green.ketzle.net: knitting

i bought yarn this month. and since i haven't done it in a long time, i did it in style. my grandmother died last month and i found it a fitting tribute to buy some nice yarn to make some keepsake pieces. she knit and sewed, hand-smocked and baked like an angel. she'd frown at the expense but approve of the yarn once she felt it, i'm sure.

first up, ordered from germany [fitting as that is where she lived and died] is the multi-color yarn for the kauni cardigan. i so love the cheating factor of this yarn, and all the happy little boxes in the cardigan. and it is something i will wear a lot, so all is good. i even received a very good deal on the postage making the entire purchase somewhere in the neighborhoofd of $60, not bad for a whole cardigan of wool.

i really [really] don't need any more scarves, but nonetheless, i suspect each of these will end up being a scarf. lovely, soft, pettable, luxurious [neither one of these was particularly affordable] scarves. this is handmaiden camel spin [camel and silk] and it is unbelievably soft and shiny. it makes me so very happy to just look at it, i can only imagine how happy i will be wearing it.

this one too, an angora blend called peter rabbit. soft and fluffy and such wonderful colors what with the earthy brown being offset by the magenta.

i also started collecting individual skeins of noro kureyon to eventually make a lizard ridge afghan. i bought twelve different skeins from two different vendors, all on sale. with the oddball skeins i already have hidden in the stash somewhere, that puts me over the halfway mark. whenever i see it on sale, i'll grab a few making the all over hit to my pocketbook somewhat less noticable. amazing rationalization, yes?

29 may 2007 done, more

so, there was a little more finishing. the baby kimono needed only a little blocking and some ties, so that was done today. now i can wrap it up and give it to the happy dad. it really is cute, if a little big. no worries, she'll grow into it.

and i suddenly hit a really good rhythm with the branching out scarf while watching an extra innings mets game on the television and the next thing i knew, i was out of yarn. i had to leave two rows off the final edging, but it is so minor a detail i did not even consider ripping out the last pattern repeat so as to have the leading and finishing edges match. points for squashing the ocd moment! it needs a good blocking and i have no idea where i have the space to pin it out -- maybe at the mama's, maybe at the office...

as promised, here are some things that are [finally] done. first, the woodland socks. in retrospect, i'd have cast on fewer stitches for these as they are just a little big. but they are very comfy, and if they accidentally get washed in water a little too hot, then there is still hope. also? the picot edge wants to flop over, so maybe a few more rows there as well.

the second ball of the wool-soy was located [thank heavens for lovely neighbours who see things like skeins in the parking lot and know where to return it] and the scarf was finished with mere inches of yarn to spare. excellent maneuver! it is surprisingly heavy and though i love it, i may end up gifting it to the lovely neighbour.

another oddball of yarn, another quick scarf. i started this while waiting for my sister's delayed flight from detroit and finished it the next morning. a 1x1 rib that is extremely cushy, i have no idea what they yarn is; looks to be wool with some bits of silk or cellulose spun in. the scarf wardrobe is quite impressive now, one day i'll have to take a picture...

and what will be a formal addition to the collection, the branching out scarf. halfway done now, but there's no hurry. this tends to be my "hanging out at the parents' while the small child runs around the backyard" knitting.

i've mentioned before i have a bag of oddball, mostly acrylic yarns that people have given to me at one time or another. i keep it at the office, so i am never without something to knit if the need arises, and mostly it ends up being scarves. but, when the stash was recently enhanced, i branched out a little. sophie now has two american girl dolls and they are constantly in need of accessories. so, i thought i'd make them matching blankets. i am inordinately fond of these -- the happy little mitered squares topped with the happy little stripes, all in a colorway that reminds me of laura ingalls wilder, who could have been the model for some of the american girls.

it's good office knitting in that it is pretty mindless and relatively small. they will be finished long before christmas, but it is one thing that i can already cross off my list. probably the last thing until december 24th.

things have been finished, but not photographed; expect an update anon. also? i bought yarn. and i don't even feel guilty about it. details about that to follow as well.

for mother's day, there was yarn. two skeins of a wool/soy blend that i immediately started knitting into a multi-directional scarf. and then i immediately lost the second skein...

things are perilously close to being done.

there is a picot edging on the baby kimono. it just needs a little blocking to stop its tendency to curl and three more ties, one already being happily in place.

one of the picot edgings on the woodland socks is sewn down and the other is hafway there. i'm just waiting for some more natural light for that one.

and this is the project that went to d.c. with me -- a mini version of the wrap i finished knitting [though not finishing] earlier this month for sophie's teacher. i've finished five repeats of the five colors; we'll see how it looks after another run through them. i'll have enough yarn to make at least one more of this length, or i could make this one really long. it all depends on whether i want to gift or keep or gift and keep...

another resuscitated project, the branching out scarf i started over a year ago. and restarted. and restarted. and restarted finally getting through a single repeat error free. something must have clicked in the interim because i am having no trouble at all now -- no lost yarnovers, no extra or lost stitches. all is good.

green.girl knitting: commentary