One Week Mittens

It's been really cold here in Ohio and it's been snowing more or less for 2 weeks. Luckily we didn't get anymore snow yesterday or today and the sun has been out to melt it off the roads and parking lots. Anyhow, the point is that all of this cold weather calls for cold weather gear! Like new boots!

On Sunday my mom and I went to Cincinnati to the Ikea store to buy my brother a bed frame. We stayed for 3 hours and we bought a lot of other things. I love that store! When I move out we're furnishing our apartment with Ikea furniture! Another point of the trip was that I was still wearing flats with no socks around and I needed some boots. Some translated into 6 pairs, 5 dress and 1 warm pair. This boot is from Columbia and it was majorly on sale! Yes!

I also needed a pair of mittens! I've been wearing my Under the Tree Mitts, and they worked find until it started getting really cold and now I definitely need some mitts with tops! That's where the Snapdragon Flip Tops come in. After aforementioned snafus, I cranked these guys out in only 1 week and they are currently ready to go. Well, after I dunk 'em in some wash that is.

Specs:
Yarn: Buckeye Alpaca worsted, Natural from "Kalynda"
Needles: Size 6
Pattern: Snapdragon Flip Tops [Ravel it!] by Ysolda Teagues
Mods: I added an extra round of increases because I have big man hands
Thoughts: LOVE!!



Also I mentioned that I was going to order the Madeline Tosh yarn that the original mittens were made of. IT CAME TODAY! OMGOMGOMGOMG!

I love it. =) It's not quite as orange as I had hoped, but I still love it. I also ordered some of the Malabrigo Twist in "Azul Profundo", their Aran/Worsted weight plied yarn. I have plans for this. Very specific plans. We'll see if they work out.

*ETA: The Madeline Tosh photographs oranger than it is, it's really more of a yellowy golden color irl, still quite lovely and squishy, though.

And last but not least, I started a sweater from the Briar Rose yarn that I got at Rhinebeck. Hopefully this is a quick knit as well. I have so many things that I want to make... if only I could grow another set of arms!

I almost forgot! The Madeline Tosh/Mal came with a scratch off ticked from Eat.Sleep.Knit. (Where I ordered it, the only place that had the Madeline Tosh in "Gilded"!) and I WON A $50 CREDIT! WOO! I never win stuff like that so I am very, very excited about it. =)

Have a great weekend, everyone!

New Year

Okay so how bad is it that I'm almost breaking one of my resolutions already? I resolved to post at least once a week this year. Since the 1st was on a Friday I'm counting this as the first post in the first week.

I've been very absent in my online life lately. I really just blame it on one thing... I bought The Sims 3 the day after Christmas. I. Am. Addicted. It's a great knitting game, as long as you're not doing anything too complicated. I've knit 2 wash cloths (in a great bright blue for the BF they were supposed to be for Christmas, but we won't talk about that) and most of a mitten so far.

I seriously considered doing a Sims 3 blog, but I think that's just way too much work. There's all the screen captures, uploading and editing the photos, so The Sims are just for me, and I'm okay with that. =)

The mittens I'm knitting are Snap Dragon Flip Tops by (who else) Ysolda. It's a really great pattern, and I've actually probably knit the cuff at least 2.5 times by now because A) The yarn I used originally, I think I'm allergic to. That made me really sad because it's from the Hope Spinnery, which uses natural dyes and wind energy to spin the yarn. That was the yarn I chose exclusively for the mitten/hat set. B) I kept not paying attention the charts and having to tink back. Usually I can just get the jist of a chart and be on my way, but the cable charts don't go exactly how you'd think so I kept making little mistakes.

The yarn I'm using now is from a local Alpaca farm named Buckeye Alpaca and it's soft and lovely. The mittens are going to be super warm and I'm pretty happy with them. There's only one problem. The color. It's a natural brown color and it's lovely. However, I fell in love with the eye popping orangey yellow of Ysolda's originals. I'm actually considering making another pair with the exact yarn that she used... There's just something about the color of it that I absolutely love.

Anywho, one of my Christmas presents was a new camera (Yay!). It's a Nikon (YAY!). It's not like an SLR or anything but it has 12 megapixel resolution, where my other camera only has 7. So you can look forward (hopefully) to some new and improved photos!

Handspun Swirl

This past Sunday I decided to do some selfish knitting. There are some bigger projects that I really want to start but I'm waiting to finish a couple of other things first. So I decided to have a little self love with some of my very own handspun and yet another Ysolda pattern.

Specs:
Yarn: My own handspun
Needles: Size 10.5
Pattern: Icing Swirl Hat [Ravel it!]by Ysolda Teagues
Mods: I used a larger needle size and I only did 4 rows of the brim because I ran out of yarn!
Thoughts: I absolutely love it!

Damson

As soon as I saw Damson(Ravel It!) on Ysolda's blog, I knew I wanted to make it. When I realized I had a skein of Malabrigo Sock (the yarn called for in the pattern) lying around I knew it was meant to be. I also knew that I had to buy Whimsical Little Knits 2. This pattern was fun and easy, even if it did take like 2 hours to bind off.

Specs:
Yarn: Malabrigo Sock in Rayon Vert
Pattern: Damson by Ysolda Teagues
Thoughts: Quick, easy knit. A great alternate use of sock yarn!
Mods: None

Fresh Start

So, here I am. It's the first day of me being completely moved out of my apartment that I lived in for 2 years. My BF says he won't miss it, but I will. I liked our little apartment. I liked being on my own, most of the time. Well I wasn't completely alone, was I? The BF was there.

Moving out sucked. We packed most of the apartment in one night. We also had to do the dished that night. I went a little nuts while it was happening. Last week I was here at my mom's 2 days in a row, painting the room we're in now. It looks really nice. Two of the walls are an off white, and the other two are a lovely shade of green, like sage without the gray. Saturday my mom and brother helped us move the majority of stuff out of the apartment. It's amazing how much stuff one can accumulate. Monday and Tuesday were spent packing the rest of the stuff and cleaning. Oh, and painting some more.

Lesson: Never paint an apartment. Even if you're going to live there for 2 years.

Sunday, you ask? I graduated. Yep. College graduate here, writing this. Writing a blog. I don't have any career type jobs line up right now. I start another part time job curtosy of one of my good friends on Monday. For now I get to enjoy being done for a while. I opted to go to graduation for a couple of reasons, because it would be a small graduation ceremony comparatively speaking (there were 8000 at Spring graduation) so it didn't take as long, I didn't turn in the form 2 weeks ahead of time saying I wanted my diploma mailed to me, and because, well, why not? It was a memory making moment. I enjoyed it for the most part. The ceremony was 2.5 hours long, just as they said it would be. So, finally, 2 hours into the ceremony it's time for me to walk across the stage (they don't call your name you just get to walk). I approach the place where they're handing out diplomas. Tell them my name. And...

It's not there.

Nope.

Not.

Long story short they had marked it to be mailed (remember how I said I didn't turn that paper in?) and it was in a different building. So after graduation (where I didn't get the thing I went for) I drove to another building and tried to be nice to the very nice people who did give me my diploma.

Today was supposed to be my "do nothing" day. I was going to relax, watch a movie, knit, swim in the pool, and generally be lazy. I did all of those things, however I also spent 2-3 hours driving around town. Why, you ask? My step brother rolled his car. He was going too fast on a back road and hit the loose gravel on the side trying to avoid the oncoming cars, over corrected, and rolled twice. He's fine, and I'm pretty sure the car is still drivable. I had to go out to pick him up with my step father and then we drove to the insurance agent and then to 2 rental places, neither of which had cars. I am very glad that he didn't get hurt.

So all in all you can see I've had a pretty busy week or two. I'm glad that it's over. My new life is starting. It should be interesting. And though I've been busy, I have not been too busy to knit...

Vine Yoke Cardigan (Ravel it!)

FOs coming up soon...

Ishbel Revisited

As I noted in my previous post, I finished my second Ishbel with time to spare. It's a really graet pattern, and when you're not doing the shawl version it doesn't take much time to knit at all.

Unlike my first Ishbel, this one ended up a fairly large size. I used Colinette Jitterbug, which I wasn't completely sure about once I started. The color is absolutely gorgeous, I really love it. However, the yarn is super springy and very dense at 320 yds in 100 g (Normal sock yarn has 400+ yards in 100 g). Using a springy yarn like that, the lace doesn't open as fully as with other yarns. To correct this I ended up blocking the scarf within an inch of its life, using all 64 of my rust proof t-pins. It ended up being a shawlette size, when I was done and so far it's stayed about that size.

It's only outing was to see Ysolda, its designer. It's going to have to be put away for the summer, though. It's way too warm for it. I was thinking about taking it on the cruise with me (Squee!! I leave on Saturday!!) but I'm not sure that I have anything to wear it with.

In the past week I've completed 2 more projects. Just small ones, the sooper seekrit one that I can't reveal right now and also the Under the Tree Mitts (Ravlink) by fellow Raveller and CPaAGer Erqsome, but those are for another post (FYI I'm in love with them).

Ishbel Revisited:



Stats:
Yarn: Colinette Jitterbug, "Salty Dog"
Pattern: Ishbel by Ysolda Teagues
Mods: None, actually
Thoughts: I love this pattern, the lace is really adorable and it's a fast knit. I'd recommend it to anyone. I've heard a few say that the lace isn't easy, but I disagree. The decreases all line up so it's easy to see if you've made a mistake and you're following 8 row charts, with 4 of them being return rows (all purl). It's quick and easy. I love it!

Peeektures!!

Why hello there.

I've been away for a while, but never fear I've been keeping up with my fiber arts. This is going to be a picture heavy post. I had a photo shoot out infront of my apartment a few minutes ago. I'm in my PJs (I've been out and about today.. buying new shoes, acutally but I changed back into my PJs... I have a paper to write. D=).

First, a skein of my finished handspun. This is a merino/silk batt from Mad Angel Creations.





It's more thick and thin than I'd like, but I still love it. It's soft and shiny and squooshy. =D


My new spinning project:


A merino/baby alpaca batt from Port Fiber. The colorway is "Sunset". Lovely. =)



So I wrote not too long ago about hating almost everything I was knitting.. so I started a couple of new projects! (And ripped out a couple of old...)

Another Ishbel (Ravlink)! This is my Colinette Jitterbug that I bought a couple of months ago. I don't know how I like the yarn yet. It's really sproingy and even though it's merino it's not as soft as it could be because of how tightly it's spun. I imagine that is why it's good sock yarn. However I just love the color (Salty Dog!) and I wanted to make something a bit more glamorous with it.

Another reason I started another Ishbel is because Ysolda is coming to Columbus! I'm so excited! She's going to be at Wonderknit on June 17th. Yay!


I started a Parker Cardigan (Ravlink) with the yarn I originally bought for Decimal.

I really like the texture!


Finally, Alhambra (Ravlink). I'm not certain that it's a good match for the Malabrigo lace, though (Color: Sealing Wax it's more orangey rather than pinky in person).


Ahh, it's the end of the quarter! I have a paper to write (I really need to start that.. it's due on Monday...) and a final on Monday, and then I'm flying out to North Carolina! My mom and fam already left for NC on Thursday but I had to stay due to school work, but I get to join them on Monday night! I'm so excited! I'm going to be knitting and reading on the beach for several days.

The perfect answer to a busy quarter.

TTFN.

Blogaversary

As you can see by the ticker on my side bar, in about a week it will be my blogaversary it was my blogaversary a couple of days ago!

So, in the blogging tradition, I'm going to offer a contest with a sweet prize.

You see, I finished my Ishbel the other day. It's beautiful. I love it. Unfortunately it ended up being a little small. Well, small for me anyhow. This was for several reasons.

1. I used a smaller needle size


2. I didn't realize the scarf size was written for fingering weight, not lace weight


3. I have a thick neck. No, really. I almost never buy commercial necklaces because I know they'll fit like chokers. A 20" chain hits me where an 18" chain hits most people.

So it's lovely and gorgeous and I don't want to reknit any of it (Malabrigo doesn't like to be frogged, anyhow). So, I thought it was perfect that I was in need of a blog contest prize.

The prize is, then, my lovely, gorgeous, soft, mmMalabrigo Ishbel*. I will also be including a skein of mmmMalabrigo worsted in Pearl Ten so you can make yourself a matching accessory (Maybe a beret or fingerless gloves?).

Heeeere's Ishbel!:


Stats:
Yarn: Malabrigo Lace (Merino Wool) in Pearl Ten, about 2/3 of the skein
Needle: Size 5 24" circ
Pattern: Ishbel by Ysolda Teagues from the collection Whimsical Little Knits
Thoughts: This was an easy pattern to follow. I find that Ysolda is always thorough in her instructions and pattern lay out/charts and this was no different.
Mods: A couple. I used a smaller needle and to compensate for that I increased to the shawl proportions on the stockinette triangle and followed the lace instructions for the scarf version.

So what's the contest?

Leave a comment on this post (With a way to contact you, your blogger account is fine), and any posts between now and next Friday, April 24th. Next Saturday, April 25th, I will number the comments and use a random number generator to pick the winner!



Another gratuitous picture of the prize with, I think, the best representation of the color:




Good luck everyone! ;-)


*Just for clarification, it is scarf sized, not shawl sized.