, and the crochet being not as flexible meant the strips were not as long. Still need to take a finished pic. Now that the weather's changed, I hope it to be soon, but I don't know when.

Color Affection

Almost done - I'm on the last 2" band, and then, the stretchy bind-off.
The colours are - Chocolate Crinkle (a dark brown, not as dark as I'd hoped), Bisque (brown-based creme, and En Vogue, a dark red-pink):



It's too big to take a great pic on my little table - so here's the top for the colour-



and the bottom where I've added the En Vogue pink-red colorway






None of the colours look as dark as they are here, but it's a very pleasing combination in person. Still can't believe that I enjoyed this since it was all garter. Great for knitting in groups and while watching shows.

Silky Leaves done - #9

I finished off crocheting the codex leaf strips together, and put it around my shoulders - it looks awesome..just weaving in ends now, and hope to find my camera so I can get some pics up.

I ended up crocheting every other stitch, or every three stitches to allow for some flexibility of the leaf length; otherwise, it's just too tight, with the silk in addition to the crocheted stitches not providing much give.

Color affliction is still going along - I have about 30 stitches left for short rows - which is about 10 stripes or so...I think this is what I counted last. Because it's short rows and you only pick up 3 stitches each times, it starts to drag..I'm hoping it'll add another 4" in length though, otherwise this will be a pretty skinny long scarf...winding around my head for days.

Hope everyone is having a Happy Thanksgiving.

Good progress: Color Affliction

I'm making good progress on my Color Affliction these days..although I'm doing short rows and adding just 3 stitches each time. I can see why this part drags on. Still have about 3 or 4 repeats of 8 rows, so another chunk. I'm loving the dark pink, chocolate brown and creme colorway combo.

hopefully, pics this weekend.