green.ketzle.net: knitting

i cannot believe how many configurations of blue and green squares i've drawn over the past week.

draw is stretching it a little, as i've been using excel so i just have to fill in the squares with color. it's actually kind of fun and kind of addicting, and i was having all sorts of fun but also was unable to find the perfect layout.

so, i went back to the directive: "The Challenge for Project Three - You see many amazing things while on safari, so the August theme is: I Spy Something Amazing! Pick a pattern that amazes you for the August Challenge. Your Project must use a minimum of 800 yards in this single project."

amazing. a maze. bingo...

another round of blues and greens.

these ones for the third and final camp loopy on safari project, cascade 220 superwash, because it comes in all the colors.

clockwise: 1974 Spring Night *, 864 Christmas Green *, 1919 Turtle *, 850 Lime Sherbert *

884 Skyline Blue, 897 Baby Denim, 204 Smoke Blue *, 904 Colonial Blue Heather

the *skeins are my official yarns for the project. i'm thinking i'm getting good and fast with crocheted squares. a mosaic lap blanket, maybe. i suddenly want to make all sorts of squares and use them to make all sorts of things.

22 july 2015 it's a train!

i still haven't blocked it but i took time on a ferry ride to weave in the ends and it's good enough to pose for it's completion pictures.

as predicted, i probably have enough yarn to have knit another row.

after watching the weight decrease by 0.2 every row, i ended up at 0.2 even after the extra yarn used in binding off.

but i didn't want to chance it and so i shall mayhaps knit a little flower or something i can pin to it for frilly occasions. or more likely, it will end up in the ziplock bag of remnants, awaiting a higher purpose.

it seemed to take forever to bind off all 600 stitches, but it gave my hands something to do while watching the tour de france. i still need to weave in the ends and block and then take a proper picture of the final product. soon. before the end of the month, at least.

i am at almost 600 stitches per row and the skein is looking pretty skinny.

in a perfect worked, i'd finish this later today but even if it takes a few more days, mission accomplished: i'll have time to work on a few other projects before embarking on the third camp loopy project.

i'm going to weight the skein, knit a row, and see how much it takes. then i'll be sure, hopefully, to have enough to finish. i wish i had a scale that would weigh in grams, as i think it might be slightly more accurate than this one which only goes to one decimal place in ounces.

i'll probably end up with enough yarn leftover to have knit another row, because that is how it works. better than not enough to bind off, i suppose...

12 july 2015 ruffled

i did a quick calculation when i first decided on this pattern and found 150g of yarn is about 5.29 oz. so, i periodically would weigh the skein, using my husband's postage scale, to get an accurate idea of when i had used half the yarn.

4.29, 4.1, 3.6, and then it seemed to stick in the 3s for ever and a day. i'd knit ten rows, still in the 3s. ten more? 3.1. finally i stopped counting rows and just knit when i had the chance. and lo and behold? 2.6! increase away!

i'd seen a picture of this shawl where instead of a KFB, they'd used a K1YO increase, and i rather liked the line of holes it created -- it framed the crescent shape in a way that was very pleasing to my eye. though the pattern said to increase until the last 5 stitches, i increased all the way across and then began the ribbing.

i am cruising right along now, no chance i'll be crazily knitting on the 31st, trying to finish, fingers crossed...

i might have made through one color cycle.

i won't know for sure until i knit some more. i had time this past weekend to knit while burning a series of discs to the computer, and also while watching a little television -- christmas in july! tour de france! -- and after utilizing my husband's mail scale, i think i am about ten rows from being halfway through the skein.

and once i reach that, it is time for the massive increase in stitches and the ribbing!

cat still loves the yarn. we've come to an agreement that she is allowed to rest her furry little head on the skein, and maybe even snuggle it a little, but is not allowed to attack the yarn as it comes out of the skein and goes into my knitting.

time for the second loopy ewe summer project!

"The Challenge for Project Two - I Spy Something Seen in the Wild! Pick a pattern that you've seen in the "wild" - on the Loopy blog, at your local yarn shop, in your friend's Ravelry queue project page, shared by someone on Facebook, etc. Your Project must use a minimum of 600 yards in this single project."

every time i cruise through ravelry, looking at what people have made with a certain yarn, i end up looking at the details of the TGV shawl. it is so simple, but something in it calls to me. and since i have been thinking quite a bit about trains, and vacationing on trains, it wasn't a big stretch to safari on a train. so i grabbed the kauni, and cast on.

we were let out of work early on the 2nd of july, so i used those free hours to get a good start. funny how well it blends into my jeans. and funnier, to me, how easy it is to see the gradient in a photo -- in my poorly lit front room, it mostly just looks blue.

i know a lot of people find this yarn coarse and scratchy, but i am quite happy with it. i'm finding a little bit of grass here and there, and some coarse hairs, but i love the smell and i think all the lanolin in it keeps it from any negative effects on my fingers.

and, as feared, the cat still loves it...

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