Yarn, with pictures.

The yarn came on Monday like planned, so I am pretty slow getting pictures up. I've been busy working on the sweater naturally ;)

Here are all 6 hanks of the Cherry Tree Hill Supersock Silk Solids yarn in the color "Tea Rose" Thankfully I got it cheaper than it is currently on "sale" for.

Just a close up of the hanks.

Here I have a hank ready for winding, with kitty ready to supervise.

Here are my two "center-pull" hand wound balls. Will wind more later.

Here is roughly two full days worth of knitting on the Abotanicity sweater from knitty.com.
Size 3 needles shown.

Same amount of progress as above, just trying to show some scale as well as the 2x1 rib detail.

This picture I just took; so about 4 days of work. I just joined on the second ball, so the yarn is going further than I was expecting. I can't honestly say that I look forward to more winding...

I have really enjoyed working with the yarn. It is 80% superwash merino wool, 20% silk, so technically I could machine wash it, but I think I will opt to It has a nice feel to it and a beautiful sheen. I am really hoping that there is enough yarn leftover to make a pair of socks as well (not that I would wear the socks and the sweater at the same time, I'm not THAT tacky...)

As far as the pattern goes, it has been very straight-forward so far. It is knit from the top down. The part I have pictured is the yoke of the sweater, narrow end is the neckline. In a few more inches I will be splitting it to divide for the bodice and arms. Because of the yarn size it is going rather slowly, but I really don't mind. The yarn feels lovely, and the pattern so far is so simple that I can watch tv while working on this (I recommend BBCs Masterpiece Mystery!: Sherlock (available on Netflix). It is a clever modernization and just complex enough to really complement simple knitting (: )

I'll post more pictures when I get the split done and have started on the skirt portion of the sweater.

What the heck?!

I posted pictures of my three complete projects the 11th, and the post disappeared!!!!!! I really don't feel like re typing all of it up and importing the pictures again. It isn't even listed under drafts, it is like it never existed. Stupid, stupid, stupid, blogger...

After some research it seems that this was due to blogger going through maintenance, and all posts published 11th and 12th were temporarily removed due to data corruption. I will wait a few days and see if my post magically reappears, if not than I'll probably attempt to recreate it.

Unlawful knitting.

Yes, I broke my knitting fast. I had every intention of not knitting until my yarn comes on Monday, but I got curious about the brioche stitch and wanted to try it. Somehow my little test section ended up turning into a hat, lol.

It all started because I wanted to learn some edging techniques for knitting straight pieces. I watched a couple videos on YouTube and decided next straight (not in the round) piece that I knit I will try one of the chain edge techniques. The one I will be trying will be to slip first stitch knit-wise, then to purl the last stitch. It sounds easy enough and looks quite nice. The video is here. It somehow progressed into my watching random knitting videos, until I ran across some brioche stitch "how-to" videos. I've always thought the stitch looked pretty, but had never attempted to actually knit it.

I told myself that I would just try it, just for a little bit then I would stop. so I got my size 6 circular knitting needles, two partial skeins of Lionbrand Wool-Ease (purple) and Cotton-Ease (gray). I followed the techniques found in these two videos here Part 1 Part 2. I worked a couple inches and liked the process enough I just kept going until bedtime. This morning I figured out how to decrease it (by trial and error, really I should have just looked online) and ended up with the hat pictured below.

This is the right side of the hat,

and this is the wrong.

This picture is just to show how it sits, though it is pretty stretchy and can be manipulated to sit lower or higher. It would also be able to hold a good amount of hair underneath it.

Here is the top of the right side, you can see the decreases here...reminds me of a star.

And this is the top of the wrong side. It doesn't look as nice as the right side, but it still looks nice enough to be fully reversible.

So that was my little knitting adventure I did last night and this morning. I am getting a picture in my head of a man-sweater with dark blue main color and dark grey contrast color using this two color brioche stitch. I may be ambitious and attempt making it sometime this winter. For now though I have a good size stack of knitting projects that I have set aside for Christmas presents. I would like to get those done before working on any more "just because" projects (after the sweater for me and the Scarlow sweater for my husband of course, though I may sneak in a pair of socks between them).

Finished Projects.

I have been in a slump lately, so haven't been doing much updating. I had planned to post progress pictures, but I don't remember to take pictures when I'm blue and knitting into the wee hours of the morning in front of the tv. I completed two of my projects and am nearly done with the third.

In the previous post I said I was having trouble with the socks for my daughter. It is such a simple pattern, but I just kept making dumb mistakes. No surprise that the sock is the project that I haven't finished yet. I am on the right track though, and remembered to increase this time. I will most likely finish it later this evening then take a break from knitting until Monday.

The tank top I knit for myself turned out very well, but I don't think I'll be wearing it much until fall time. It is pretty warm, and I think would look good over a long sleeved button-up shirt. Using two strands of Red Heart Super Saver and size 13 needles, it knit up pretty quickly. I think it turned out quite excellent for just casting on a random number of stitches and holding it up to my body to decide when to make arm holes or neck shaping. I completed this Saturday morning. Here are the pictures.

The shirt for my 4-year-old I completed Monday night, realized I made a mistake, ripped it partially apart then re-completed it Tuesday morning. It turned out very pretty and my daughter loves it. I used the same eyelet pattern as is used in the sock pattern, with a seed stitch edging. I was hoping to use up some of the leftover yarn (Lionbrand Cotton-Ease) from the girls' "Elenka" dresses. The shirt used up the partially used skeins, but I still have a pink that was barely used out of, and a green that hasn't been used at all. Guess I'll save them for something later on, perhaps I'll make a matching hat and scarf for her later.

Although I am not yet finished with the second sock, I will go ahead and included a picture of the one that is complete. I don't think I'll create a post when I do finish it, just because that seems a bit of a waste of time since they will both look exactly the same anyway. Here is the free pattern I used for the socks.

Because I've been in a slump lately I changed my mind on what to make next. I was going to make the "Scarlow Cardigan" for my husband, but I didn't think dark musty colors sounded like a good idea right now. I wanted to make something pretty for myself in a more cheery color. After a bit of searching I decided to go with the "Abotanicity" pattern I found on Knitty.com. It looks just complicated enough to keep my mind occupied, but not so complicated as to be frustrating. I will be using the Cherry Tree Hill Supersock Silk Yarn (80% Low Micron Superwash Merino Wool / 20% Silk) in the color Tea Rose. It was a bit more costly than I would have liked, but working with this yarn should be a pretty big "pick-me-up" and I sort of need that right now. The yarn will be here on Monday, which is why I will start knitting again on that day.

I am excited to start this project as I will be completing two of my personal goals in knitting. It is made in the round from the top down, and the arms are knit with two circular needles instead of DPNs (double pointed needles). I really don't mind using DPNs, but apparently a lot of sock knitters hate using them, so many of the sock patterns I want to try are written for circulars. I figured it would be good to learn the technique on something like this sweater that is a bit simpler than the lacy socks I want to make.

After I have completed the "Abotanicity" I will try to make that cardigan for my husband. I want to start working on some gifts before too much longer. I would like to make socks and maybe some shawls. I want to make the Shipwreck Shawl. It is beautiful and I've never made a circular shawl before. I may make one for me and one or two for family member(s) that I think may like it as well. I have a hard time knitting or crocheting gifts for people. There are a few people I know who actually use and like what I give them, but then there are others that I have an inkling just don't care and never use the gifts.

That's all for now. I will be trying to catch up on reading and working on the garden over the weekend. When the yarn comes on Monday I will put up a "Yarn Haul" post complete with pictures.

Random knit stuff.

I have three on-going projects at the moment. I am still working on the children's sock. Truth is I completed the first sock days ago. I completed the second one soon after, then discovered that it was too small. I ripped it out and started over, to discover that I hadn't made the wrong size after all, I just forgot to increase after the cuff was made... I have since fixed it and gotten about two inches done on it, but am too discouraged at the moment to work on it.

While upset with the sock, I started working on a shirt (perhaps it will be a tank, it all depends on how far the yarn goes) for myself. No pattern, I just cast on a random number and started knitting. I decided it was going too slowly (size 5 needles so it would be closely stitched and dense, but took way too long to work each round) and the greens were sort of depressing... so I started my third project. The left over Cotton-Ease from the girls' dresses are being worked into a shirt for my youngest daughter. My husband thinks it looks kinda kooky with pink and green together, but what does he know?! (it really does look kooky, but I'm hoping it looks better once finished, hey, I'm working with what I've got, lol).

The child's shirt has a pink seed stitch edging on the bottom, and the green main color I am working in an eyelet pattern. I am hoping it looks decent when I am done, and fits (seeing as how I did zero measuring and just cast on a random number of stitches). I am only about 4-5 inches on it, but it should work up fairly quickly.

Today I decided I didn't like how the shirt for me was turning out, so I ripped it all out and wound it into a ball. I started over, but am working two of the strands together on a size 11 needle. I have been working on it fairly steadily throughout the day and have a good 7 inches in progress. I am using left over Red Heart Super Saver, in a dark green for edging and light sage for the main color. It is working up pretty quickly and I hope to get it done by the weekend.

On a last note, I am teaching my 4-year-old to crochet. We just started today, and besides her getting frustrated very easily, it is going pretty good. She wants to make a scarf just like her big sister is making, only hers will be purple and white instead of pink and light pink. We are only doing single crochet stitches, but so far so good. She seems to be picking it up pretty well, but is having trouble learning how to hold the yarn and hook properly. I expect her to be doing very well with it in a couple more days (we just started today).