February roundup

What a month.

First, of course, I knit and then frogged the Foliage hat. That hurt. I've got some Rio de la Plata that will probably work a lot better, but I'm still stinging from the initial defeat.

In the midst of the crazy, I rediscovered my knitting mojo, in large part thanks to Ravelry and two swaps that I completed with fellow Rav members. Hurrah for worldwide knitting power! I received two skeins of Lorna's Laces, a yarn I've never used before, and started on a pair of simple stockinette ankle socks for train knitting. The first is complete!



This week, I received this awesome, gigantic skein of Zen Yarn Garden:



It's seriously huge. And in addition, my swapper sent me an adorable ball of Rowan Kidsilk Night in a pale pink called Ballerina:



Crazy, right? People are too kind.

The Secret Project was in fact a French Market bag, and has been gifted to M for her birthday. Unfortunately I forgot to take a picture of the finished object. It felted super quickly in my front-load washer, and is a bit bigger than I had intended for it to be. I hope she likes it!

I swatched and cast on for Ms Marigold this week, and finished Part A in my first session. This is seriously addictive knitting. I even got up early one morning and knit for an hour so that I could make some progress before exam prep hits, um, now. I love this tweedy yarn; it feels wonderful, and it makes my stitches look nice and neat. I got to row 16 on the back section before I had to put it down:



I sort of fell down on my last two goals. I didn't cast on for Elfine because I'm waiting for another sock circular to show up in the mail. And I must admit that I got sucked in by Elann's Sneak Peek page for their 4-ply sock yarn, and ordered a couple of balls for myself along with the samplers that I got for M's birthday package. Does it mitigate my crime if I say I only spent $6 on myself? :)

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February stash knitdown totals: 200 metres on the French Market Bag, 100 metres on the Daffodil socks, 100 metres on the Foliage hat, 60 metres on Ms Marigold, 30 metres on a plain garter stitch dishcloth. 490 metres!

I have conveniently decided to ignore stash enhancements for the purposes of the knitdown. Heh.

Taking a moment from exam prep

A few months ago, I picked up a bunch of Elsebeth Lavold Silky Tweed at a closeout sale. I have enough skeins in a lovely rust colour to make this deep V-neck sleeveless tank, but swatched in the dark brown because I'm always wary of yardage. Here's the washed and dried swatch:



I got gauge exactly: 20 stitches and 28 rows on 3.75 mm needles. I'm a little concerned, though, after reading reviews of the yarn that indicate that it will stretch with wear, and that it doesn't have much memory. The plan is to knit for the 34" bust and adjust for a shorter torso.

Casting on for this will be my reward tonight after studying for the next 5 hours and then going for my scheduled 7-mile run. Yay!

Stash busting part deux: the damage

Mmmm. Sock yarn.

I now fully understand the allure of socks. It's the ultimate one skein project! I picked up some of this lovely green Dream in Color Smooshy. I love it when the name of the yarn totally fits the feel. It's onomatopoeia for touch! This yarn really is the epitome of smooshy:



I've been fascinated by the variegated colourways offered by Cherry Tree Hill, so I tossed some of the Jewels into my basket as well:



And of course, one must support local artists. Here's some Indigo Moon in the enchanting Northern Steppe:



The store had Lorna's Laces on sale, so I got some sportweight yarn in Manzanite for a pair of socks:



You'd think I'd be done at this point. After all, I now have enough sock yarn to last me until the end of the year. Uh, no. I took a deep breath and picked up 8 skeins of the Shepherd Sport in Cranberry so that I would have more than enough for Henley Perfected:



So, yeah. I also bought the Spring 2008 Interweave Knits and Cat Bordhi's New Pathways for Sock Knitters. I may have to step up my output rate...

Stash busting busted

Schoolwork tends to take over in November and February, just before exam time, so my regular paperwork backs up for weeks until I can't stand the teetering pile anymore. I spent yesterday evening cleaning out my in-tray at home, putting receipts away, paying bills, filing correspondence, etc. 2 hours! Sheesh. I had planned to set up my exam study schedule as well, but that didn't happen.

Today I have a rare "working from home" day, which will involve me and M hitting the yarn shops this afternoon. I've been listening to the Stash and Burn podcast and the girls suggest that allowing yourself treats, like successful dieting, is an essential part of stash reduction. If you deny yourself chocolate cake, you're going to want the cake to the exclusion of the broccoli! Heh.

There's a surprising amount of random knitting time even in my day

Last week I rediscovered the therapeutic value of knitting. In the midst of an insane week that involved a midterm assignment, a quiz and some work wackiness, I still managed to stick to my running schedule, keep up with my readings, and eat some halfway decent meals. I'm finding that as long as I stick to a defined daily task list, I don't feel too overwhelmed and I can justify some knitting relaxation time dispersed throughout the day.

I have pretty small feet, so it only took about an hour and a half of train time to get through the majority of the foot of my Daffodil sock:



I took the majority of the weekend off to give my eyes a rest from the computer, so quite a bit of work was done on the Secret Project:



There are about ten metres left in the third skein, and a tiny bit of the fourth will probably be needed to get this project off the needles.

And my little helper demanded an action shot for his portfolio:



That's an unfelted Kitty Pi bed that was intended for Molly, but it was claimed by Fox and I haven't had the heart to take it away from him.

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February's stash reduction progress: 200 metres. The frogging of the Foliage hat technically hits me with a net addition to the stash, since the 100 metres I had knitted on the project in January is thrown back into the stash. I find that idea way too depressing, however, so I'm counting frogged projects as a net zero--no credit for additional knitting, no penalty for frogging.

So pretty

I love getting packages in the mail. Looky!



I swapped some Kureyon for two skeins of Lorna's Laces Shepherd Sock Multi in this bright, happy-making variegated colourway. CM has helpfully commented that it looks like a mashup of Big Bird and Oscar the Grouch. He has also agreed that "Daffodil" is probably a more marketable name than "Sesame Street Vomit."

This is a basic 24-stitch magic cast on, 4 stitch increase every second row to 64 stitches. I think I'm just going to knit a straight stockinette with a short-row heel and maybe a picot edging. With the Monkey socks I learned that I prefer anklets to longer socks, so I can probably eke a pair of socks out of a single skein.

Ouch

Yeah, I got to the bind off, and couldn't lie to myself any longer. This is a great project, but this yarn is the complete opposite of right for it. I have a gigantic flat doily.

Back to the frog pond it goes. Ugh. On the plus side, it was a super stressful week, and I really needed the process knitting to keep my blood pressure down.

January knitting roundup and February knitting goals

It's funny how much more laconic I've become, blog-wise, since I started school. Something about the overwhelming focus on numbers and logic, as opposed to Twinkies and free association, I guess. Let's rectify that, shall we?

So, January! We hardly knew ya. I managed to get one project done: my lovely toe-up Monkeying Around socks. I did also cast on and get some significant progress going on two more items:

The Secret Project is, well, a secret, but here's a progress peek:



That's some Patons Soy Wool Stripes in Natural Geranium. See how pretty and even my stockinette stitches have become? And the shine on this yarn, man, it's just gorgeous.

I also started a Foliage hat in the same Debbie Bliss Cashmerino Aran from which I made my wrist warmers:

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I'm going to make more of an effort this year to coordinate my knitwear. Even my fashion-challenged self balks at wearing my Sesame Street-themed beanie with plum-coloured wrist warmers.

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As far as knitting down the stash goes, the socks took up less than 300 metres of fingering weight yarn, the secret project is at about 100 metres, and the Foliage hat is at 100 metres. At this rate I'm on track to finish knitting up my existing stash in....January 2012. Hrm.

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February's goals are:

1. Finish the Foliage hat.
2. Finish the Secret Project.
3. Swatch and cast on for Ms Marigold.
4. Cast on for Elfine's Socks.
5. Continue to resist the lure of Elann's Sneak Peek page!