Boatloads of Booties

Some things that have kept me from my UFOs:
Platform Bootie for Shameless

Shameless Baby Bootie

Baby Booties. I was commissioned to make some for Shameless that will air in February or March. Joan Cusack will be knitting them so I made one complete and one partial with needles still in it. I hope the DPNs don't fall out! I hope they can figure it out... ;) I used the Seamless Baby Platform Shoes pattern. The photo just cracked me up so I had to go with them. I knit them while door monitoring at VK Live.
Comically Misshapen Baby Booties

Can You Say Clown Feet?

I made this pair back in April that were supposed to be "pink booties -- comically misshapen." I wasn't sure, but the prop master liked them. Unfortunately they must have ended up on the cutting room floor because they were supposed to be in the final episode of Breaking In, but that scene never appeared. It was a cute show. I hope it comes back.
More booties for friends, one in blue and this one in pink. I'm using Ruth's "Perfect" Baby Booties pattern. I knit blue ones straight from the pattern and I discovered that what would make this pattern even more perfect for me was to knit in the round. The pink ones are modified to do just that. Look, ma! No seams! Whooo Hooo!
Pink Booties

Girl Booties

Ruffled and Ruched Scarf

I knit this lovely neck warmer for Unwind. It only took a couple of days.
Be Sweet Scarf/Wrap/Poncho

Be Sweet Scarf/Wrap/Poncho?

I remembered another UFO in my queue. It's this poncho in Be Sweet Extra Fine. The colors are fuchsia and aubergine. I don't know why I started this. I don't even wear ponchos. I don't really like ponchos. I got caught up in the moment I guess. Lisa at Unwind had just finished this and put it on me to see where to put the ribbon to join it. And it was cute. And the colors are totally my colors. I'm not sure I'll wear it as a poncho though. It will make an extra big scarf or wrap.
Another project I got caught up in was Mina. Yes, this is a KAL from Heather Ordover's book, WWMDFK. We're currently listening to Dracula, and this lovely shawl is the Wilhelmina Shawlette by Chrissy Gardiner.

My Mina

I knit this in a lovely dark red Shilasdair and ran short about 6 rows. I ordered more, but you know my track record by now. :( The new skein is quite a bit lighter than the old. I'm not sure how I should handle this. I could reknit the whole thing using one skein per row, but that may turn out a bit stripey. Or I could go back a couple of rows and pretend like I meant to do that for the edging. Oh, I don't know. It will probably sit for a while. What do you think I should do? Leave a comment below.
I really need to get back to the Houndstooth Scarf in Koigu. I did a swatch, but I think I might loosen it up a bit. The problem with all this knitting is that I've been staying up very late at night. "One more row, I've got to finish this repeat..." You know what I mean. ;)

UFOs

I have several UFOs in my queue. In a way they make me feel a little guilty. Here are some of them.

Click picture for more views on Ravelry.

Wakame Lace looks beautiful IMHO. I have the front of the sleeves to finish and the back sleeves. The top is worked in the round up to the armpits, then you hold the back stitches and work on the front sleeves. I'm not sure, but it looks like I  have only 2 or 3 more repeats to the shoulders. This poor dear keeps getting pushed aside for other projects. She's sweet, but time consuming. I love how the fabric is turning out. It is Fyberspates Scrumptious Lace in Oyster. It's merino and silk so it's soft with a gorgeous sheen. The original pattern was engineered for a sport weight yarn. I did a gauge swatch and determined that I needed 7 panels across the front and back and  3 on the bottom. I also added to the lace ground between the top and skirt. When I saw this yarn at I Knit London, I just knew it wanted to be Wakame Lace. It took me a while to recover the pattern from my stash. I couldn't quite remember the name, but I was sure of the edition of the magazine. It is from Interweave Knits Summer '08 magazine.

Click for Ravelry Info.

Palindrome - This scarf was supposed to be for my husband. I've been working on it for almost a year now! Yikes! Ravelry says I started in 12/10. The problem with this one is the yarn keeps getting so tangled as I'm knitting, so I have to constantly stop and untangle. I'm just so stubborn that I haven't put it on bobbins and I'm working off the balls. I got this yarn 2 years ago at I Knit London. It's also a bit scratchy since it is pure wool. I haven't been excited because I think it might not be fun to wear. I do like the two tone thing I've got going. The pattern itself is very easy when you're not using two colors.

Click for Ravelry Page

Ahh, Twist and Shout. I have been wanting to make this sweater ever since I saw it on the cover of Knitty Fall '08. I found the yarn in the bargain bin at Patricia Roberts Knitting in London. It was the same trip in 2010 that I bought the above yarn. It is also a pure wool, and I have gotten no farther than the picture. I hope the moths haven't found it yet. I'm not even sure that I have quite enough to finish the sweater. This may be destined for the frog pond. :(

Click for Ravelry Page

I called this "Lighter Than Air" because it is. It is super soft and floaty. It's made from Rowan Kidsilk Spray that I got in Amsterdam at De Afstap. I used the Large Rectangle in Leaf and Trellis Pattern with Trellis Border from Victorian Lace Today. The first thing that stopped me was the beads. I bought the beads from a street vendor in Waterlooplien and even though they are common seed beads, I have not been able to find the exact same kind. They have a metallic center that gives them a cool shine. The next thing that stopped me even after I found some beads that will do is (shame!) I ran out of yarn. I have been hunting down Kidsilk Spray in the Medici colorway ever since. I have many skeins now, but none quite the same shade as the one I left off with. The crazy thing is I bought 3 skeins at the same time in the same dye lot, but one of the balls was noticeably darker than the others. (I didn't notice till I got home though. Home in California. Yeah.) I refuse to frog this. Mostly because it's very difficult to frog mohair. I'm probably going to give in and use one of the closest skeins I have. Or if I get real brave and have nothing else to work on I might rip out the border and start it over with a more matchy-matchy skein. It really is lovely in person.

Click pic for updates. This one will finish.

Meet Maybe Mulberry. This is a take off on the Mulberry Scarf by Colinette. I am making it for Unwind Yarn. This one will finish. Soon. It is two rows of Luna and 2 rows of Stella by S. Charles. I examined all the photos on Ravelry and read some of the notes and determined that if has a twisted drop stitch. I did two rows of them. The original pattern appears to have one row. So it's different. Those are all the UFOs I have listed on Ravelry, but I know there are many more forgotten ones in my basket. (I have a big basket.) Tell me a little about your UFOs. ;)

New Year New Goals

Happy New Year! I know, it is January 5th already, and I've neglected to post since November. I could say that I've been real busy, but haven't we all? No excuse, but I seem to have that one all the time. So.... My new year's resolutions for 2011 are: Post to blog once a week. Maybe I need a specific day? Mmm, I'll pick Friday. 'K. Write 6 new patterns. (I've got a couple in my head and notebooks. Time to get them out there!) Promote my web biz. What web biz you ask? The one that's been in my head and all the books I keep buying. Knit every day. Uh, is that a goal? I sort of do that now. Invest 15% for retirement - CONSISTENTLY!!! Give beyond the regular church tithe, to outside charities - REGULARLY!!! I mean monthly. (You have to be specific with these goal things. Otherwise they flit around with a mind of their own.) Study Web design DAILY. Bible study daily. Study guitar DAILY. Save for a home on the Central Coast. Travel to exotic places once a year. Go to NM & CO to see where my Great-Great Grandparents lived. Follow FlyLady's recommendations DAILY!!! I know there's more, but that's all I can think of right now. There I've written them down!

KNITTING PROGRESS -

I finished the Simple Triangle Shawl for Unwind's Ravelry event. It's this Thursday. I can't wait! I was telling DH about it last night and he wishes he could be here to go to the party! I don't know if he would really have fun, but it was so cool that he is excited for me to be succeeding. I should expound on how much I love the Silky Alpaca Lace from Classic Elite. I do, I really do. It is very easy to work with and never splits. I got this whole shawl from 1 ball! Can you belive it? This stuff just goes on forever! There are 440 yards per 50 gr ball. 70% alpaca, 30% silk. Mmmmmm. I also made a scarf from the brown colorway and some fingerless gloves for a Christmas gift. I'll post those pictures another time. (I think I have enough left to make myself a pair of fingerless gloves.) :) I'm now working on Alpaca Baby Shawl in True Love Fiber Merino Superwash.Alpaca Baby Shawl Pattern Here's True Love's Etsy Store - Yummmm! I love how squishy this yarn is. I'm working with Sorbet which is a yellow and peachy/pink variegated and peach. It is coming out quite nicely if I say so myself. Pics to follow. Since I will be posting Friday, I'll tell you all about the Ravelry Party @ Unwind! Till next time, Knitter Ditter

Ishbel

Ishbel in Ysolda Red I have finally completed Ishbel, designed by Ysolda Teague. I think she's my new favorite designer!  The yarn is Ysolda Red from my Lorna's Laces Color Commentary subscription. The pattern for Ishbel came with it. I fell in love with this pattern at the very end. It has been a love / frog project for me. I was about to give up when I discovered that I was crossing the end yo because of the way I knit. I knit stockinette in the combination style made popular by Annie Modesitt. I discovered that I had to purl the yo with the yarn over the needle instead of under to avoid an annoying little cross in the yarn. Since the yo is on every row  it is supposed to just go straight across. I think. Well, that's what I wanted anyway. Once I discovered the error of my ways, all was well and I knit on the lace bit with no further problems. I really didn't get the beauty of the design until the blocking phase. The point at the bottom of the shawl comes together so beautifully. It looks like flowers growing up from the bottom. I should have taken a better photo, but here it is! Yarn: Lorna's Laces Shepherd Sock Weight: Fingering / 4 ply Content: 80% Wool, 20% Nylon Color: Red (semi-solid) Needles: US 6 - 4.0 mm Pattern: Ishbel Adjustments made: I added an additional 4 pattern repeats (2 on each side) so that my gauge would be close to the pattern. I think it came out larger than expected after blocking which doesn't bother me. Now it's a cute little shawlette! More info and photos at my Ravelry Project page...

Annis is Finished!

I finished Annis the other day and blocked it. Today I took it over to Unwind where it will live as a store sample. I think it's beautiful! Check it out live and in person! The yarn is so soft, you just want to keep petting it. It will make a great wrap to keep your shoulders warm on a cool summer evening. Yarn: Colinette Parisienne Weight: Lace 2 ply 70% Kid mohair, 30% polyamide (nylon) Color: Variegated Blue-green Needles: US 7 - 4.5 mm, 32" circular Pattern: Annis from Knitty, Spring+Summer 2010 One note: I found an error on line 13 of the chart. It should have a yarn over on either side of the double decrease (S2KP). Just in case you run into the same trouble... Oh, I see they have already corrected the pattern. Never mind!

Annis

I have just started Annis from Knitty.com 2010 Spring edition. I am loving this pattern. It is very easy to memorize the repeats. Everything is symmetrical. I'm using a slightly smaller needle than called for because my gauge was a little large. I'm not sure it is correct yet, it just happened to be the smallest needle I had with me. I don't think it matters so much being a wrap/scarf. I was a little afraid of the nupps at first. I've not done them before and I always shy away from bobbles because I don't particularly like the way they look. But I'm loving the nupps! I think they look fantastic in this yarn which is Colinette Parisienne. I was afraid that the color variation in the yarn might hide the lace pattern, but after a little blocking I am really happy with the results and I think the nupps are going to look great!
Nupp

Nupp!

See more photos on my Ravelry page: http://www.ravelry.com/projects/Cherylsknits/annis

Today's Sweater is a Wrap – "Literally"

Apologies to Brenda Dayne and Saturday Night Live for that title. A while back I wrote about some lovely yarn that I acquired at my LYS. I had my eye on a wrap that one of the girls was wearing and noticed how lovely it was draped across her shoulders. I couldn't stand it so I bought the yarn. I know, I'm weak. Who could resist this? The yarn is Schaefer Laurel in the Susan Sontag colorway. I noted at the time that the colors reminded me of the beach. I also noted that when I got home and started working on the pattern that they wrote out for me, my brain decided that it couldn't be right. My memory kept thinking that the ribs were thicker and there was more substance to it. It kept looking like a shopping bag to me. Actually, this would be a great stitch pattern for a shopping bag. I think the yarn might be overkill for a market bag though. Anyway, it was driving me crazy. I went to the web to look for stitch patterns. I found Lacy Diagonals and that was better, but still not giving me the thicker ribs I was looking for. I modified that and came up with the pattern below. Actually, this is the first pattern that I have written out. I named it Sky Wrap because it reminds me of clouds in the sky.
By the way, I was wrong. I went back to the store and compared my wrap to theirs. Stephanie's wrap was exactly as she had written it. She liked what I did though. My ends slant, hers were straight. My memory thought that her ends were slanted. What a brain fart! Anyway, mine's an original and I love it! I wore it all over Amsterdam in September.
At some point I'm going to post the pattern, but until I remind myself of what I actually did, I'll have to leave it off. Remind me to remind myself to refigure it out.......

Knit Knite Out

Last night I went to socialize with other knitters at my LYS. Seems that most LYSs have knitting groups that meet on Thursday nights. I tried to connect with another group, but this one for some reason is comfortable. I also ended up buying a new skein. Oops, that wasn't on the agenda. $40 bucks, but I couldn't resist. I love the weight of this yarn. It is Laurel, 100% mercerized pima cotton from Schaefer Yarn. The colorway is Susan Sontag. It reminds me of the beach. The silver, light brown and white are so soothing. There was a shawl/wrap made from it in the store and it just hangs beautifly.
I cast(ed) on as soon as I got home and quickly discovered that the instructions don't seem to be the same as the wrap in the store. It has a wider rib than what the directions say. Since I couldn't sleep, I fooled around a bit and I think I've got it now. I want to go back and look at the original just to be sure. Also since I knit combination style, I decided that I don't need to k2tog by flipping the stitches around. I did that for like 10 rows which slowed me down and looks kind of crappy. It doesn't matter which direction my rib goes! It's a shawl and it's mine, all mine! ;)