Twists of Fate

I finished the first pair of Dashing that I am doing for a friend. Done in Berroco’s Ultra Alpaca, they are squishy and warm and, well, really long. Like, gauntlet long. Ah well. The giftee is in St. Louis, and I hear the wind coming off the river is wicked cold. Perhaps it works out better that way anyway!

I will be casting on for the second of the two pair possibly tonight, but definitely this week. First I want to get a couple of sleeves for a baby kimono out of the way. Then I can go back to doing this lovely and easy pattern.

The other so-close-to-being-FO is a wee newborn hat out of Mirasol’s Miski, which is a baby llama yarn. I have to clarify that it’s the YARN and not actually baby llama, after a friend asked me what I did with the hooves. I knit this during the ALCS Game 6 between the Sox and the Indians last night, and wasn’t really paying attention to the end of my rows. As a result, this kind of looks like ass when I try to seam the hat. I hope I can find someone who can help me w/out having to rip and re-do the whole hat. My bad!

The yarn itself is like petting a kitten. Definitely won’t be up for a whole lot of wear, but it will be a great addition for as long as it fits. And then maybe it’ll just be, well, sort of a stuffed animal. Worst case scenerio will be stuffing it, sewing up the bottom and adding some yarn eyes and maybe whiskers, and have it be a Tribble-ish thing in it’s second life.

No photos as the camera is with my sister, but I will get some before all of these go off to their recipients.

Yay for Finished Objects!

Dinohat Kit from Morehouse Farm Merino.

Took about an hour and a half to knit (I was watching Stargate: Atlantis and was distracted), and at least that long to cut out the felt and sew up the spikes. I’m not the best hand sewer, despite years of cross stitching. Then again, trying to sew through what seemed like 1/2″ of felt with a very petite tapestry needle meant for cross stitch may not have been the best plan.

My only bitch about this kit (and the snake scarf kit that I will be starting shortly) was that the skein included was oddly wound. Like some of the loops on the skein had flopped over on the wrong side? Which meant that winding it with a ball winder/swift turned into an exercise in enormous frustration. If the yarn hadn’t been so delicious, and the pattern so damn cute, I might’ve hurled it into the fireplace and struck a match.

The yarn is so soft, so sproingy and bouncy that it was a pleasure to knit with. I’m used to somewhat silkier, worsted and heavier feeling yarns, so this was a treat.

Aside from skein issues, this was wonderful, and a pleasure to make.

A sweater destined for a friend of mine back on the East Coast! This is the Portland Pullover from IK Fall ‘o6, as previously mentioned here. It was a super fast knit, being of bulkyish Colinette mohair on US 11/13/15s in the Velvet Olive colorway.

Just a sleeve. Pretty sleeve! I used partial skeins in constructing all of the sweater parts - one skein for the sleeves, one skein for the body, and another skein for the yoke. I didn’t actually finish using any of them. There’s plenty left for a scarf, I think.

A shot of the simple neckline. It’s rolling at the moment, as it was bound off fairly loosely with Elizabeth Zimmerman’s sewn cast off. I’d rather have it roll than not fit over the recipients head, you know?

The finished, and as yet unwashed and unblocked sweater. Alas, I wasn’t paying as close attention as I should with regards to dye lots, as you can see here in the vast difference between the body and the yoke. But I think it actually works here. At least, I don’t think it looks *too* bad, does it?

It’s my experience that Colinette tends to bleed fairly heavily in the wash, so who knows. Maybe the color will even out after a bath. *snorts* Or not.

This is a really lovely, yummy, warm sweater, though she’ll have to wear a turtleneck under it, I think. The Colinette mohair, it is The Beautiful but not particularly…soft. The seams were, well, they were an adventure at 2am this morning while simultaneously watching MacGyver. And the sweater will probably look fairly bedraggled after the wash, as mohair tends to be. So while I’ll send the instructions along with it, I think she’ll probably have to pop it in the dryer for a couple of minutes on fluff, then turn the thing inside out and press the seams with a cool iron to really make it fabulous.

So yay! First sweater complete! I’m so stoked! :)

So very kind of Tom & Katie to name their daughters after one of my favorite fibers. Poor thing. I hope she doesn’t grow up to look like an alpaca. I imagine there is much amusement in fiber-dom today.

It’s exciting for me because my drum carder is scheduled to be delivered today! The status shows “out for delivery”, which is awesome!!! The only bad part about this is that I won’t be able to run home and play tonight. I have a networking dinner with friends scheduled across the lake in Bellevue, and probably won’t get home until relatively late. I’ll have to wait until tomorrow or Friday, perish the thought!

I’ve discovered that in my knitting world, if I have two or three projects on the needles at the same time, I get everything done faster. It’s the same with me at work, which is probably why I’m suited fairly well to project management. If I only have one thing to do, it languishes. If I have eight or nine? Everything is done well and efficiently. What a bizarre quirk to have.

Anyway, I finished up a gift scarf last night and gave it to the recipient at the astrology update, and she was thrilled. Much envy from my fellow class-goers. I’m ecstatic, though, because now the knee-high socks take their place in my bag/purse/haul-crap-around container! There should be much more progress soon.

I’m going to go gloat over the various shake ups at the White House now. And ponder how many motorcycle police there have to be to truly make up a motorcade.