starlight progress

This is the cardigan I'm currently test-knitting. I started a few weeks ago and I'm going as quickly as I can. It's about 15" in length now and I'm about halfway up the armhole (armhole steek visible on upper right). The body is about 34" circumference. I am enjoying this immensely.

I am learning a lot, which is something I really try to do with each new project, if I can. As a result I am also rather obsessed with norwegian knitting at the moment. I even ordered some yarn to make my son a Dale of Norway 2010 Olympic ski sweater (they're in Canada, after all).

I did a quick steam block on the lower few inches, if you're wondering. It was rolling up a bit and getting in the way. Body done soon. Steeking to come.

followup

By special request for my good friend S., I am showing the result of the massive amount of work (mostly on the part of my husband, I completely admit) which started as this several weeks ago and ended up with a fabulous new floor in our basement last week. Nothing like a lot of company coming over to motivate.

One room (top) is a spare bedroom and stash organizer. My wheel usually lives upstairs. We had a holiday party so it was moved down temporarily. The dresser is full of more roving. I won't admit to the percentage of my total yarn stash visible in this photo (50%?). And most of my 800,000 WIPs are upstairs in cupboards (but they don't count as stash per se) (they're in cupboards in my diningroom, actually. Most people use those areas to store things like fine china; I didn't see the point.) BUT. I did manage to get rid of at least half of my sewing fabric stash during this re-org. Hah.

The other room (bottom photo) is a catch-all games, tv, hang-out room. I need to find an area rug for it. It also got a new coat of paint. Fresh and good.

christmas sweater

Pattern: Pikkuveli by Suvi Simola
Yarn: Cascade 220, colours #8400, 8914 and 2404

I tried to keep knitting for Christmas to a stress-free minimum this year, but here is something I made for my cousin's one-year-old little guy. It's the same one I made bigger and pinker for my daughter last month. I love this pattern (Suvi's a genius) and I wanted to try some boy colours.

I wish this little guy lived near us as he's such a sweetheart. Thank goodness for holidays so we can visit with those we love. Now for a snowy and relaxing week off.

christmas vest

Pattern: Dr. G's Memory Vest by Kirsten Kapur
Yarn: Cascade 220 superwash in colour #865

This vest is not for me - I only tried it on for a sec as all of my unmodeled shots didn't seem to do it justice. I sent it to my Dad a few weeks ago and I hope he likes it. This pattern is wonderful - designed to honour Kirsten's father who suffered from Alzheimer's Disease. I have made this before and I'm sure I will again.

I am keen on vests right now. I have several more planned. Not having to make sleeves is a bonus.

peace and joy

I hope you have a wonderful holiday season! Thanks for your friendship and encouragement this year. I'm so happy to have met you all!

more testing

I'm test-knitting another cardigan (Ravelry link only), for my daughter, this time on tiny needles and yarn. It was originally written up to size 24 mos., but then the designer, Kirsten, asked me if I wanted to test a larger size for her, so I'm doing 4-5 yrs. This means I'm about a month behind the other testers and I'm running to catch up. I just got the yarn this week and it's lovely to work with - Brown Sheep Nature Spun Sport.

I am also working on a different cardigan (for myself!) which was going to be my first steeking experience, but now this one will be. Eeek! I'll show you how it goes when I get there.

Have a great weekend!

this changes everything

I had a birthday a few days ago and my fabulous husband gave me this, from his fabulous friend who was upgrading to an even better camera (thanks Tim! You rock!). It's a Canon EOS 20D and he threw in an awesome macro lens to boot.

I should be able to take much better photos now, if we ever get more than a few minutes of daylight around here.

I'm going to go play now. Stay warm!

moving right along...

Although it may appear as though progress is slow on this, it's because I'm also doing other things that I just can't talk about yet. (come to think of it, I'm always working on too many things at once to show appreciable progress on any given thing over a week, so nothing different.)

I'm almost done plying the first 8oz. I think I'll have about 350 yds. , which means I may need around 30 oz to do the whole sweater which sounds rather heavy to me, but there you go. I had it in my head a worsted wt. sweater for myself would weigh 24 oz for some reason. No good reason I can think of at the moment, but anyway. I guess the extra wool is due to it being 3 ply? And I'm probably a wee bit tight on my singles, though my plying is looser. Always my problem. I have a fear of skinny singles breaking apart otherwise.

I am still a bit on the fence about the peach bits in the colour, although it is growing on me. What I do love is the wonderful sproinginess of the finished yarn. It will be super fun to knit up.

To those of you who celebrate it, Happy Hanukkah! Have a great weekend.

fractions and divisions

Just wanted to show you how subtle the fuscia/black roving turned out (whew!) when it was spun - it's the one on the centre bobbin. Now I'm doing the last third which looks more like the first one and then it's plying time.

The other photo shows the weird thing which occurred this week in the backyard. The sun swung around low in the southern sky throughout the day, but the garage was between it and the backyard at that angle, so it warmed up the north 1/3 of the yard and melted every speck of snow there, (gradually, in a moving line from north to south). It stopped melting around mid afternoon when it either lost heat or the proper angle. Not sure which. Or both.

We've also experienced it raining in our frontyard but not in our back.

We obviously live on some sort of cosmic division line.