WIP Wednesday

So much for monogamy...

Notorious

Sugar Plum Fairy

The Life Aquatic

Ocean Eyes

Scrap Stripes

11.7.10

*Wipes dust off blog* Why hello there blog! So good to see you. Life caught up with me a little, but look! I have stuff! LOOK AT THE STUFF. Ahem. Right. I'm not crazy.

Meet Call Me Captain, and Sir Nicholas' Famous Snidget Fingers.

Call Me Captain is a basic wooly striped shawl/scarf (sharf? Scawl?) in Ravenclaw colors (unintentional!) Very warm, and oh so very large. I hardly know what to do with myself when I wear it. It was a great mindless knit.

As for the Snidget finger, I needed a quick project for the HPKCHC, and I came up with a lip balm carrier! Three cheers for ingenuity! Excuse the um, less than satisfactory seaming. I was rushed.
A new purse. My poor LeSportsac had suffered a beating, and sadly it's not very 'work friendly.' But I got this new thing, and I'm so excited with it! One of my friends told me I looked like 'a hipster working at Google and inside I had my iPhone and laptop.' It's probably one of the best compliments I've ever gotten. But look inside!
A Baktus named Notorious (after the Cary Grant movie.) And if you look deeper...
NEW YARN. I have to give all the credit to MJ. I ended up with some purple fingering weight, some very very soft red worsted, and pumpkin orange worsted. Nomnomnom.

Continuing with the 'wool' theme, we also have- not one, but THREE wooly items that my mum got me. It seems especially cold this year, and the sweater dress on the bottom is proving its worth in keeping me warm and fuzzy.

Outside it's steadily becoming less 'fall' and more Northeastern winter which translates to scathingly cold winds on a sunny day, or a gray gray day that makes you a little depressed inside. Although rumor (weather.com) says it's going to snow...

FO: One Sheep, Two Sheep

One sheep, two sheep, red sheep, blue sheep?

Pattern: My own, inspired by Sheepish by Alana Dakos

Yarn: Cascade 220 in Gray Heather, Mallard, Natural and Black

Needles: US 7 circulars

Can I just gush to you guys for a minute how excited I am that this is my FIRST SWEATER?!? And I made it without a pattern! Like really. All I used was Elizabeth Zimmerman's Knitting Without Tears (God bless her), Knitting Daily's Waist Shaping Calculator, my calculator and a pencil and a paper. I'm pretty pumped about this, and I can't wait to wear it out and about.

Of course, it's got flaws. When I finished it, the fit was incredibly poor. The sleeves were way toooo short (above my elbows!), the length was short (above my belt!) and it was tight and just plain uncomfortable. I wanted to cry. Luckily, I found the time to block it, and I did some MAJOR stretching. And it fits almost perfectly now! The sleeves and body could be longer, but I'm not complaining. It FITS!All in all, it's a pretty solid sweater, and I learned a lot about fit and ease. And to make everything longer than I expect. But for now, I have a pretty solid sweater with almost two full skeins of yarn left. And what is happening to those?

New Skills

My family isn't one you could necessarily call 'artistic' Except my mom. I swear the woman can do ANYTHING. She's one of the best bakers I know (maybe I'm a little biased), she can sew (I have multiple pillowcases, and curtains), needlepoint, make jewelry, really she can do anything. I envy her, especially her artistic touch on the little things she does. So in the vein of my mom, I've decided to take up some new things.

-Sewing. Honestly, I was never into sewing. In middle school, I could competently make a duffel bag in Home Ec, which really was enough for me. But recently I went out to the craft store and took a look at the patterns they had. Amazing! They really aren't the old lady type garments I expected. I picked up a dress/skirt pattern from Cynthia Rowley by Simplicity, which looks like something I would wear going out. Plus Little Thingies has a tutorial on making skirts, which I would love to utilize. One of my best friends is also really good at sewing, and she's currently stitching up her homecoming gown in cream satin. Which involves gathering 22 feet of tulle.

-Quilting. Completely inspired by the Tokyo Subway Map quilt on Oh Fransson! I WANT ONE.

So those are the skills I want to learn this year. What about you?

FO: Broad Street Bandit

Didn't you know bandits are all the rage?

Pattern: Springtime Bandit by Kate Gagnon Osborn

Yarn: Lobster Pot Yarns Lobster Sox in Boiled Lobster, 1 skein

Needles: US 5 24 in. circulars

Specifics: 7 repeats of the body chart. Used SSK instead of SKP for the mirrored decrease (worked much better and looked neater.)

The yarn's from Woolplay. It's a great store, which has a bunch of really nice, really expensive (I say expensive with a pained expression) luxury yarns that I'm fairly sure I wouldn't find back home. The Lobster Pot Sox is one that I can't get at home. It’s definitely not as soft as Malabrigo Sock (many yarns aren't), but the color is beautiful. It ranges from a light pink to spots of deep red. It’s more ‘sock’ yarn than ‘shawl’ yarn, because it seemed really durable, and tough, so to speak. But I am a firm believer that yarn I payed + $10 for will not become socks. This is expensive yarn damnit, and I want everyone to see it! On the bad side, I’ve also been finding some WEIRD stuff in my yarn, which might be normal for all I know. I’ve been pulling out little pieces of black string, and hard pieces of nylon.

As for the pattern, it's great! It's really easy, and I love the end results. It's lacy, but it has quite a bit of substance to it. And the edging is gorgeous as well. It looks more complicated to knit than it really is. The fabric I ended up with was dense pre-blocking, but once blocked out, it EXPANDED and became much softer and less thick. Again THE MAGIC OF BLOCKING. JUST DO IT. DON'T COMPLAIN.

All the Good Things

Because I'm lazy, here are photos. Life is looking good right now :)
A finished One Sheep, Two Sheep

A finished Springtime Bandit (photos coming soon!)

A new project :D
Some summer reading that finally doesn't suck (actually the top is only summer reading)

A sweet gift from a sweet friend (book not included ;)

And how was your summer?

Theme?

I think not!