green.ketzle.net: knitting

and the right hand has been started. i've not been in a great rush with these, preferring to watch movies and read the past few days, but i'll pick up the pace pretty soon here, to make sure they are done in time. they are dark and the house is dark and the weather is less than sunny so getting a decent picture is proving to be rather difficult...

update: sunny! pictures that present a pretty good realization of the color

and cables have been achieved.

20 july 2011 the yellow jersey

17 stages equals one big squishy blanket this year. it was a very easy knit -- the pattern made sense and though i did not completely memorize it, i did memorize enough to make it almost mindless. and that made it perfect for tour watching. i still need to weave in some ends but i think i will let that be until the weekend.

speaking of mindless, i took the opportunity of a company-wide meeting to knit on the knotty mitten and have now made it past the thumb. excellent progress and now that the blanket is done, i can concentrate on this project. i should finish easily before mid-august so i'll have to be thinking about what will be next...

i honestly thought i would wait and not start the camp loopy project 2 until i had finished the tour de france blanket. but i couldn't help myself -- i wanted to see if the single ply yarn was going to look good in the pattern. i knit up to the point of the cables starting and the ribbing looks crisp and clean so i have no fears about the cables popping.

speaking of the great pumpkin blanket, i am now 2/3 of the way through and it is starting to get a bit unwieldy. i've been setting the bulk of it to the side of me, so as not to sweat to death underneath it, but the required flipping after each row is more and more cumbersome. still, it is coming along nicely and i will finish before paris.

13 july 2011 first camping trip over

i really like this shawl.

it is soft and fluid and drapey and the colors are perfect and i am so glad it is cool this week as i might just wear a short sleeve shirt tomorrow, with the shawl on top. i've uploaded a picture of it to the loopy ewe site, so i have officially completed the first camp loopy project.

and it is almost time for the second! here is my yarn -- madelinetosh merlino light in georgia o'keefe. i will have a matching set of accessories before long! i have been assigned "curly sue" -- we'll see what that means fairly soon, i think.

i am really not all that fond of blocking.

i do so love the result, but i have to find a less awkward way of accomplishing it. bending over and down and flipping the mattress round and round is really rather tedious.

10 july 2011 one, two, three

i've finished the shawl. it is currently sitting in a lump somewhere nearby, waiting for me to find the pins and haul out the mattress and i think both will wait until after the 11th, when the small child will leave for a vacation with her grandparents.

the tour de blanket is coming along very quickly. i am halfway through and have worked between 9 and 18 rows during each tour stage. i don't think i will have to have even the slightest of panics in order to finish before the bikes hit paris.

i've also found my wrist warmers -- long lost and awaiting a new set of needles. the needles were bought, the project found, and i've even knit 10 rounds just to get it warmed up. no rush, even with the very cool summer we are having i won't have a use for them until autumn.

03 july 2011 button button

i don't know why i always let the buttons hold me back.

i can't think of a single knit where i didn't let it sit for at least a month after all the knitting was complete, before i finally selected and sewed on the buttons. it was more a matter of selection in this case, as it was very difficult to find something that matched and didn't get lost in the riot of colors.

i almost went with a mismatched set -- blue, turquoise, lime, red, yellow, hot pink, orange -- but ultimately went with these purple ones. no idea from whence they originally came, they were in a large bag of buttons i bought once upon a time from an ebay seller. and now, it has already been put into a box and will be mailed on tuesday. done!

i was up early this morning to watch the tour de france team time trials and decided that the great pumpkin blanket would be my official tour knitting. it is simple and though it is an afghan, the size 17 needles make it no worse than a baby blanket. and i have until the 24th to finish it, which should be a no brainer. i hope. i finished one repeat of the pattern this morning so i am already ahead of the required pace.

finally, i have but two rows left on the whippoorwill. of course, they are two annoying rows, one full of K2tog/YO and the other the bind-off. but i shall persevere and hope to have it ready for blocking before the holiday weekend is over. we don't have too many plans for the 4th, just going to my parents for a late afternoon picnic before leaving the child behind for some fireworks fun. jim and i will go home and ignore all the blasts and bangs and watch the tail-end of the twilight zone marathon. it's a tradition!

02 july 2011 a diversion

halfway through the last run of the green and it is taking forever.

i find myself throwing mini inner tantrums about each row, whining about how long it is and how it will never be done and bemoaning the fact i am not 5 feet tall. i'd knit a lot more for myself if i were 5 feet tall...

so i started something new, to break up the monotony. i had promised jim a new lap blanket from the afghan pattern booklet he bought me for christmas. i figure if i start now, it will be done before the weather necessitates its use. and as it has a mere 106 stitches per row, i can do more than five in the same time it take to do one on the shawl.

01 july 2011 campy, again

the shawl is almost done.

i think it is going to be the perfect length, especially since i intend to block it quite aggressively. i just wish these last ten rows or so weren't 550+ stitches apiece; it gets rather annoying when a single row takes so very long to complete.

i am already looking forward to the second month of camp. i loved the georgia o'keefe colorway so much in the madelinetosh sock, that i ordered a skein of the same color in madeleinetosh merino light. it looks lovely and soft and i am sure both will be confirmed when the skein arrives. for this round, it is going to be gloves, or maybe a glove pattern mittenified. i am not particularly keen on gloves, they make my fingers claustrophobic. but they look nice. but i'd wear them less. probably make them into mittens, but i reserve the right to change my mind.

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