I have issues
Gauge issues that is. I am usually not the one that uses the same exact yarn as in the pattern. Well, one reason is that when I knit for Knit Picks, unless the original pattern calls for it, the yarn gets substituted with one of theirs. Duh, that's to be expected, since the whole point behind me knitting for them is to promote their yarns and to show that substitutions will work out just was well as knitting it with the "original" yarn.
Anyway. My issue is not with one of their patterns, it's with one that I'm actually knitting for me. Well, more for a friend of mine as a late, or maybe we can already say, early Christmas present. She requested a vest last Christmas. After searching for that perfect pattern I decided to make the Veste Everest by Veronik Avery from the IK Fall 2005 issue. I found the perfect yarn on last months WEBS sale and went for RYC Cashsoft DK. Choosing the right size seemed to be a problem for me, since the size I needed, was not exactly in the pattern. So I have to figure out a "in between" size. Therefore I had two choices. Bigger pattern and smaller needles or smaller pattern and bigger needles. Since I know that I knit a little loose, I went for the smaller needles. Eeeenk. Wrong answer. After knitting through about half a ball of yarn I had to figure out that I had a perfect gauge for the size I was NOT going for. So ripping I went. Now I'm going for door number 2: smaller pattern, normal needles. I knit up the yarn I ripped out before and it seems to be working in my favor. The best part about it, it's two whole repeats less, which is 24 stitches. That should speed up things a bit.
And since I sent out my last KP test knit beginning of this week, I got a new on in my e-mail box today. Contract is signed, yarn is ordered therefore stay tuned for new sneak peaks at the yarn. Until then I'll have to knit a little faster on the vest, before I have to decide which one has priority.
Labels: KP
KP 8 Revealed
How do you like this cardigan? Pretty nice, hugh? I found this today on Knitpicks.
Now compair it to this:
Yup, it's my tidepool lace knitting I did a while back for them. It made it to the website and should be in the next catalog too. I'm glad it looks great on the model. It was lots of knitting, constant knitting, but in the end it was worth it. I like it. See Michelle, this is what you look forward too, except that your name won't be mentioned, but that's ok. The fellow bloggers, that follow my blog, know I did it and that's all that matters. Thank you all for putting up with my teaser pictures all the time.
I'm almost done with the last one I'm making for them. All I can say it's gray and it's a sweater. Woohoo, that should narrow it down, right? Yeah, well, that's all you are going to get for now. :). Now I wonder what they have to offer next time.
I don't know what I'm going to be working on in the meantime, but I'm sure I'll find something. After all, I got that big box of yarn from Keri to go through and instant gratification that comes with doing small things isn't so bad either.
Have a nice weekend and a good mothers day, for all that it applies to.
Labels: KP
FO Report
It is done, finished, blocked and it's gorgeous. I love this shawl. May I present:
"M O H A N A"
This shawl is designed by Monika, as peviously mentioned only a few times :) and I had the honor to testknit it, to make sure no bugs were left in there. I hope I cought them all and now it's up to you all to show, that you too can make this masterpiece. It's really fun to knit.
I got the yarn from Monika too, who bought it from the talented Maggie (dyedinthe woolhandmade.com), which hand died it for her in the color "Winter Violet". I used a little more than two skeins of it, one of the running 378 yards, so you go figure out yourself, how much it would take you. I had to start the last skein on the picot edge. The yarn is a Fingering Sock Mediumweight and I used my size 5 (3.75mm) KP options needles with a looooong cable for it. Great combination. It seemed a little small yesterday, after I was done, but after a good soak and a nice over nicht stretch the shawl grew to a good 40 inches down the spine and 80 inches wingspan. It's sure to keep me warm enough in the evenings out on the porch in that rocker and it being the weight it is, made it faster to knit too.
Have fun.
Labels: Lace
Mohana Progress
Wow, has it really been two weeks since I last posted? Two weeks, since my husband has been back and we are a "normal" family again? I guess not everything is back to normal yet, if I don't find the time to post on my blog regularly. I still have to get used to the new "schedule" that includes him.
But I have been knitting too. I even put my KP project on hold to knit on
Monika's Mohana Shawl . Here is a picture of the process that I made so far.
I'm only 13 rows away from the end and the rows are getting longer and longer (Duh!). I'm glad I have a long deadline to finish my KP testknit and it doesn't interfere with this one. I just wanted to get this done and any bugs worked out, so Monika could make the necessary corrections on the pattern, before we let the rest of the knitting world at it. After all, did you check out how many people already queued that shawl? Wow, amazing. And I'm the first to actually knit it after her. What an honor. Monika is so talented, when it comes to things like this.
Sadly I have to say that I ended up frogging the toe up baby cables sock. Why? It just wasn't fun for me right now and I didn't want another UFO hovering around, so rather than wondering what happened to my needles, that I was using, I pulled them out and turned the yarn back into a nice little yarn cake. I'm still going to knit socks, just not right now. I guess I have to be in the mood for it.
Ok, back to those 13 rows now. I don't think I'll be able to knit in a dark movie theatre tonight. We got free tickets to see "Ironman" and even though it's a school night, we are going. I hope it's worth it.
Labels: Lace, On The Needles
New Temptation
This is what I got in the mail a couple of days ago from Monika (
www.yarnloopie.blogspot.com/). I'm going to test knit the Mohana pattern for her with this. It's a great yarn and a great color made by Dyed in the Wool Handmade in Winter Violet.
She also added a skein of Fleece Artist to it as a bonus. Thanks so much.
So no wonder I couldn't help but cast on this morning to see how this knits up and to get started on her test knit, so the pattern can available to more people than just her and me. I'm so special, I know, and I'm a schmuck too, but you have to forgive me for that.
The KP test knit is coming along great too. The only problem I have now is, that Monika's shawl and the KP is using the same size needle. Hmm. Timeshare?
Here is the reason for my short blogging absence:
Yes, Hubby is home. After more than a year he is finally back from his deployment and if I have anything to do with it, it was his last one too.
This is the boys, before the bus came in, waiting......
Labels: General, KP, Lace
New Teaser
This is was arrived yesterday on my door. Isn't it pretty? A little mountain of yarn, compliments of Knit Picks for my newest
testknit for them. The last one was done so quickly, that I
already have a new project from them. It's Swish
DK, the same one I knitted the moss green vest with. I like using it. It knits up pretty fast, as you can tell.
This is
today's teaser pic for you. My goal is to "get rid" of one ball of yarn per day and with this pattern, that shouldn't be a problem. It's almost like knitting socks for me. I can knit this while watching TV :). So I have another 20 grams to go today, so I won't torture you any more and leave you wondering. I know, I'm bad. :D
Labels: KP
Two down, one to go
Two? Yes, I finished my test knit for KP (9) and it's on the way back to them. I already got their next offer in my inbox. That was quick.
The other thing I finished, right after I came back from the UPS store, was inspired by Keri and her blog entry about being mindful (sorry, still can't link for some reason, grrr). So I went and snooped around on Ravelry (gotta love them) and came up with a pattern for a cotton shower puff. But that wasn't enough. Once I got dragged over to the dark side and I got hooked, so to speak, I had to finish the whole set. Here you see the back scrubber (it's the loopy thing on the top right), a wash cloth, the bath puff, a face scrubber and a soap saver. I love that little pouch. So what do you think? More environmentally friendly? I hope so. Now I need to see what other kind of cotton yarn I have laying around in my stash. :D
Then I figured it was time to think about socks again. I had the Baby Cables queued in Ravelry for a while. I really don't need a pattern for it, so I started. Grabbed the first ball of yarn I saw and figured, I wanted shorties, ankle socks. Hmmm. 44 grams of this, should be enough. How can I be sure? Well, how about a toe up version? Ok, no problem, but I might need some advise, once I get to the bind off. I did it once before and my sister was complaining about them being too tight. I don't want that to happen again, but I don't want them to fall off either, since they are going to be short. Oh, and yes, I'm using magic loop. Why? Because I didn't like having a braid right in the middle of changing needles. There you go. I'll just have to figure out how to do do the second sock and no, I'm not doing them at the same time. I'm not that adventurous.
So that's it for now. Any suggestions?
Labels: Crochet, FO, Socks
