Tuesday, February 20, 2007

Faina, Socks and a Side of Pi

Faina is coming along nicely, I'm enjoying the journey and I love, love, love knitting with the Misti Alpaca.

This is Faina at 101 rows. I'm actually quite a bit further along since I took this picture. Rows 54 through 133 repeat a total of four times and I'm at row 99 of the second repeat (178 rows total). It looks like a limp blob without being pinned out and I was just too lazy to pin it out again.

Here's a picture of the detail (as always click on any picture for a larger view). I made a few mistakes when I first started out, but I tinked a few times and now I take a quick check (and count) at the end of each even (RS) row and I've only made one mistake in the last 75 or so rows.

Maybe it's overkill to count each row, but I'd rather tink back less than 61 stitches than to catch the mistake rows later and tink back several rows. So, anyhow, I'm 34 rows away from the halfway mark.

I finished my Cherry Tree Hill Baby Cable socks, how yummy are these?! The color is so much brighter in real life, I couldn't capture it on camera. There's not a colorway printed on the label, just "Jewels" is checked off and the colors are rich jewel tones.

I have another skein marked "Water," but I think a better name would be "Easter Eggs." Such pretty bright spring pastels.

As promised from my last post, here are some pictures of the latest Kitty Pi. See how nice and big it is before felting? Sophie and Zack could have both fit in there nicely with room to spare.

See what happens when running it through the wash twice? I should have checked better after the first cycle. Now Zack will sleep ON it, but no way will any of the three cats be able to sleep IN it. :^)

And, finally, I mailed 15 hats today to Kate today. YAY!

Sunday, February 11, 2007

In which I return...

OK, so it's been awhile. So shoot me! No, on second thought, please don't.

January wasn't a very productive knitting month, it seems I did more ripping out than finishing anything. As evidenced by this picture, I started a sock, using a pretty lace pattern that quickly got lost in the variegation of the yarn. I'll do it again, but wih a solid color.

I have some Lang JaWool that I think will be perfect for the pattern.

In the meantime, I decided to go with a simple Baby Cable pattern, much nicer! This is sock number 1, but that's actually finished and I'm ready to pick up the heel flap stitches and start the decreases on sock number 2.

This is my first time knitting with Cherry Tree Hill yarn and I'm absolutely loving it! Because its 100% wool, and a bit heavier than most sock yarns, I'm still reinforcing the heel flap using grape colored Woolly Nylon.

The Faina Scarf Along is about to begin and I think I'm going to use this lovely Misti Alpaca wool. I haven't knit with this before and I'm looking forward to it, it's SO soft!

Harley is checking it out and I think it gets her seal of approval... That, or she wants to know why that basket is occupying HER sun table.

I can't blame her, with as cold and gloomy as it's been, I'd be wanting to boot anything in my sun spot, too.

It got up to 25°F today and it felt warm! How sad is that?!

I also knit up a quick hat for B using some Bernat camo yarn that he picked out. I'd made him one a couple years ago, but he left it at a friend's house out of town. There was plenty of yarn left over, so I tried out the Irish Hiking Hat (Warning: This is a link to a .pdf file). It's hard to see the cables, but I like the way the cream color lined up once the brim was folded up.

I've also knit a few more Fun Fur Chemo Caps for Kate.

All in all, I guess I've been knitting more than I thought! I'll show you the new Kitty Pi next time.