Chock Full of Hoot, Just a Little Bit of Nanny

March?  Yeah, let's just pretend that month didn't happen.  First half of April?  I'm still trying to figure out where those 2 weeks went.  For now, let's forget about that stuff and focus on some socks!

Hoot!  Hoot!

Pattern:  Hootenanny by Amy Herzog
Yarn:  Sanguine Gryphon Skinny Bugga in Blue Metalmark and Bugga in Bess Beetle  (yes, I mixed skinny and regular Bugga, which was not ideal, but not too bad either)
Needles:  2.25mm and 2.5mm
Size:  Custom--bigger than the small; smaller than the large.  I guess that makes it a medium, but pattern only lists sizes XS, S, L.  See my Ravelry project page for specific stitch count modifications.
Cast on: Feb 1, 2013.  Bind off: Feb 26, 2013
Mods:  Nothing except the sizing.  Oh, wait, I changed the 1x1 twisted ribbing on the cuff to regular 2x2. I'm such a rebel.

This project is full of win.  I finished a pair of socks in under a month (given my lackluster sock knitting in the last year, this is HUGE.  And yeah, I know it took me longer to post them than it did to knit them).  I finished a project that's been sitting in my queue for years.  Leftover yarn was put to good use (the blue was from my Damson shawl, the brown from Oranje).  And, well, cute owls!

Cute big owls

And cute baby owls

I'm a little obsessed with owls lately.  A couple days after I started Hootenanny, I bought a second owl project bag.

The bag is from a new Etsy shop:  Kicks and Giggles.  Go check them out--the bag is beautifully made.

And go check out Tami's for more Finished Object Fridays!

Hopefully I'll be back without another 6 week hiatus.  A few new projects and lots of finished yarns to share!

FO Fridays: Skid

Skid has been done for awhile but laziness (and lack of decent light for photos) kept it from the blog last week, so without further delay...my second finished knitting project for 2013!

Pattern:  Skid by Stephen West
Yarn:  Madelinetosh Vintage in Composition Book Gray and Butter
Needles:  US size 6 and 7
Size: Large
Ravelry Project Page

Not too much to say about this one.  It was pretty easy and fast.  The pattern is somewhat confusing about moving the start of round stitch marker--never really tells you how to work in your color changes.  I tried a few rounds of moving the color change with the marker but that looked like crap so I gave up and changed colors at the same stitch every round.  I eventually stopped moving the stitch marker altogether because I couldn't see the point.  I'm sure I'm missing something totally obvious, but whatever, it looks fine.  And it is, as advertised, totally reversible.

Thank you helpful balloon model

It's a little roomy so I might chuck the whole reversibility thing by sewing in some fleece lining to make the hat warmer, but that is still to be decided.  Most likely it will be spring before I get to the fabric store, and I'll have plenty of time to decide.

Thank you all for your support (and encouragement) of the Stephen West addiction that I wrote about when I started the hat.  Sounds like I'm good company!  I expect Chadwick will hit the needles pretty soon!

Visit Tami's for more FO Friday!

February Project-of-the-Month: Hootenanny!

Hootenanny has to be one of my favorite words.  And really who ever gets a chance to use it?  Unless of course you're quoting an old Buffy the Vampire episode ("chock full of hoot, just a little bit of nanny").  Sorry, inner nerd showing again.  Moving on quickly to my February project-of-the-month: Hootenanny!

I changed my mind 12 different times (okay, maybe more like 3) about what should be this month's project.  In the end, Hootenanny won out because it's been sitting in my queue for over 2 years with yarn at the ready, and I'm finally determined to get moving on a few of these poor projects that I've always passed over or put off because I'm too busy trying to finish other WIPs. Hootenanny was first mainly because the yarn was already wound, and I was in the mood for a sock and some stranded knitting.  Not to mention, the owls are just plain cute (matching owl project bag a nice bonus).

Who can resist cute owls?  Or the word "hootenanny"?  Not me. Another favorite word: "shenanigans". Definitely going to try to figure out ways to work "hootenanny" and "shenanigans" into more blog posts.

Now go check out Tami's for more WIP Wednesday!

January Spinning

So once a month, I've decided I'm going to get over my whole "finished-spins-aren't-really-finished-objects" hangup and post my spinning for the previous month.  If you came to see a finished knitted, crocheted, or woven item, I'm sorry to disappoint.  Today is about spinning.  Here's why:

Another of my many fiber-related 2013 resolutions is to put a significant dent in the spinning fiber stash. Somewhere between the goal of spinning down the stash and finding the 13 in 2013 group on Ravelry, I completely lost my mind.

That would be 13 pounds of fiber in 2013.  Seriously, 13 pounds. You'd think I'd want to start out with an easier goal, like say, 13 braids, 13 spinning projects.  Something, anything, more manageable than 13 pounds.  Nope, some part of me said "hey, that sounds fun, I'm totally going to try to do that".  To add to the ridiculousness of this goal, even though I may think my stash is getting too big, relative to most spinners in the group, it's tiny.  Barely visible.  I don't even currently own 13 pounds of fiber. Details, people, details.  I'm going for it.

January spinning got me off to a pretty decent start.

4 oz Bee Mice Elf Merino Silk in Warm Welcome, 300 yards, singles, 11-12 wpi
8 oz alpaca from Nobella Alpacas, approx 175 yards, 2-ply, 6-7 wpi
4 oz Misty Mountain Farm BFL in Victorian Rose, 155 yards, 2-ply, 10 wpi (for the epic afghan)

Add to that pound, another 2 ounces of fiber that I spun up while practicing learning to draft long-draw, and I'm at 18 ounces for January.  Plus I've got a nice head start for February.  Right on track for 13 pounds.  We are not going to discuss that those are all pretty easy, fast spins and that once I want to get back to thinner yarn, I'm totally screwed.  Hopefully posting my spinning here monthly will help keep me motivated.

Visit Tami's for more FO Fridays (and probably, like, actual FOs)!

WIP Wednesday: Skid

I'm still inching along on Vivian, but somehow I doubt anyone wants to see a picture of the almost-finished second sleeve that looks pretty much just like the first one or read my whining about endless seed stitch.

Instead, I have a new half-knit hat for today.

I planned this hat for Mike back when I thought I would have plenty of yarn for Low-Tide Ripples.  I chucked the idea when I saw there wouldn't be much leftover, but once I had to order an extra skein, well, why not two? So Composition Book Gray arrived on my door with a bright yellow companion--Butter.  The color combo idea came from Mike admiring the Chadwick sample (I covet this too and am still a bit obsessed with duplicating it).  MadTosh Butter is really bright though.  Even brighter than expected.  Almost highlighter yellow bright.  Mike seemed okay with it though so once I finished Low-Tide, I threw more money at Stephen West and started Skid.

I might be developing a Stephen West problem.  This is the third hat pattern of his I've knit, and while I was about to say I've been able to withstand the lure of his shawls, I just remembered Clockwork and Flamboyan were his too.  Plus the plans for Chadwick that have been in the works for awhile.  And when I went to his Rav patterns page to grab the Skid link, I discovered Gullfoss.  A vest?  A poncho?  A scarf?  All in one?  I'm intrigued.  Throws Skid aside to start pondering stash....

Visit Tami's for more WIP Wednesday!

Irony

Know what happens when you boast Friday morning about your strong immune system and that you haven't had a cold or virus in years?  Yep, I'm sure you can guess.  Less than 10 hours later you are lying in bed with chills and body aches and your weekend plans go right to hell.

Too wiped out to deal with Vivian, cables, and sleeves, all of my weekend knitting was on an older, even more neglected project.

SOCK YARN AFGHAN OF DOOM

Two days in bed and at least 10 squares later, my immune system seems to have gotten the better of whatever struck, and I'm on the mend and back to the spinning wheel and Vivian.

I just screwed myself with that last sentence, didn't I?

Low-Tide Ripples

My first finished knitting of the new year is a big one!  Yay, new sweater!

Pattern:  Low-Tide Ripples

Yarn:  Madelinetosh Vintage in Composition Book Gray, 6.25 skeins, 1250 yds

Needles: US size 6

Started:  February 2012 (damn, really?! doesn't feel like it was that long ago)

Finished: January 24, 2013
Ravelry Project Page

This is yet another project with a long history.  I queued it immediately after it was released in that great Fall 2009 Twist Collective issue and finally bought yarn for it a year later.  When I cast on with that initial yarn, a pale dusty pink, I got halfway through the yoke before deciding that the pattern really cried out for a semi-solid not solid-solid yarn. Sigh. RIP.  I had bought the MadTosh at the same time during a pilgrimage trip to Webs, intending it for a Dark and Stormy, but once I lost motivation for that pattern, it was shifted over to Low-Tide last winter.

I think I made it though the yoke fairly quickly but then put the sweater aside for a break.  The cables are the simplest of cables, but there are a lot of them.  Every. Other. Row.  Can you say aching hands?  Less than happy knitting combined with some lingering doubts about the fit and fabric meant that break lasted all spring and summer and a decent chunk of the fall (I think I can blame Laika for some of that).   As usual, it took my  end-of-the-year WIP clean house goal to jump start me back to it.  The rest of the body went by pretty quickly, sleeve one flew (seriously, I love my 12 in circs for sleeves), but then I hit the yarn shortage problem.  The pattern calls for 1125 yards for the 34 inch size.  I had 1200 so thought I would be fine even though I was adding a few inches to the body.  Nope.  Happily, MadTosh still makes this color, and once the yarn arrived, the rest of sleeve two flew by in a couple of days.  A few more days to block and sew buttons, and yay, a finished sweater only three years in the making!

The Good:
Super comfy 
Sweater quantity of stash yarn used up
Buttons from button stash (see, it sometimes pays to buy options!) 
Super cool sleeve cuffs

The only thing I'm not so sure about is the length.  I added an extra cable repeat in the body because I was afraid of it coming out too short, and while the length is okay, I think I might like it a little more had I not added that extra few inches.  An easy fix if I had the motivation to rip and reknit the hem.  But I don't.  Maybe one day.

Final verdict--Pattern:  
Happy with the sweater.  Even happier knitting it is over.  It wasn't the most enjoyable knit, and those super cool cuffs are fiddly as hell.  But that part is behind me and Mother Nature is even cooperating by giving us a few cold days in Maryland so I can actually wear it.

Final verdict--Yarn: 

Yum!  I love the yarn, especially after being blocked.  It’s a great weight and has a really tight twist.  I worried that I was knitting it at too tight a gauge and that the fabric would be too dense.  Nope.  After blocking, it is soft and amazing and even a hint drapey. Love!  Unfortunately, although I would love to use it again, it’s not a great value at $19 for 200 yards (I was lucky enough to buy it with a discount and gift card).  If I catch a sale though, I would totally snatch up another sweater quantity. 

Finally,  I wasn't able to get many good pictures since I attempted to take them myself this morning with the timer.  I did, however, get many amusing "outtakes".  That will teach me to try to incorporate the puppies.  

And yes, I am having fun playing with collages on Picassa lately.  Visit Tami's for more FO Friday!