8611

... that number represents the number of stitches i have knitted thus far on anne hanson's design hypoteneuse.


remember how i said in my last post that i felt like my head was going to explode? well, it did. and this is the result ... not as messy as one would/could imagine ?

i did not plan to make man lace. i was trying to get caught up on reading blogs, looking at pictures, etc. and i ended up on anne's blog. i had not read her blog in quite a bit, because her posts are so full of information and quality, i want to read it when i feel i have the time and capacity to really enjoy it. and one thing lead to another. and i was thinking about rhinebeck ('cause i'm not going to rhinebeck, but to SAFF instead) ... and i was thinking, "i bet corbett is going to rhinebeck". and then i thought, if i can't go, then maybe i can send him something to wear to rhinebeck.

crazy. i know.

so, the yarn i'm using is elsebeth lavold's silky wool. i purchased it almost two years ago to make the IK viennese shrug. needless to say, the yarn has been marinating in the stash.

it's nice to have a tremendous stash from which to shop in the wee hours of the night!

OMG !

i think my head is going to explode with thoughts of fall, wool, cables, sweaters, ravelry, flickr, patterns, yarn ....

trying to stay the course

it all starts so innocently ... the making of a socken mate. i mean, it's an easy pattern. i already made one, so there's no guesswork regarding what to do.


but, perhaps this particular socken is being made too soon after the completion of socken #1 ? perhaps this socken is cursed. or maybe, i have the attention span of a gnat? or, maybe, this yarntini is too irresistible ?


i've tried this before. but this time, i am using 2.5mm turbos (and knitting the smaller jaywalker). this time it's the right size! i am still considering changing to a smaller needle for the foot portion though.

hodgepodge

seeing as how i have several different things to share, i'm not even going to shoot for continuity. instead, i am purposefully mixing it all up!

first up ... something finished !


...sockens. purple heathered sockens. purple heathered wool/acrylique sockens knitted at a larger gauge. these are the socks that i knitted during the beginning sock class i teach at my lys. for teaching purposes, i've found that we can actually get a sock knitted if it's at a larger gauge. in the class, we use plymouth's encore worsted and whatever size dpns that will yield a gauge of 5 sts/inch. though the label recommends a US 8, i end up using a US 5. and in class, it's not uncommon to see each person using a different needle size.


i have been knitting on my aran blankie. now that i have air conditioning (which, for this season, has been for about a month) i won't die with a giant pile of wool in my lap as i knit on this baby. i went diggin' in the 66 qt. bin that houses this project and found my two finished smaller panels. in the picture, i have each smaller panel flanking the larger unfinished panel ... just to give me (and you) an idea of what this will look like someday. i figure i am at least 1/2 through this project, as i have 2 out of 3 small panels completed, and at least 2/3rd's of 1 of the 2 large panels. regardless, i realize that this is a long term project (and let us not forget i started this in 2000 !).

special note: this yarn color is called chartreuse. sometimes, depending on the light, it looks like tobacco. sometimes, pea soup. most often, it's the perfect shade of ICK. i love it. i love how the color changes depending on its light source.


stuart! stuart has a man-bag ! yay!!! i think agent aubergine loves stuart as much as i do ... as she made him a freeform spiral bag. he loves his bag. it completes his outfit. and he can pack his gun.


oooh! another sock. and not just another sock ... but a socken-mate !

knitting from the vault ....

i must admit, i am kinda stunned over the number of socken orphans i have .... i almost started a mate, i almost started another orphan, and i did wind a new ball of yarn into a cake. but, i did not knit a sock. instead, i sort of retreated.

i pulled out something from my archives ...


this is from summer 2000 IK. from the moment i saw this blanket, i just had to make it. i can't remember if i started it that summer, or sometime later within the year ... but, i will say it's probably one of my oldest UFO's ... not that there's anything wrong with that.



...if i knew then what i know now ..., i probably would had made a different yarn choice. i actually am using the yarn called for in the pattern, classic elite's waterspun. on its label, it is described as a felted wool. i remember then, people remarking that when they machine washed it, it felted more ! duh. the label says hand wash. the blanket is knitted with two strands held together (and takes a whopping 64 hanks of yarn!!!). if i were to do this again, i would substitute the yarn for plymouth's encore chunky ... which is machine washable and would only be single stranded.

so, i pulled this out today because the temperature today was actually under 100*. what a difference a few, or 10, *'s make!

i had made a mistake in one of the panels the last time i touched this blanket. today, i ripped back about 30 rows and fixed it. the cable of the center panel was a bit too complex for me to bother trying to drop down and reknit. also, it was good to get reacquainted with the other stitch patterns in the panel.

i'm not back to where i was, but i envision some smooth sailing as long as i don't stray away with long absences.

my previous posts are here and here. my status? well ... i've knitted one and a half narrow panels, and more than half of a wide panel. the blanket is three narrow panels with two wide panels. regardless, it is fun and satisfying. it's slow, but it's good.

gasp !

i've got a little 'dirty secret' to confess ...


... i've been knitting on lots of socks, but i haven't been knitting their mates. i keep telling myself that i will. but i don't. instead, i just cast on for something new ... because that's more fun. and now ... i have 18 orphans !

so, i think i should start knitting the mates ... maybe starting with one really old one and one rather fresh one, and maybe one super fresh not-seen-on-the-blog-yet one too.

we'll see how it goes. maybe.

i feel sooo ... sooooo .... virtuous* !

so, some sockens have been completed ... notes have been taken. mates will be knitted in due time. of course, the question is, which mates get knitted first? the ones most recently knitted, or the ones from the archives ? ... not to mention there are other sockens on needles still ....

* trust me, virtue is not part of my being !

ready, get set, TOEs !

i was hanging out with chak-a-kahn all day sunday, and had a goal to knit all my stinkin' toes !

she wouldn't even let me play on the laptop to see which hogwarts house i'd belong to until i finished my toes!

the good news is that i did finish my toes, and ... i'd belong in gryffindor ! ... not that i've read past the 1st book or seen but one of the movies. i was just happy to not be a slytherin (though, i did have some strong slytherin tendencies ;)