Starting something new...

I blocked the body of Rapunzel yesterday and need to settle down and count stitches to see if the designer can recalc the sleeve cap. It's a lot of work but will hopefully be worthwhile since the body is so beautiful and the yarn is just scrumptious. Bugga. Strawberry Crab.

In the meanwhile, it had been 2 or so weeks since I'd knit since I was busy with other activities. Although my job is good and stable right now, I feel like I'm in flux in the rest of my life, and it's definitely a transition period. It's 2 weeks in on the Year of the Horse, and it shows.  I'm going through my stuff and getting rid of stuff to my friend Kim for her fundraising efforts ($3K they are trying to raise this year for chicken farming in Cote d'Ivoire)...and still outstanding for me to work through some old grief work, and get rid of emotional and physical baggage. It's been really freeing.

At Christmas time, I let go of some older hobbies - silk painting, some scrapbooking, rubber stamping, confetti I'd collected over the years; also, pared down collectibles, even some old LYS yarn. I'm no longer keeping tins. I also took my tree down which freed up some space.
I also reduced my addi needle collection by destashing to one of the gals in my group. I had collected a lot of odd sizes of needles and shorter ones before using the Magic Loop Method.

February's work is about clearing paper clutter. in a big way. I have moved so many times, and just shoved paper in boxes. It's probably the most expensive paper collection on the planet - old bills, old reference sheets, printed patterns etc. It will have to be sorted, recycled, shredded. My eyes are open now...and I'm loving the space created from being freed up. Mostly what's driving it is that I can't find things when I do need them; so, that makes it easier to let go of them.

I also expect I'll be getting rid of books for the T-C book sale when that rolls around as I am just moving like a lot of people towards e-books. I'm currently reading "Compelling People" which is a very interesting read, and I'm loving getting the latest news and tech. news through Flipboard. It has changed the way I approach and read news. I'm also thinking of finally cancelling my newspaper (I know, it's so old school). In my previous job, I was forced to be extroverted for 90% of my day, and I had no control over my time at work, so I found it was soothing to read at lunch and restore my energies. Now, I'm in a position where I'm using my skills to work more cross-organizationally which suits my abilities and needs, and I have more control over my time.  Way fewer and more productive meetings. I'm much happier in it. It's the one thing I hope will stay constant in the next few months.
People comment to me at the office about how they can hear me laughing, it's pretty amazing.

I also have started wearing more of my sweaters - Larch which was made from SG Bugga Blue Stink Bug. It's pilling a lot, and I've been using the Gleener to reduce the pills (essentially fine sand paper on a handle),

and Audrey which has turned out to be a very flattering sweater. I'm not sure I'm too keen on the arms not being set-in sleeves, but they seem to be ok. Ironically, of the 2 sleeves, the left one is kind of tight which was the instructions I followed from the designer (who probably has different arms than me), and my right arm seems ok (which I adapted from instructions on the web for a top-down sleeve cap). On wednesday, I wore Audrey buttoned up and I had a lot of compliments about it. A friend mentioned that it looks "store bought", so perhaps I've arrived. I joked about it being a luxury cardi though...no cheap chinese labour, since I spent probably 6 weeks knitting it.

The something new is that I decided because I was getting so antsy from only bare minimum knitting at knit night to swatch and cast-on a new project..while I was waiting for Rapunzel to dry and to be motivated to count the stitches etc. I broked into a stashed Sweater Quantity (SQ) of SG Milkweed Beetle. Here is a pic that shows the skeins in natural light (looking very variegated):



Inside, the yarn is very much a teal colorway and so beautiful.

So, progress on that is that I've swatched, and knit the first twisted rib rows. I'm ready to bind-off and pick up for the bottom of the cardi and I'm re-looking at the mods I made the last time. I think I didn't do a lot of decreasing at the waist last time but it's a very comfortable sweater, so I'll have to do a try on and see what's going on. I'd weighed myself in January, and the last time I think had been summer..seems I dropped 10 lbs..but I think it was a bit of stress and running around. 
I feel more energetic these days and I'm generally sleeping better.

The milkweed beetle skeins are all over the map in terms of weight. One skein is 150g, one is 125g, and the other is 130g, so I hope I'll have enough yardage amongst the 3 skeins to do the larch. I do have a fourth skein but it is more green. So, I'll have that as stand-by. Last time, I had to break into the fourth skein for seaming.

I'm also under no illusions this year for any competitive or KAL knitting. The olympics is on right now, but I'm just too busy to try to control that aspect of my life or put myself under more pressure to get things done. It'll happen as it happens, and I'm enjoying the fruits of my labour in a lot of ways these days. I have a lot of SQs and I'll start them as I'm inspired to do so.

Add-in Victoria Film Festival is on right now...so I watched Linsanity last Monday, and caught up on loony tunes at the Jammies and Toons show. Both feel good films.

February

I was kicking along with my Rapunzel quite nicely..I had knit the chart of sleeve 1 then, pulled it out to re knit 2" smaller because I have small wrists. I increased up to the armhole..trying it on, taking into account the fact that the arm stretches out and becomes shorter. Then, forgot that following the instructions for the cap sleeve wouldn't work because I'd mod'd both the arm hole (4 stitches smaller because of the pointy triangles), and the 10 stitches smaller on the sleeve.

So, to console myself, I knit the chart for the 2nd sleeve, and I'm ruminating. Need to block the body, and do measurements. The designer has kindly agreed that I can send her them and she will try to calculate the cap sleeve. It's so beautiful. I hope I can finish this before the end of the Olympics.


January just blew by. Lots of activity, clean up, getting rid of emotional and physical baggage; also, playing with devices, and doing reading. I have read books for a long time - went through the Shades of Grey series (way too sappy and romanticized) but a light read; also Thinking Fast & Slow by Daniel Kahnemann, and now, Compelling People. There is a comment in there about women in HR not wanting to hire attractive women..could explain the number of attractive guys in my office.

Sun is out, but it's very cold here.

I'm in a bit of a knitting funk as my knitting has stalled. hope to pick it up again soon.

Rapunzel progress pics Jan 6

Sleeve Detail:


Body Back:



Front Detail (will not be likely wearing it over another garment..and I expect the yarn to bloom..so it hopefully won't end up looking so pulled in the middle):



Front (yep, with my stitch markers still attached hah!)



Two more pics - flat in natural light:



and side lacing cable:



Status:
Body done; I'm up to the elbow on sleeve 1 of 2.

Mod on sleeve: 
For second size, to accommodate my smaller wrists, I reduced the stockette stitch count to 15st before/after the chart. This makes a snug-er sleeve, and eliminated 2" in the wrist area (compared to the pattern).

Happy New Year

Happy New Year to all !

Rapunzel is on its way - body is done, and it fits nicely...this is pre- block. I'm hoping it doesn't grow too much. One the second try with the sleeve. After knitting the chart, and part of the wrist, it was just too big for my hands. I have small wrists, so I had almost 2" extra at the sleeve area and it was too floppy and that was with the chart being relaxed. So, after blocking, it would be way wider. I re-checked the designer's pics and the chart is smooth around her hand with no floppy. so, I ripped back 70-80 rows..and did a re-start and I'm on row 8.

The tip with this is to try on your swatch and use that to figure out how many stitches to use for the cast-on. I ended up with 15 stitches and 15 stitches of stockinette around the 25 stitch chart, instead of 21 and 21 for my size. 12 stitches ends up being 2" according to the gauge swatch.

I'm putting this at 72% done, as 70 seems to be where I usually stall.

The SG bugga is really soft and it's a gorgeous colorway - Strawberry Crab.

I had a wonderful Christmas. It was the first Christmas Dinner where everyone was pleasant, and I received amazing gifts.  New Year's was low key and it's so quiet this morning..the whole world is asleep.

ETA: If you didn't read the sale tab - Verdant Gryphon is having a free shipping sale today until Midnight Eastern time (9pm Pacific) - just enter the code "free" without the quotes into the coupon field with your order.

Rapunzel continued and Merry Season..

On Rapunzel, I made it past the chart and tried it on with two needles. It fits really well and so I decided to continue (instead of frogging as I thought it was initially too big).  The bust increases act like vertical darts, so the fit is very flattering, although it can be visually disturbing when I look in the mirror. I'm just past the armhole split now and working on the 6" of stockinette at the back.

I think I'd hoped to complete this for the end of the year..but after 6" and 6" to finish the body, I'll still have to do sleeves..so I think I'll still be knitting this in the new year.

I do have 2 weeks of vacation though from work, so we'll see how much I get done. Lots of stuff to do at home, and projects I want to work on, reading, catching up on some updates, and hopefully meeting with friends.

My Christmas Tree is up and it's beautiful, with alternating fading from white, to multi-color lights and back..and this week, I spent 3 days writing Christmas cards for work colleagues, and knitting friends. Still a few pkgs (non-Christmas) to go to the Post Office and one big project to replace an aging cell phone. I have a 3G. Yep. I'm 5 generations behind on that...definitely not an early adopter..but I would be..just locked into the 3-year..then, was waiting for the 3-year to 2-year contract change.

In case I don't get back here in time with photos - hope anyone reading this has the Merriest of Christmases and a safe and happy holiday season.

Pssst...VG is having a sale

Friday Dec 6 - Sunday Dec 8 (EST) - all yarn at The Verdant Gryphon is 20% off.
No code needed.

Red Rapunzel

ok, I burned through the chart..and it's coming along nicely:



and the side lacing cable looks good too:



the pic looks a little pink on my monitor..it's really a red with darker black streaks in it..similar to Madtosh Tart.




Just a few rows to finish up the chart..and then, I'll be measuring and knitting on the body.
The designer put the 2 charts on separate pages and they're different sizes..so you can see the physical mash up I made to enlarge the main chart 165% and copy the X chart so it could continue and match the main chart. This made it a lot easier to knit. Also, my little diagram in the forefront there to keep track of the sections until it was more apparent what to do...and I love.love. the yellow highlighter tape - way easier to use, and reposition if you need to go back.

The cable rows set up the following row's knits and purls..so if you swing the cable the wrong way, it's pretty easy to detect and fix.

Rapunzel and Audrey Finished Photos

I'm about half way through the chart for Rapunzel. I was a wee bit worried that it would be too big, but as it turns out, it was too early to measure at 8 rows. I put it on a bit of yarn and it sucked right in. now, it's looking lovely..

I also returned the Canon last weekend, yep, after I just bought it on Friday...the color just wasn't accurate enough to warrant keeping it. Instead, I bought 2 extra batteries and a battery charger for my Panasonic Lumix..from Batt Depot and they arrived in 2 days..took 2 hours to charge and now my camera (the one I love!) works.  cameras these days just seem to be going down hill.

Turns out also that I'd rather spend the $ to install a baseboard heater in my room..so that'll be in the next month or two..esp. since we've had a bit of a cold snap here and it's been cold enough to switch to my boots, thick alpaca hat, handmade socks, and gloves.

hopefully, some new pics this weekend - of both audrey and the current Rapunzel.

Added 11/24: Audrey Photos





and a close-up of the buttons, which I found in my stash - they're made of shell:



this next photo is a bit dark..but you get the idea of the button:

November Lavaliere

Completed Lavaliere and blocked..the cardi used just 2 skeins of bugga..and it was a bit of a challenge to do so. The fronts are a bit short..so i'm thinking i'll break the band on one of the valentine skeins which has a bit more red in it to add some width to the front bands to make it more closed.

Lavaliere Finished Smocking Photo (11/24):



I'm beginning to realize as the weather grows colder that I do like having open cardis, but I like having the cardis cover my front, even if I choose to leave them open and not zip or button them.

Audrey in Unst is off the needles, and I will have to re-block the fronts to stretch a bit to close and not have that pulling on the buttons. I did find the perfect carved shell buttons in my stash. The arms are snug as well, so I will have to re-think ease options the next time round.

I have since started on Rapunzel, and lovely sport-weight pullover with cables on the side, and two triangle pieces with cables on the front and back. The pattern calls for a gauge swatch of the standard 24st/36R per 4" for sport weight yarn which the designer achieved on a US4, in the round and blocked. I met gauge on a US5, and like the fabric, so I picked a 34" size, and started. It's too big so far..i'm 8 rows in on a 53 row chart and it looks huge. Conservatively measured, it's 40" around, and I'm 37.5" at the hips, which is where the pullover starts, being knit from the bottom up.

I'm using bugga in Strawberry crab:



and it's a joy to knit. I have 3 skeins well-matched - 2 from SG and 1 from CY, but perhaps I didn't take into account the stretch of the fabric..since the designer used a 100% merino yarn...or it may be that I haven't knit far enough to get the suckage of the cables that should happen.

So far, I like the yarn, and I want to knit the pattern..but I'm not liking the fact that I may have to either (a) ignore the gauge swatch or (b) rejig the pattern to fit me. Already, I had to do a bit of copier enlarging to get the charts to match for easier knitting.

Also, my camera battery officially died..won't hold a charge..so I have to buy a replacement battery and wait for that. In the meanwhile, I checked out new cameras..and I made an early Christmas purchase - a Canon Powershot Elph 330 which I'll have to test out soon. Primarily, I'm taking pics of yarn and projects not people, so color accuracy is important to me without having to rejig in software.

My skein yarn order arrived and colors are not as expected again. The denim dip-dye looked quite periwinkle on my monitor - skein's photo here:

and pic on kim's camera phone which arrived quite blue but not as expected..although a very soft base.



The topaz looked light and bright, but came dark and murky.

Here's skein's pic;

and the pic taken on my friend Kim's phone camera which has a much brighter aqua tone than actual. In person, the gray brown is more prominent:



These skeins look pretty in the picture, but i'm not quite sure I like them in person.

Other pics to wait until I can get the camera up and running.

ETA: 11/24 - Skein yarn destashed locally to someone in my group who loves the colours!

Knit City and a fabulous Saturday

Yesterday, I went to Knit City, a knitting convention in Vancouver, BC. I went for the marketplace as there weren't classes I wanted, and  it was for a day trip only. Although small (50 booths), it was very professional looking and lots of beautiful yarn was to be had.

Unfortunately, I didn't take any pics...and I didn't buy.any.yarn (!). I know, this is a first for me. I think it was a confluence of events...I went over with a new friend in my group who was on a budget. Also, I ran into quite a few people I knew at the show and chit-chatted. I had pre-cased the list of vendors, and thought I'd be in and out of there in a half hour..but it took me about a half hour just at the first booth - Melissa's bags - misocraftyknits.  I snapped up 2 large sweater box bags, and a small zip bag.





zip bag:



Then, took pics to send to a friend in Chicago who was also lusting after a bag but didn't know for sure which one she wanted.

After that, I met up with a gal from my cpa swap group on rav who had brought me yarn I won in a lottery swap..a skein of Tri'Coterie Merino Tencel in Quoth the Raven, and a skein of BFL self-striping in White Walker:




so I did receive yarn and have yarn to squish through the show..but I didn't buy any there. I think that helped..just having yarn in my bag.

I also bought a pattern book Cascadia on behalf of someone in our group who couldn't go

I met up with Emma at Everything Old Crafts who showed me a lovely new BFL-silk blend which is dark, but soft and shiny. Next to her booth, I spotted bottles of Soak Wash, and replenished my supply with a large bottle of the Celebration scent.



I had planned to be tempted at Sweet Fiber, but she didn't bring the bases I was looking for - the cashmere dk, and the heirloom. Also, Sweet Georgia but there were only a few single skeins of the Merino Silk Fine..so nothing to buy. They did have knitted up swatches of the tough love sock..so that was interesting to see how some of the colorways looked. For some reason, the end booths didn't get as much light as the middle of the show, so the yarn was on the whole, hard to see.

I also picked up some business cards for a few booths where I'd was interested in getting a custom dye or other project:

Pokdej - interesting and compact interchangeable needle cases. These were about the size of a small book (~ 4" or 5" square) had little pockets for needles 4 to 10.5, and a mini notions cases included for $48.

Kattikloo - hand dyed yarns from Saltspring Island. This lady was the most laid-back i've ever seen. She didn't want me to buy yarn unless I was really interested in it (!) Turns out I fell in love with one color she had (which was red-pink-purples, no surprise there, on a base she didn't have it in.....Merino-Silk DK yarn was to die for...a very soft hand. All of her skeins were $25 which seemed very inexpensive for hand-dyed yarn.

Dragonfly Dyewerx - had some lovely fingering merino-silk in beautiful blues..but I resisted because I already have a lot of single skeins in my stash and didn't have plans (I know, weird for me, right?)

The organizers did a great job of making sure that people selling similar stuff were not co-located..but the booths were narrow and skinny which made it difficult to get into some of the booths.Melissa's was a bit challenging, for example, because the booth next to hers was pottery and I feared tipping any of it over. It was exhilarating seeing all the colors, and feeling the yarns...seeing friends.

Near 2:30pm (about 3 hours), I made it through all the booths, and had put my name in for the swag bag draw. I hadn't eaten since early morning. My Chicago friend got back to me about the bag..and I went back and purchased another large box bag from misocraftyknits to send to her:





Most of her bags were cleaned out by then..and lots of empty pegs. My feet hurt, and I'd been texting friends (former victoria bees who moved to vancouver) to meet up.

We walked back to the car, and then, went down the street to the an Indian Restaurant to meet for some food. My friends was just walking randomly down the road and found the place - Siddhartha's  - it was amazing. I (and 2 friends) had the Meat Platter for $10.99, and 1 had the veggie platter. It was just the right amount of food and tasted really good. 3 little portions with rice, chicken, and naan on the side...and I had the masala chai which really hit the spot. They apparently do facebook discounts if you live locally.

After that, a short visit to Canterbury Bookstore up the street, and back to the ferry. I think I knit part of my right sleeve of audrey in unst.  All in all, a fabulous day, great conversations and company, and saw some amazing yarns.

I think I'll plan to go next year again.

Lavaliere is done

Lavaliere is done..blocked..but I couldn't find my sewing / blocking pins so the front band is still a bit curly.

and I discovered on my Audrey in Unst that I was only not paying attention on one sleeve, as the left armhole is 7" as per the pattern, and the right armhole is 6" hence the need for the extra math.
so, once i'm done the right arm fix..i'll see if I can follow the pattern instructions for the other arm.
6" is snug but not too snug.

pic to come.