April's Showers Bring Evenstars?

I swatched and then promptly ignored the Evenstar KAL that started the better part of 8 weeks ago? Something like that?

Finally, Sunday evening, I was called away from the computer screen for a while and I decided I'd at least better get the thing cast on. I rummaged through the large knitting bag of "what the hamsters is this?" but failed to find my size 3 4" wooden DPNs. I had to use the 7" metal DPNs. I'm sure the wooden needles are safely put somewhere so that I can use them for the Evenstar...now if I can just figure out where I decided "safely" was.

I probably should have looked up the called for cast on but in all honesty, it's a circular shawl. A circular lace shawl whose whole purpose is to have holes all over it. Granted those holes are in a certain pattern, but still...I'm okay with having a hole in the middle of it.  If it drives me nuts when it's done, I'll figure something out. Or I'll give the shawl away.  No one getting a hand-knit lace weight shawl has any room to talk about holes.

*pauses to go look on the balcony at the cat, who has found that a chipmunk has a burrow by the patio beneath us* 

I made decent progress, I'm up to 144 stitches and through the first two rows of the chart. It's not miraculous but it's started and I now have a reason to turn on M*A*S*H or Pride and Prejudice or any of the other movies I have nearly memorized so I can concentrate on counting.

And it's on the circular needle now. I need to remember to pick up dental floss this week at the grocery.

This has taken the place of the planned April project for 2010 (which was a originally a sweater). At least I'm still shooting for one project a month.

I've scheduled this for April 7--which will be the 4th Annual KIP Day. So you can bet safe money that I will not be knitting Evenstar that day. I hope to have finished Orange Sock 1 by then and be working either on Orange Sock 2 or the foot of Colinette Sock 1. (I need better names) Those I can drop at a moment's notice to go draw raffle prizes.

March Mix-Up: Or Why I Don't Have My March Project on the Needles

My plan for March was to knit the Cat's Paw Scarf. However, of late I've gotten the cleaning bug. Nothing like things starting to thaw and seeing some of the snow piles melt down to only a foot or so taller than I am to make one look around and go "Ahh! Too many UFOs! Too many little balls of leftover yarn!"  So in March, instead, I'm tackling the UFO pile.

The Current UFO Pile:

One Multnomah Shawl
3 afghans (one just needs ends woven in)
One cat bed
One scarf (again, ends and blocking)
2 pair fingerless gloves
One pair socks
Various Washcloths
Whatever else is living in the one chair in the living room....

This is a fair amount of stuff to have lying about unfinished. And while I am ambitious, I'm not sure I can get all of it done in the next twenty four days. It took two weeks of dedicated slacking and only knitting to get the socks done as well as to meet the February deadline for the Clapotis.  I haven't even started my Evenstar KAL shawl and the third clue is due out in a week. 

While taking some pictures for my sister the other night, I did some stash culling and organizing. Don't gasp all at once, I only got rid of a half dozen or so skeins.

Gypsy helped with the sorting.

I got out the leftover worsted weight wool from one of the afghans and the various cotton leftovers. I cast on a cat bed with the former and ugly washcloths with the latter.

Ugly washcloths are where I try to pay no attention; I just cast on 30 stitches and knit until the yarn runs out (size 9 needles/5.5 mm). Add another color, work until it's big enough or you run out of yarn. Of the three I've finished so far, only one is an amalgamation of yarns that really don't go. I'm almost through ugly washcloth four and number five will go on the needles right after that.  Then I "should" be out of leftover cotton yarn and just down to the cone that I need to knit up. As I knit I remind myself that I can still wash the kitchen floor with mismatched yarn.  Yes, I wash the kitchen floor with hand knitted items--they work well with the dry sweeper stick. 

My Clapotis

I did, with great help from the small furry gray one, finish my Malabrigo Clapotis while still in the month of February.

Begun early, this was an on again, off again project for about six weeks.  The middle straight rows seemed never ending and I can safely say I'd probably not make it out of Malabrigo again.  The yarn is wonderful, super squishy, a gorgeous color--and it sticks to itself like glue. Which would be great except for the fact that Clapotis has a drop stitch row every 12 rows throughout the entire piece. 

Gypsy was very helpful in the supervising and appropriate application of cat fur to the Clapotis.

And finally, it was done.  All the stitches dropped, the couple of ends woven in. 

 

And while, no, Gypsy isn't a particularly large cat, you still get a sense of the size.  It's almost 6' in length.  

 

It then promptly went to work with me so it didn't become a full time cat bed. I'm wearing it a lot at work and expect to even during the summer. Such are the challenges of keeping a building cobbled together over the years cool during 90 degree temps.   

I used 4.5 Skeins of Malabrigo Merino Worsted in Azul Profundo on size 8 (5mm) needles. 

Well Begun is Half Done

Now if only Mary Poppin's magic would work on the rest of the housekeeping so I had more knitting time...

I'm through Sock 1 of my Knitting Olympics Project!! Hooray! Much knitting continued this week as I, Gypsy, and a half-dozen of my friends-in-the-computer cheered Evan Lysacek on to Gold and I watched Season 2 of the Big Bang Theory.  I'm through disc 3--it's waaaaay too easy to say "oh, just one more episode" and suddenly it's the end of the disc. It means much knitting is getting done, though not much else.

I did immediately cast on Sock 2 and I'm through the top ribbing and into the first pattern repeat.  I have another week to get it done and things look pretty good at this point. If life can stay out of my way, we should be alright. Life, job, cat, books, intertubes...these things take up so much good knitting time.

I've been alternating evenings between the socks and the Clapotis.  It changes up the gauge and probably is good for my shoulders and hands, fewer cramps, but mostly it's because I can't face two days in a row of the Clapotis at the moment.  I knit and knit and knit and knit and knit on the straight rows and the third ball of Malabrigo that never seemed to get smaller. I know--it would be just awful to have a never ending ball of Malabrigo, but I'd like to wear this shawl before all of the snow melts.  As the past few days it's been up to the high twenties and sunny, we've had a fair amount of snow melt.  We're supposed to get more tomorrow though to make up for that, Wisconsin Winter hasn't had her last say yet.

I did finally finish skein three last night and joined skein four. Without dropped stitches it's slightly over 4 needle lengths long, so approximately 56".  I'm going to go for 60" before I start the decrease rows.  The goal is that it'll be approximately my height after I drop the stitches.

My height is one of those variable things that confuses people. For general reference: on an average day I'm 5'6" (167cm); on a good day I'm 5'7" (170cm) or 5'8" (173cm); on a bad day or during about 50% of the summer, I'm 5'4" (162cm).

Gypsy helped me measure the current length.

Stretched cat wide plus extended foot tall.

Olympic Knitter Skating...

Gypsy has pretty much had it with me.  Not only did I stay home for two entire days in a row, for three nights now I've plopped down with laptop and knitting needles and the television (which is never on this much at Chez Hedgehog) to engage in Olympic Knitter Skating and Commentary.

Commentary has been kept on Friendfeed, where I and some other library chums have communed with witty comments, judgmental opinions, and much appreciation for the grace and athleticism we saw. Together we gasped at the missed jumps, cheered the Chinese teams to silver and gold, and most recently wondered what the hamsters some of the men were wearing. Ruffles, corsetry, and a tassle all in the same male figure skater's outfit, really? 

I also figured out this evening where a small gray tabby has been hiding the bag of catnip.  She hadn't quite figured out how to open it yet, but I imagine it was only a matter of time.  And it explains why she wouldn't stay out of one of the cupboards. 

But there has been knitting!  I've worked on my Knitting Olympics Project:

I'm down the leg of one of the socks!  This photo was taken at the end of pairs skating last night.  Not bad for Opening Ceremonies through Pairs Gold, in my opinion. Particularly considering I had to completely rip it out and redo on smaller needles. That was a wise choice, btw, the rib is much snugger now and it will be a better fitting pair of socks. 

I'm using Beyond Basic Knits Sonoma Sock in the Brilliant Colorway of "Red-Purple" with size 2.5 (USA) needles.  It's squishy, knitting up very nicely, and it's a darker shade in the red family, which I prefer if red is being introduced into the palette. 

I've also been finishing the very last of the Christmas knitting. Yes, I'm aware it's February.  *sigh*  I have great ambitions each year.  This year I think everyone is getting a box of chocolate.  Well...everyone at work.

Anywho. Christmas knitting was most of today's knitting at Kiwanis and my Kids Group.

Then I made a mad dash home for the last two groups of men's figure skaters short program.  I didn't want to try and turn the heel on the sock while also typing and trying to watch the tv and mind a cat who has just about driven me crazy. So instead, back to February's project: My Clapotis.

I'm still working on the straight rows. I'm not-quite-halfway-through-the-3rd-skein-of-Malabrigo number of repeats into said straight section. 

For size reference, I'm knitting on 14" needles.  It's over three feet long at this point and it will be a little over two feet wide. I've not dropped all the stitches to the bottom because Malabrigo is sticky, which makes that a bit of a chore I save for when I need something truly mindless. I have another 1.5 skeins of straight to go and then a final skein for the decreases.  This sucker is gonna be massive--it's defense against the AC in June at work. 


And finally, a meta/pairs picture of my own: The sock on the Clapotis.  Fourteen days til both projects need to be off the needles. 

FINISHED: Primavera Socks

Gee...that only took a month from cast on to cast off.  Which would have been fine had I started on January 1 but no....I had to wait until we left for Egypt to start these socks, get a chunk into them, realize that I didn't like the yarn, rip it out, start over....

But while the Women's Moguls were finishing last night, I was whipping down the toe and sewing in the ends.

Project: Egypt Socks

Pattern (Rav link): Primavera Socks by Natalja

Yarn: Ewetopia Hand Dyed Sock Yarn

Amount of Yarn Used: 3/4 skein?  There's still a fair size ball left--not big enough to DO anything, so it's going in the leftovers bin.  

Gypsy's more concerned about who is chasing her tail....

Swatching and Appropriate Furrage

I'm typing this one handed.  Gypsy decided that she's quite comfortable sitting on my left shoulder/side of my chest, which requires my left arm under her too support her in this cozy position.  And since putting her down would be cruel and unusual cat treatment *obviously* I can't do that. 

Oh good...she decided to hop down and shun me for a bit for sitting down at the computer. She was dreadfully baffled yesterday. Every single day that I've been home in the last month save one, I've left for work. Gypsy likes to sit by the door and get petted on the way out. Yesterday she let me sleep til 9:15 (that's REALLY late for her) before she knocked a plant off the bookshelf. I got up, fed her, put the tea kettle on the stove and got dressed.  These are all perfectly normal steps in the morning routine for her.  I came back out to the kitchen to make tea and realized she was sitting on the ledge by the door, waiting for me to put my coat on. I went over and petted her a couple of times but kept on with my morning. She was waiting for me to leave, which I found rather amusing. Once she realized I wasn't going anywhere, she insisted that my lap belonged to her all the time and was right beside or on top of me all day save for her midday 3 hour nap.

I did get some knitting done! 

I'm participating in Susan Pandorf's LOTR year which is kicking off with the Evenstar KAL.  I swatched last night and I think I've pretty much gotten gauge. I've not done lace really but apparently think that tackling a rather complicated lace shawl should be snack food. Hey...I taught myself to knit socks from the Tsock Tsarina Tsock 101 kit in a Saturday, lace knitting over a couple of months should be pie. And I've done feather and fan, Veronik Avery's Lace Ribbon Scarf.  I'm not totally unprepared.   

Though I really wanted some blue and silver from the Unique Sheep (see Silverlode), this was to be a "only if you have it in the stash" project. Heaven knows I never knit with the laceweight I do own and I'd need to buy circular needles, so that's where wool money for this project went. So I pulled out KnitPicks Shadow in colorway Sunset Heather. It'll be a little earlier in the evening for my evening star, right at a red sunset. 

My  blocking wasn't perfect when I took the picture, I re-pinned the bottom right corner.   It's still a little funky but the measurements are fine...and it's a shawl, gauge can be a bit flexible.* 

Other than that I've been ignoring the last 15 rows of sock that needs to be done (yes, really, just the toe and bind off...I'm lame) and working on my Clapotis. It "is" February's project after all. 

Gypsy has shown her good taste in wool by lying on the Malabrigo. She's going to be heartbroken when I tell her that despite getting it appropriately furred, it's not for her. Note to self: make sure to wash projects twice that are going to friends with cat allergies.

I'm almost through my second of five skeins for this one.  I'm going to do the center/length repeats until a) it's ridiculously long or b) I'm through skein 3, whichever comes first. Right now I'm on repeat 6 of a minimum of 13. It's going to be massive, warm, and probably worn only til the end of March, when it will be too warm even in Wisconsin for it. Of course, that's when they kick the AC on at work, so perhaps it'll get more year round use (light summer linen tops go with heavy Malabrigo shawls, right?). 

Gypsy's back...must be time to relinquish my lap and at least one hand for petting.

*Warning, I'm a process knitter.  Yeah, I prefer it fit but I dislike swatching and do it only when I absolutely must. 

Ducking My Head and Looking Guilty

I packed five skeins of yarn for the trip to Egypt.  I would have 18 hours of transition on the way to and just under 24 on the way home and those hours don't include the to/from NY.

I officially completed "a" sock and the ribbing on sock 2.

I know, I'm a little disappointed in me too. I'd hoped to get through an entire pair while on the trip at the very least.  That and the 11 books (no I'm not kidding, most of them were really short paperbacks) and nearly a gigabyte of podcasts.

I am caught up, finally, on Sticks and String.  I had fallen woefully behind on David, his cats, and the urban wilderness in his backyard and was happy to have a couple of dedicated hours where I could just enjoy his voice. I made a dent in the Cast On backlog too, and was grateful to have it when insomnia hit the last night in Cairo.

I had originally cast on in the Ewephoria Yarn.  Only, I recalled about 21 rows in why I have hesitated to use the yarn from that dyer--it is very splitty on little wooden needles. And I had wooden needles with me.  The prospect of doing M1R and M1L, repeatedly, on 2.5mm needles (US 1.5 I think?), with yarn that was splitting every single stitch wasn't a happy one.  I made it through the first round of the pattern repeat, got to the next round of M1 stitches and thought no, not worth it, I'll hate the socks by the end of it.

Ripped it out and recast on. Now I am using Ewetopia Yarn, dyed by owner Kathryn Ashley--who promises that a new shopping cart will be up on her website soon. Trust me, her sock yarn is GOOD.  It's soft, squishy, and so beautifully dyed. And in this particular skein, it's sport weight--so I needed to bring stitch count down a little to not end up with a sock that wouldn't fit.  Super dense squishy sock.  Yum. 

I cast on again before we left New York and despite flying out of JFK, through Paris/CDG, into Cairo and back--with all of the myriad layers of searches and security, I had no problems.  I am knitting on Harmony Wooden 4" DPNs from Knit Picks . 

On the plane I knit until I got too tired. Once we got to Cairo I had every intention of yarn everywhere with me.  Only, it had a pattern.  Perhaps it was not my wisest move to take a sock that required me looking at it.  In the evenings, I would knit, I promised myself.  But by Day 2 I wasn't feeling the hottest and knitting time turned into extra sleep time.  Six hours in the van to-from Alexandria? --I was in the back seat snoring.  By the last night though my hands were itching for wool.  I'd only gotten through a few pattern repeats and I couldn't come home with only the leg of one sock done, now could I?

So, into my ears when the headphones, on came Brenda Dayne, and I was rolling. Once we got to Paris and I was no longer sitting right on top of anyone, I really whipped along.  This last picture was taken somewhere over the Atlantic, about 5 or 6 hours into the 8 hours flight to JFK. 

I immediately cast on sock 2 and did finish the ribbing before we arrived at the gate.  At which point in time I was so exhausted that no more knitting occurred until I got back to Wisconsin.

Pay No Attention to the Feburary Project: Clapotis in Malabrigo

**We interrupt this blogpost to remind you of the people of Haiti.  You can donate money towards relief to the Red Cross, Doctors Without Borders (Knitters without Borders, do check in with Stephanie), or one of the other places in this list compiled by the Washington Post.**

This is what happens when I don't let myself cast on knitting projects until I leave on vacation and I'm so sick of my Christmas knitting that I refuse to acknowledge its very existence.

First it was just finding the yarn. I'd just get it out so that I knew where it was.  Harmless, right?
(Never mind that I dug through the bins like rabid raccoon searching for an elusive unopened chocolate pudding cup.)

Then, I thought, perhaps I'll wind one or two skeins. It's always good to be prepared to start the project. Granted, this meant I had to get out and set up my swift (the ballwinder has a permanent residence on the kitchen table) but hey, it's not like I was avoiding the 482 things I have to do this week, was it? No.....

I sat down Sunday evening to work on the databases I manage for one of my clients. The client-dedicated laptop has been moving at increasingly slow speeds of late. Some days it'll zoom along, most days (read Sunday and Monday nights) I have time to knit a complete 50 stitch row while it's switching from Excel to Access or to Outlook. Considering how many emails and spreadsheets I was trying to flip between, I needed something relatively uncomplicated that I could pick up and set down mid-row.

As of when I finally went to bed on Sunday I was through the set up rows and on the fourth repeat of the increase rows. I should be through to the straight rows before I leave on Saturday morning, even though I have not yet begun to pack.

Forgive me February, for I have started your project early. I am planning to join the UFOlympics to make it up to you.

January's Project: Primavera

Here's January's project on the "list of things to tackle": one pair of socks. I'm absolutely hopping up and down to cast them on, get started and zoom along. Only, I'm not starting any new small portable projects until I leave for NYC & Egypt on Saturday. This was a conscious decision I made while I was winding the five skeins of sock yarn I'm bringing for the 9 day trip. So I'm desperately wanted to tackle this and only this.  *sigh*....I'm being a good hedgehog and waiting.  Delayed gratification hopefully will mean fast knitting and it's not like I don't have holiday knitting that STILL isn't done.  

Pattern: Primavera (see sidebar)

Yarn:  Ewe-Phoria Yarns Handpaints  SockItToMe Superwash in Pacific

Needles: Knitpicks Harmony, 4" DPNs, size TBD.

I bought this yarn on Ebay a few years ago, while I was living in Chicago.  I have some other of her yarns and have had mixed experiences with them.  This skein could have benefited with a couple more ties to keep it from creative unlooping on the swift and not being moved/stuffed in a bin by yours truly for quite so long.

What makes this a new-skills project is that this will be the first "non-vanilla" sock I've done. I've done stockinette; I've done ribbing, but not a pattern.  As I don't seem to memorize pattern repeats instantly the way others seem to, this will be a challenge.