Shawl Hiatus and Postal insanity

We had a burst of summer weather last weekend and even just yesterday, beautifully sunny on one side of the street, and a big storm cloud moving in from the northwest brought down torrential rain. Victoria weather is just so weird. Still hoping for continued sunny weather above the 60s.

I've been knitting up shawls the past few months in the most satisfying way; but now, I'm stalling. I finally broke into a skein of wollmeise to make "Sweet Jazz" a short-row scarf with eyelets and points. just about bored myself to tears on the short row part. The color is a burgundy-red-plum-purple combo, but the yarn is just not as soft as I've felt or expected. Hopefully, will soften up when I wash if I can get that far.

I also re-started the Matisse Goodale because it's a beautiful bright blue, soft and plain stockinette. Finally joined the raglan shaping and knitting the front now.
I have about 3 or 4 projects at 75-80%..as each one "needs attention". Here's the blue




Also on my mind, the frustrating Canada Post situation. I'm one of the few (perhaps) people who still use the post office to mail packages. I had ordered a birthday present for a friend at the beginning of the month and that is stuck somewhere now. Also have some yarn trades stuck somewhere. Hopefully, the government will pass back to work legislation soon. I understand wanting to have a yearly increase that covers cost of living increases, but it is unreasonable imo during an economic downturn. The whole BC government tightened its belt for 2010-2011 0-0 increases, why shouldn't the feds do the same ?

Shaelyn Revisited

The Shaelyn shawl was bound-off too tightly the first time, so it puckered up. so, I unknit the bind-off and re-bound off using the JSSBO bindoff (Jennie's super stretchy bind-off), and re-blocked the points, although I couldn't find my pins.



and front view



Pics taken at Mile Zero for Knit in Public Day, June 11, 2011. Gorgeous sunny day which coincided with Beacon Drive-in having their 53rd anniversary.

Brass and Steam

On a shawl kick and whipped up the Brass and Steam shawl which is mostly stockinette with a few eyelet rows in Sanguin Gryphon Bugga Great Purple Hairstreak - a lovely royal blue with bits of royal purple and red-purple mixed in. The skein is 412 yards, and it was getting to be a tedious knit, so I knit 3 sections of stockinette, instead of the 2 recommended and bound off with just 60 yds to spare.



Pic taken in direct overcast sunlight at Abkhazi Garden June 5; camera setting was on Natural, so the color looks a bit washed out.
Here it is on my bed:




Started on sleeves of Opulent raglan. It's still looking and feeling wonderful. Still bleeding, but met up with Megan Bartley two weekends ago and during my short stay in Vancouver week before last and she suggested using nailpolish remover to get the red out of my fingernails - go figure - why didn't I think of that ?

Splurged on a skein of yellow - sweet georgia cashluxe fine in saffron for the Gingko Shawl which is in my queue. That could be up next. Guess I just want summer to come. Finally the weather's in the 60s.

May

I was working diligently on the Opulence cardi, finished the hem, and started on the sleeves, but was tired of washing red from my nails, so I took a break for a week and whipped out project 4 of 12 - trying out Handmaiden Mini Maiden in Color Sangria - a red-orange, with hints of pink and orange that turn up in sunlight. Fascinating to knit the curves but a bit disappointing when you find you have to turn it upside down. Also, discovered that binding off loosely in a straight line is a different story altogether when binding off on the hypotenuse of a triangle. A bit of puckering that goes away when I drape in on my easy chair - might work draped over a shoulder this way-



Here's the back -



People raved to me about this yarn, and while it is soft (merino-silk 50-50),it doesn't seem as lofy or soft as one of the MCN yarns, or camelspin.

Opulence and Spring

18" in on front.
Yarn is Sundara Aran Silky Merino in Ruby Port - lovely silk-merino.

This pic doesn't do the color justice, as I took the pic in my mirror to show the fit so far.



This color shows the rich ruby red, and the curves at the waist:



-Only drawback is the yarn bleeds as I'm knitting. I'm pretty used to washing my hands after each round of knitting. This was the first color is Sundara's Year in Color Limited edition only available for a year, before she changed her mind and brough it back as a Permanent Colorway. Gorgeous and opulent.

Also working on my Spring Damselfly socks, Cat Bordhi Style - toe up and knitted to the heel, then, to open up and knit the cuff last. too bad I don't have more hands.

Here's the toe -


and what I've knit so far -


Knit in Sweet Georgia Cashluxe Fine in Peashoot

Currently working on two knitting projects - socks with Sweet Georgia Cashluxe Fine in Peashoot - I know, green again, but spring is finally here, sunny weather and sometimes warm.



The pattern is from the Art & Sole Collection by Janel Laidman...a lovely damselfy (like a dragonfly) graces the cuff. Knitting using Cat Bordhi's method and re-fitting with a new template. After cutting a first template, I realized that the template wasn't the width or length of my foot, so I've re-cut it and now, it's much better. I am at the point of decreasing for the heel, so hopefully get to the interesting pattern knitting soon.

Also working on the Opulence Raglan from Wendy Bernard. This is a elbow-length pullover with a cable running down the front. I'm finally busting my stash and using Sundara ASM Ruby Port which I brought when Sundara first introduced her "Year in Color" November or December 2009. The colors were supposed to be not repeatable for at least a year. Now, she's buckled and it has become a permanent colorway available regularly. I love knitting with the aran silky merino base, but it's a deep red which bleeds off on my hands as I knit. I'm getting used to having inky fingers again (a throwback to my rubberstamping days). I'm on the 2nd ball and in some plain rows at my waist before increasing.

It's a hard color to photograph - like opulent red with bits of black -

March 2011 - A bit of green

I wrapped up three projects in March -

Snug Flaming Red Hat using Ursa's Mama Quilla Worsted (Gaia's Colours) in Brigid a bright flaming red. This yarn is similar in weight to Malabrigo Worsted, but not as soft, and not nearly as elastic. It seemed like the pattern also lent itself with its twisted stitches to a tight knit.



Green Leaves Shawl - saroyan, a free pattern where lovely curly leaves knit as you go. Yarn is Sanguin Gryphon Bugga in Signatus Lacewing colorway - a lovely green with bits of blue in it. Really very soft yarn and a lovely knit.

Here it is from my back -


and in detail...



Last but not least - this Sweet Mezquita Shawl - pattern from Zen Yarn Garden, and a sweet soft knit in Sweet Georgia Cashluxe Fine in Tourmaline - also green, but a brighter louder green -





The icing on the cake - Roxanne Yuen of Zen Yarn Garden has included my project picture (above) on the project. It was the first time I blocked using the Anti-Fatigue mats from Wal-mart, pinned to a towel on top of the mats. Blocked and set overnight. Lovely points and turned out beautifully.

Breathing new life...

...into my knitting. I've decided to go with the flow..if I feel like casting on, I'm casting on. Forget monogamous knitting. done that, it doesn't work for me. If a project gets snagged, I find myself dipping into the doldrums and not inspired. i'm back to knitting multiple projects to keep my interest.

other than leaves which I was bringing for knit night knitting - I started this Sweet Mezquita Shawl - looks like leaves..and another green (although the yarn looks blue in the skein) very much an electric green-blue - it's Sweet Georgia Cashluxe Fine in Tourmaline, and it is very luxurious to knit with.

Can you tell ?

I'm hankering for summer - makin' some leaves - and as some say, I have my "knitting mojo" back.



The pattern is Saroyan, free and an enjoyable knit so far.
The yarn is Sanguin Gryphon Bugga in color Signatus Lacewing. Lovely.

Here's the inspiration for some summer sun...

Restarted Kelmscott

I finally sat down the other night and ripped back the 2" on my left and right fronts of the Kelmscott. Actually, I unknit the 10 or so rows in lace, as the yarn is very sticky and would not have been fun to frog. I did it while watching a movie - Despicable Me! - a light hearted cartoon - very fun and entertaining. It made the unknitting go faster.

I'm not happy with any of the pattern designers for the patterns I'm currently knitting. Very vague instructions - oops did you want detailed instructions for that ?
The kelmscott requires that you decrease at the neck in pattern as you bind off for the armhole - fortunately, any weird goof ups on my part should hopefully be hidden by the ginormous collar that fans out on the shoulder area.

Also started ysolda's snapdragon mitts. The chart looks straightforward and I'm knitting in a yummy superwash worsted yarn from Ursa's Gaia's Colours, but somehow my mind's on other things.

Work's been a bear, most recently the last 3 weeks have been frantic and lots of work to do. I don't enjoy sw support and that's mostly what I'm doing these days..kind of sucks the life out of you. Luckily, I still have my sense of humor, and I'm trying to remember to have compassion for myself....on all fronts.

I think somehow my subconscious is reminding me to get my to do list done. since it's been so busy with work, the time has just flown by since January. I realized in February, that I'd stopped living outside of work, and so now, I'm leaving work at work on the weekends and limiting talking about it all. Out of sight, out of mind is just best.

I want to go back to just enjoying knitting without the bar so officially I'm taking myself off the "12 in 2011" bandwagon, and trying to go back to just knitting for me.
I want to knit with soft yarn and be inspired about what I make, without being frustrated with pattern design errors and feeling pressured to reach some artifical bar that I've set on myself - there, I said it.

I'm changing back to just knitting for me.

Almost March

Somehow I managed to set the bar too high. The items I queued all have some design flaw or too many errata. I've started to swatch several projects and I guess I'll just have to claw back the idea that I would do "12 in 2011" and just try to knit what I can for myself this year. That was the intention of the group anyway, not to churn our small and easy projects to say you knit 12 projects. Last year, I made 18 I think and that was just from going from project to project.

The other thing is knitting time. I'm pretty much exhausted from work these days so I don't take as much time to knit as I used to. Gone are the days of knitting each night. I'm lucky if I manage to knit twice a week at knit nights, and then, my brain is so fried that I don't think I end up knitting much. Mostly, I've been just trying to knit swatches since my first "easy" project ended up with such a horrible row gauge. Usually this isn't a problem if the pattern knits to a certain length, but watershed did not, so now I have to do the math.

Also, it's been terribly cold here the last week or so, dropped down to 26F yesterday. 26! It's almost March- really, tuesday evening was hovering around 0 (32F) and I could see my breath, yet I forgot to salt my walk. Wednesday morning, there was about 4 or 5" of snow on my car. I've shovelled, and now, Saturday (actually, even yesterday) most of the major roads are clear, just my little side road and cul de sac, we didn't shovel, so there's a bit of ice on top - yay, my car gets to go skating!

Seems like the westcoast as a whole is getting a beating. so, it's not just us. sigh. global warming.