Summer's Bright Colors

It's 92 degrees out this evening and there's not much sign of it cooling down anytime soon. The Philosopher is re-seasoning the cast iron and I keep thinking it's a lovely evening for knitting. Obviously the heat is getting to us. 

But StashDash is here and, having my knitting time to call my own again post the sprint that is always the end of Academy (Yes, I passed the full year this time! Fall is going to seem so easy!), I've hopped back into a project that has been languishing: the Nostalgia Shawl. I'd sorted out the yarn last October as I was tossing the stash. 

One skein is Knitted Wit Victory Sock Yarn in the Marketplace Flowers colorway, which AudioGirl brought me from Seattle for my birthday. The other is Dream in Color Smooshy in the Dark Amethyst colorway from Sibling the Elder--also a present. The two definitely worked together, with the purple being highlighted against the colorful pops and the color pops being just a touch toned down. 

The Nostalgia Shawl is a crescent-shaped shawl that is made up of rows of alternating stripes and then short-row lace. I'm being lazy and following the written directions, it's just been easier than trying to count on the chart as I've hauled this back and forth. 

I'm nearly through the final section of stripes and then I have one more lace repeat and then a border to go. And a number of ends to weave in. I haven't washed the DIC so I don't know if it will bleed. I doubt the white will stay quite as brilliant as it is now no matter what.  

It's a riotous blur of color in the middle lace section and the border will be as well. And it's likely to be ~700 yards used up, a nice addition to my StashDash total. I was thinking that this summer may be more focused on works in progress, of which I have the better part of 5K that could pretty easily be completed. But there are also at least two baby projects that need to be knit.  Should get on those sooner rather than later! 

Through the Final Sprint....Waiting the Judging; On to StashDash!

Yesterday was the final day for Loopy Academy for the spring and as per my usual, it was down to the last few hours. Fortunately I only had small details to wrap and hopefully, hopefully... everything will be approved. 2 of the 6 projects are pending on The Loopy Ewe website.

First up was another pair of gloves. I used the same pattern (Knotty Gloves) as I did in the fall with some modifications. I used size 1 (2.25mm) needles rather than 1.5(2.5mm) needles. I skipped the cables, but I did ribbing all the way up including the fingers. The only part of the gloves that are stockinette are the thumb increases. I could have built out the ribbing there but I wasn't feeling quite that ambitious. These fit much better than the pair I did in the fall as well, I really do prefer a lot of ribbing on accessories.

The yarn is Blue Moon Fiber Arts in the Socks that Rock Lightweight in the Valkyrie colorway. It's lovely yarn as always but this skein bled significantly. My hands looked like I'd been rummaging around in a coal bin every time I worked on the gloves.

And then last night at a local Mexican restaurant, waiting for Viva, I wrapped up my toys. The bartender very politely did *not* comment on the fact that I was sewing on wings while drinking my cider. I'm sure she noticed though.

Meet the owlettes! I knit three just to be sure that I used enough yarn to meet the 250 yardage requirement. In retrospect two would probably have been sufficient. And they are 2 color :) Yay.  The are pretty adorable. The pattern is Dreamy Owl. It's fiddly, more than anything. I like the end result though and these already have a planned home.

The one benefit to wrapping up this late is that these also count for Stash Dash! So I'm at least 500m (will be weighing and photographing to make sure yardage...) into the summer. I have several in progress projects that need to be charged through next so I am hoping for a solid 3K summer, maybe even a 5K if things ever slow down.

Next fall someone remind me NOT to knit another 900 yard shawl, will you?

At least one... [Dragon Mitts Complete!]

I finished Spring Semester for Loopy Academy Junior Year! Assuming they accept my final photo (yes, I'm checking probably more often than necessary), I have completed buttons, beads, and now colorwork.

The dragon mitts are done! These needed only the ribbing on the thumbs completed, so that was about an hour of knitting while watching TheKnitGirllls. And at least three people have already expressed some extremely interested eyebrows at these, so I might need to make another pair or two. 

Wendy Johnson wrote a lovely pattern and this is a very straightforward knit, particularly for novice colorworkers. You do need to be able to follow a chart and I need to get better at locking my floats but overall... 

These were knit out of Loopy Ewe Solids (still on clearance sale, might have to go get some more). I used the gray as the main color and definitely used more of that skein than the purple contrast for the dragons. I was a bit concerned that I wouldn't hit the 250 yard mark, but these came in at 275 yards by weight (53 grams). I knit them on size 3 (3.25 mm) needles, which is a size I don't use much. I thought it might be too loose but overall it worked nicely. These fit me a little bit loosely and a little too tight on the Philosopher. 

Right now they are set aside for blocking and other attendant things later; I'm traveling this week and not leaving things out for felines to love upon. 

Now I'm attempting to slam through the rest of my fall semester makeup. I am hoping to get most of an owl done today and then, which would mean I only have to take the gloves with me for evening/plane knitting at the conference.  

Gypsy is pretending that she is invisible when she sneaks past me into the hallway of our apartment building. 

Number 2 and Number 3 Are Done

I have not one but TWO projects for you today. And I'm halfway through my Loopy Academy six projects (fall junior make up and spring junior).  Of course, even though I've finished three projects I'm currently done with neither semester. But I have two episodes of the KnitGirllls to watch tonight and so there's hope.

First up, the shawl that went to Maryland is completed! This is Isen and I knit most of it during my epic trip out to Baltimore and to see Sibling-the-Younger.

The yarn is Wollmeise DK in the Feldmaus and it took very nearly all of two skeins. I have a little bit left, which will be set aside in a ziplock in case there are any repairs needed in the future. I used Miyuki Beads in the Dark Smoky Amethyst color and I only needed 3 beads total out of the second tube. Glad I had the second tube but really, only 3?  This was for the beaded pattern requirement for Loopy Spring Junior Semester.

As you can imagine, this is a heavy shawl. Each skein is supposed to be 7.1 oz plus the bead weight. It's an odd shade of brown, with hints of purple that show under the sunlight. Overall I enjoyed the beading work, though it certainly makes commuting and knitting impossible. Very much a sit at home (or in a conference, webinar, etc) kind of project. 

The pattern is beautifully written, the charts were easy to follow. It's been languishing for about six weeks waiting for me to have time to finish two more beaded rows in the last 8. Overall it went very quickly though for a nearly 900 yard shawl. And yes, that makes 2 800+ yard shawls I've knit since February 1. 

Gypsy wonders why I keep trying to take a photo of her in a shawl. 

Actually finished a week or two ago was this cowl! This is also for Spring Semester and it meets the buttonholes and buttons project prompt.  

The pattern is the Gothic Lace Cowl by tincanknits, whose straightforward patterns make new techniques entirely manageable. My only complaint and this is a small one, is that a specific size of button isn't called for and while I followed suggestions on the pattern page, I really should have probably purchased a slightly larger set of buttons. 

Still, as you can hopefully see, there are buttons and buttonholes. Nine of them, as memory serves. The buttons were an Etsy find and whomever is gifted this cowl will get the extra 2-3, as buttons do tend to get lost over time.  

The yarn is two skeins of Malabrigo Worsted and I had to alternate as TLE didn't have two skeins of the same colorway in stock. That's always a possibility with Malabrigo, particularly the brighter colors, but it slowed me down a bit and that was a little frustrating. Still, it's done, it's pink and purple, it's photographing a little bit lighter than it actually is... and it's off the needles. 

That makes 3. Right now I have 2 thumbs to finish on the dragon mitts (spring, stranded colorwork), one owlette and a bunch of wings (fall, toy), and one pair of gloves -- I'm ready to start the thumbs on both and then work up the hands (fall, gloves). It's a lot yet to do in the next 15 days and ideally I'd like the majority of that done before I leave for Kansas next week. 

Then I can start working on a nice big project for Stash Dash 2017.... 

Proof Positive: Industrial Revolution

I've had my eye on the pattern Industrial Revolution for a while and it served nicely for my spring redo of bobbles.  Certainly a better choice that what I did on my first attempt at a bobble project, which is a shawl that I just not one of my favorites. 

I decided to knit this up in Loopy Solids in the Malachite colorway.

It's a steampunk pattern, designed to look like gears and makes a lovely small shawl. I used about 3.5 skeins.  As you can see, it has quite a number of small bobbles and, while I can't say they are a technique I enjoy, I can get through them without too much blue language.  It does invoke spokes and gears though, with many yarn overs.  

The border is worked sideways, with the stitches increasing up and down.  I blocked it gently here, if I were being more exact, I would have pinned each point more distinctly. I'm not sure I have quite that many pins in the house though. 

All in all, I'm pleased with how it turned out.  Gypsy had to add a paw or two of approval and so now I may never get gray cat hair out of it. 

One officially down, five more academy projects this semester to go! 

Yet Another May Countdown

That thing where you keep saying "No really, I'll get things started and done earlier...."

The curse of a process knitter.

It's May, well, it is tomorrow. And here I hoped to have at least 4 of my Loopy Academy projects done.

An obviously not completed mitt

Things are starting to finally roll along but I'm definitely not done yet. 

There are six projects on the deadline here...

Make Up Semester

1)  Toy -- the owls haven't been touched in months. No one has wings. One body still to knit. 

2)  Gloves -- I got the cuffs of both done but I'm not through the thumb gusset on either yet, let alone the drama that is knitting fingers. Still, at least underway. 

3)  Bobbles. DONE AND BLOCKED. Need to post final photos here and on Loopy Academy

Spring Semester

1) Buttons -- the knitting is done on the cowl, the buttons are not sewn on. That should be about an hour of work, I hope. 

2) Colorwork.  -- See above. I cranked through one mitt this weekend. This requires several hours of knitting in one place because of the chart but it's not horrible. 

3) Beads -- after I got back from Baltimore the shawl was entirely abandoned. It needs 8 rows, with more beading.

I need to sit down and figure out how much time each project really still needs. 5-6 hours would knock out 2 of them--so I think that might be my first priority. It'd be lovely to hold them until the last week of the month so that they all count for Stash Dash 2017 but I think I'll just need to get through and go back to all of the other WIPs that are piled up on the couch (yes, literally a big pile).

I foresee quite a lot of British television for me in the month of May. Who is with me?   

YarnCon 2017: Ooooh, Shiny

The Philosopher and I went to YarnCon yesterday! It's always a lovely way to feel like spring is here, having a large local yarn festival. And it doesn't hurt that my friend Shannon drives in from Ohio and so I get a hug and a chance to share at least one ridiculous story.

Observations of the day: the general pallet is still multi-colored, but it's more muted than in the past couple of years. There were a couple of dyers with shaded solids but I've still not seen anyone competing with Two Guys Yarn Co for pastels. What did surprise me was that the only "tool" type booths I saw were for project bags. I saw only one booth that seemed to have spindles and no one had wheels this year that I spotted.

There were some favorite vendors I've seen before and a few new ones that were delightful and so obviously I had to make a few acquisitions.

The Philosopher has asked for a new customized mitt for working on digital boards. I wanted something that isn't going to show dirt all the time but was lovely. Yes, I know that first picture is horribly blown out, I was trying to show all of the colors. This black+ yarn from Honey Girl Farms is delightfully complex without being annoying. From 10 feet, it'll look mostly black but from up close there's quite a richness. 

Black Cat Fiber is going in the books as a new favorite. They had tremendous colors. I limited myself to just this one and doesn't the silk just shine! This should be a lovely small shawlette. I know it will mute a bit as knit up but it'll be a lovely gift to someone when done.  And they were just lovely in the booth to chat with. As my first purchase of the day, they also recommended a few other favorites to swing by. 

The Philosopher and I were both immediately drawn to the bag of these braids in CJ Kopec's booth. It's a brand new colorway for her, designed by her son. It's called Cadet and it's 100% merino. I hadn't been sure if I would buy fiber this year; I still haven't spindled up the entire 4 ounces that I bought at YarnCon last year from YarnGeek.  This was so appealing, however, that I couldn't pass it up. Several people asked me about it as we wandered about, so I assume a few more braids went home with new friends too! 

I was specifically recommended by two people to drop into the Northern Bee Studio booth and I was very pleased that I did. I'm sure they won the award for farthest traveled--they came from Alaska! They shared that to fly all of the yarn here, they put it in vacuum sealed bags and prayed very hard that TSA wouldn't open the bags and inadvertently fluff all the yarn again! Everything made it and it looked like they'd be taking far less home. I was happy to help contribute to lighter luggage with this Deep Forest skein. You can't see the label but it's 10% yak. So very deliciously soft. Also, they had a cobalt blue skein that was *ridiculously*  bright. Unfortunately, it was only available as a miniskein but I was assured that it would be on the website soon.

And finally, up on the balcony this year (that was new, not sure if I liked it), was Sophie's Toes. That should be a familiar name by this point, I buy things from her pretty much every YarnCon and AudioGirl's Christmas gift was knit from one of her 6 packs. We discussed a few of her colorways and I ended up with this lovely one-of-a-kind skein, something she'd overdyed. It'll likely just become a pair of socks, but what a fun knit that will be to discover the colors that come next.  Her booth looked like it'd been hit pretty hard but there was still some lovely stuff for the Sunday crowd. 

I haven't bought a lot of yarn this year besides what I've needed for Loopy Academy (that's been enough) and that's probably good as I've also not used a whole lot of yarn. But these struck me as special enough to jam into the space around Chez Hedgehog. Now to just keep them from marinating too long...