Wow. I really need to post more often.

I'm way behind. I finished Shedir. It ended up taking me a little over two weeks. The side picture doesn't really do it justice I think. The cabling is much prettier on, and the star on top is a very nice detail. I learned to cross the stitches without a cable needle. If I'd continued using the cable needle, I think it would have taken twice as long to complete. I'm really glad to have finished it, and I'm pretty proud of it. I don't know if it qualifies as more complicated than Sherwood, but it was a bit of a challenge. The chart was actually pretty easy to read. I put in markers to separate the repeats. I think I would have gotten lost and screwed it up if I hadn't used the markers.
This is the lovely star pattern on top. I couldn't get a good picture of it on, so I had to stuff it with a small knitting bag to get the picture. That's why it looks like it has strings hanging off even though it is entirely completed at this point. I'm just really proud of this project. I would actually consider making this again. It was enough of a challenge to keep me entertained, and it progressed rather quickly. I would, however, use a different yarn. The yarn is natura Advantage 100% Deluxe Acrylic, 3 ply sport weight. I don't know if this yarn is still manufactured since I bought it over 15 years ago, tried to learn to knit, then happily forgot about it. I did enjoy taking pictures of my dd wearing the hat. I couldn't get any good phots of the details of the hat while she wore it, but I think her expression in this photo is priceless! She's such a stinker.

What else have I been working on? This stripey sock! It's a pattern from Sensational Knitted Socks. I did the heel differently; it's the same heel used in the baby socks I made a couple months ago. I find the yarn-over/backwards yarn-over method much easier than the wrap & turn method. I like doing this toe-up too. I think these socks will actually fit me! I need to get me a digital scale so I can measure out the yarn till there's only 50 grams left and make sure I have enough for the second sock. I still haven't figured out the stripe repeat yet. It started with orange stripes, then THREE pink stripes, then THREE orange stripes, and now it's been TWO stripes the rest of the way. What gives? How does this make sense? I keep thinking at some point I'll run into a section of three stripes again, but so far that hasn't happened. How am I supposed to make them match? I don't know if I can have totally not matching socks. I think that would bother me a lot. We'll see. I will be taking a break from the socks for a little while since my wrists started bothering me this morning. Darn teeny needles.

The other project that I've been spending a considerable amount of time with is the Very Cropped Top Hoodie from Magknits. I'm using the yarn from my frogged Big Sack Sweater. Rather than making it a truly very cropped top, I put the body on waste yarn so I can pick it back up and add length after I make sure I have enough yarn to finish both sleeves. It might not end up being a hoodie at all if I run out of yarn. No biggie.

If you're wondering how the Lotus Blossom Tank is going, just scroll down a couple entries. It still looks like it did. I just can't bring myself to work on a summer top when there's several inches of ice/snow on the ground.

Progress

I have been working on things since my last post. In this shot you can see the cabling on Shedir. The color in this picture is not at all true. The actual color is flat black, hence the inability to see any details in the previous picture of this project. It's more fun to work on now, and I'm learning some new techniques for crossing stitches without using a cable needle. It's still not automatic, but it's easier than using the cable needle.

Here is the sock. It's coming along nicely. I think I only have about an inch before starting the short rows for the heel. It's hard to tell with the dpns since I can't try it on as easily as if it were on 2 circulars. I might have to put some waste yarn in it to try it to make sure before I start the heel. I'll rip it back if I turn the heel too soon and redo it, but I'd rather avoid that if I can. Once I get to the ankle on this sock, I'm going to do the other sock of the pair up to the same point so I can make sure they end up close to the same length. I'd hate to have a short one because I ran out of yarn.

Any of the other stash projects that are in progress have experienced NO progress over the last few days. I cast on the Very Cropped Top Hoodie with the yarn unraveled from the Big Sack Sweater. It doesn't look like much yet so I chose not to photograph it yet. I will leave you with a picture of my knitting chair:

You are Milk Chocolate

A total dreamer, you spend most of your time with your head in the clouds. You often think of the future, and you are always working toward your ideal life. Also nostalgic, you rarely forget a meaningful moment... even those from long ago.

What Kind of Chocolate Are You?

Stash WIPs

I'm participating in a Stashalong with others in the craft forum at Sybermoms. The idea is to avoid buying yarn as long as possible. Probably every knitter/crocheter has a stash of yarn they've bought for projects that were abandoned, projects that were never started, leftovers from completed projects, yarn we fell in love with at the store but for which we couldn't find the perfect project, etc. If you click on the link, you can go to the blog for the Stashalong. As a result I have a lot of projects on the needles that are from yarn that's been in my stash.

This is the Lotus Blossom Tank from the Summer 2006 issue of Interweave Knits. I'm about halfway through the third lace repeat. I think this will be very pretty when it's done, and it's been fairly interesting to work on. The yarn is Knitpicks Shine sport in Cream. I had originally made the Honeymoon Tank from this yarn, but decided it was too bare for me. Just not my style. I'm thinking this one will be much more me. I love working with Shine. It's not as hard on my wrists as most cotton yarns, and the modal gives it a beautiful sheen. This is also the first official stash project cast on from scratch.

These socks were cast on well over a year ago. I can't remember exactly when. I originally started them for a pair of boy-girl twins. Sadly, I'm sure those babies have outgrown them by now. I had completed one of the blue socks on dpns, decided that it would take forever and I'd likely get bored before completing four socks on dpns, and cast on the second blue and first of the pink onto 2 circulars. Then I got bored. The truly pitiful part of this is that I got bored with only 5 rows to go before the toe shaping. These took me no time at all to finish. I will hang my head in shame for leaving these OTN for so long when they were really so close to completion.

This is a hat for a friend who has cancer and expects to be losing her hair shortly. It is from the special breast cancer issue of Knitty. The name of the pattern is Shedir, and it is the second in the issue. You'll note from the picture that it's a lovely cap with several cable crossings, none of which you can see in the picture of my work thus far. I hate working with black, but my friend requested black. I will deal with it. Maybe I'll get an OTT-lite for Valentine's Day out of this. (Yes, that's a hint if you ever read my blog, sweetie!) I'm taking a break from it right now to work on. . .

Toe-up Socks! These are the yarn-over cable socks from Sensational Knitted Socks
by Charlene Schurch. The yarn was an impulse buy when I was picking up a second ball of yarn for the Branching Out scarf for stepMIL. I haven't figured out the striping pattern yet. I thought it would go from maroon/orange to maroon/pink to maroon/yellow, but it went back to maroon/orange before the yellow showed up. Interesting. It's a cotton/wool blend yarn. So far it is not bothering my wrists too much. I started those yesterday and that's how much I had finished yesterday afternoon. I thought I'd do them on dpns for a change, and I really just don't like them! I'll stick with them since the only other size 1s I have are a knitpicks circular which I could use for magic loop, but I would hate it if it turned out to be slightly a different size.

As it is these next socks are on a susan bates size 2 (2.75 mm) and a knitpicks size 2 (3.0 mm). I'm hoping that won't matter too much. I hate hate hate hate hate these socks. They began as doubleknit socks a la extreme knitting. Once I'd mastered the technique, I got bored with it. It also seemed to hurt my hands, but that might be the yarn since it's 100% acrylic. (The self-striping seduced me, and I neglected to check the fiber contents on the label.) I'm bored with them, and I think they're going to come out too big since the nasty acrylic doesn't seem to have much stretch at all.

That actually is it for things on the needles at present. I'm not counting the Big Sack Sweater from Stitch n' Bitch because it will be frogged. I discovered that I already had a sweater almost identical to it. Dh had given it to me a few Christmases ago. It's oversized, has raglan seaming, and has a rope cable going up the center front just like the Big Sack Sweater. The only differences would have been the color and the rolled edges of which I'm not a huge fan anyway. The only other thing actually on a needle is the dishcloth which I've discussed before. I haven't felt like throwing lately, so I haven't worked on it.

The best thing about all of these projects? None of them have a deadline so I don't have to be monogamous with any of them. I think that will work out nicely.