Best hat EVER!

I have decided that Susan Pierce Lawrence, the designer of Branching Out (published in knitty), has just made my day.

Look what she did:


It looks like a hat.
It smells like a hat.
And it's knit TOP-DOWN!

People, this is the toe-up answer to hats. You don't have to swatch.

Wait, that doesn't catch the excitement:
You don't have to swatch!!!

The pattern is delightfully presented as a PDF here.

Ah, life is good. Off to knit!

What a lovely wrist

We're performing an opera snippet at the end of the week. It's an excerpt from Louise, and we sing "what a lovely voice" about ten thousand times. It only fits that I'm changing it to "what a lovely wrist" now that I've knit this much!

So, check out my wrist:


I love deceptive photos -- it looks like I'm actually done here.

But no. . . this is what I've got so far:


I still love it.
And I haven't taken it off since I put it on to photograph it. I think that's a good sign.

Dun dun dun dun dun dun...

Guess what's here?!?


Ooooooh!!! We get our matches Feb. 1 -- huzzah!

I think I actually like making socks for other people more than for myself . . . if I have their measurements, that is!

Shimmering

I didn't want to knit a shrug.

I didn't want to knit this pattern.

But, ooooh. I think I'm in love.

The purple cashsoft I've been fondling -- you know, the yarn I got from the fabulous Lisa -- it's going to become a Shimmer shrug.



The pattern is from knitty and can be found here.

It's the sleeves that sold it for me - aren't they pretty?

Epiphany

Oh, tell me this isn't a good idea:

A purple cashsoft bolero.

Baby.

Oooooh, ahhhhhh, shiny!

Hmmm, my Linzknits Lace page has a new title bar.

I lurve it. Go see!

Kimono Shawl, here I come

I think it's time.
The cashsoft has spoken.

This ball of squishy love, (which I can't stop fondling):


Is calling out to be knit into this pattern, (but obviously bigger, rectangular, and not neon green):


What can I do? I've GOT to swatch!

Update:
Hmmm... It's not draping like I want it too... off to debate a new pattern.

What a diff'rence a day makes

Ta-da!
Here is the journey of the second lace blanket square.

It's the one I knit from the inside-out... very successfully, if I may say so. I think I am going to have to knit a shawl with this technique at some point... I like the fact that you can just stop when you run out of yarn. However, the fact that the number of stitches on your needles increases every round is a little discouraging.

So. . . here is what it looked like pre-blocking. All scrunched and squirmy, like a newborn:




And then, once blocked . . . oooh, aaaaaaahhhhh:


Oh yes . . . what a diff'rence a day of blocking makes!

Project Details:
Yarn: Lorna's Laces Shepherd Sport in Tahoe

Needles: 3.75mm circulars the whole way, with some magic loop - none of this ridiculous starting out on 5 dpns.

Pattern: Unvented by me, based on Elizabeth Zimmerman's squares. Increase every other row with yos at "edge of each needle" (or using stitch markers/your brain on circulars). Row of eyelet = *k2 tog, yo*, keeping increasing pattern. 3 Rows of Garter stitch in the middle.

I love this technique, and will have to find myself some lace patterns to make a square shawl.

Inside-out?

Hmmm... a new lace blanket square is the perfect excuse to learn a new technique... so what have I pickeed? Knitting a square from the centre-out, of course!

It's going quite well... I'm using a combination of ideas from Elizabeth Zimmerman and the Interweave book Traditional Knitted Lace Shawls by Martha Waterman (great book -- you need one!).

I've got it about half-way done in size... but of course, the last half will take longer because there are so many more stitches.

Wanna see what I've got so far? The yarn is the ever-delicious Lorna's Laces Shepherd Sport (leftovers from Joanne's Farewell Socks) in Tahoe. I'm knitting it up on 3.75mm circulars.



Just wait 'till it's done and blocked!

Bunny love

I think that this photo is long overdue! (Pretend there's no hand in the way...)



Project Details:
Yarn: Knitpicks' Wool of the Andes in pumpkin and maple syrup (with a wee bit of coal).

Pattern: Bunny from Jean Greenhowe's Knitted Animals -- modified to add "socks" and a "reporter's visor" - even if you think he looks like a jazzercise bunny, he's really a reporter!

Project Details

Do you know what would be good... to put some project details about my square on my blog.

So...

Project Details:
Yarn: Knitpicks' Paint Your Own 100% merino laceweight dyed with lemon-lime koolaid

Stitch Pattern: from Kimono Shawl from Cheryl Oberle's Folk Shawls

Ooh la la

Wow.

It's amazing what blocking can do.

When we last left our valiant green square, it looked like this:


And after a little bit of thumbtack-induced torture:


Oooh, ahhhh.
It's even square!

Guess what's blocking?

Oh yes, the first lace square is done. And infused with lots of love.
Once it's done blocking, a couple photos and it'll wing its way outta here!

Check it out:

Tofu shawl

I desperately need some of this, (in the natural colour on the left, naturally):

(Clicking on the photo will take you to the South West Trading Company's page, scroll down to see this stuff.)

It's soy silk... and it's made from the by-products of tofu manufacturing.

Laceweight.

Yumm.

I think it would make a gorgeous shawl.

The Green Monster grows!

Well, the electric green yarn that I'm sure you remember from last post is turning itself into a lace square for a blanket. A number of us are each doing a square and . . . ta-da! There will be enough to be blanketized.

Of course, mine looks like 6 rows of garter stitch right now, so you don't get a picture. (I don't think you want one).

Hopefully, by tonight, there will be at least one repeat of the pattern, and then I will present you with a photo -- hold thumbs!

I've created a monster!

A very green monster:

Green?

Whatever could I be doing with koolaid, garbage bags, laceweight merino and a microwave?

Photos soon.

Uh-oh

Toe-up Jaywalker Socks.

This is what I've been waiting for!

Mmmm, original pattern here at Magknits.

Selfish Knitting

Now that my holiday knitting is DONE, I have the chance to knit something for myself. Of course, this has me completely perplexed.

I have a list as long as my arm of projects I want to do (see sidebar) . . . I have a gorgeous stash of yarn, much of which is suitable for these projects or other ones I have in mind.

I need a hat. I also would like if my hat/scarf/mitts didn't clash. The current burgundy/turquoise/orange/black look just isn't working... the alternate option is purple/hot pink/lime green/black... I don't know what's worse.

So, here is the question. Do I knit something I want or something I need?

(If I were to look at this logically, I would knit the hat... it won't take long. But am I looking at this logically? No.)

Therefore, when I get back to my stash, I will pet everything and see what wants to be knit up.

The Year of the . . . ?

Happy New Year to all!
I wish you lots of fibre time.

(And yes, I will go back to knitting content once I'm back with my stash...)

PS - I've gotten rid of the sidebar stuff on my project pages (not the main page, but the individual ones, like "Linzknits Clapotis" and such). It makes me much happier to update just one page. Happy "spring" cleaning for my blog.