Work in Progress Wednesday v.144

Huzzah!  The knitting mojo has returned!  Unfortunately, All the Time in the World didn't show up along with it, but beggars can't be choosers, right?  I'm knitting again, and while I wish I had more time to do it, I'm mostly just glad to have needles in my hands again.

I even managed to knit a whole Something, which you'll have to pop in on Friday to get a look at, but it was really nice to finish something and block it, and have it be all cute and *done*.  I got so excited about it, I ran right out and cast on a new project!  I know, right?  I don't know who I am either.  That aside, check out the beginnings of my new Ptarmigan cowl.

I <3 this pattern a bunch.  I saw a shop sample at Fancy Tiger last fall and immediately bought yarn to make it because I really, really wanted to wear it.  But then I didn't knit it.  And it's been sitting in the craft room for aaaaaaaages.  So it's cute.  And fun to knit.  And stashbusting.  Triple threat!  Anyway, the yarn is Rowan Cashsoft DK, which is soft and sturdy, and has great stitch definition.  I'm a fan.  Really, it's a pleasure to knit.

I'm also still poking along on the Austin Hoodie.

Nearly finished with the body now, then it gets blocked, the shoulders get grafted together and I get to start on the arms.  Hopefully, all those steps will happen this week.

In other news, well...  I'm not sure there is other news.  It's mostly baby-trying and fertility stuff these days, and I'm on the fence about whether this blog is a good place to go into detail about all that.  Is it over-sharing?  Would it be helpful or interesting to anybody?  Feel free to let me know what you think on the subject.  And then go check out all the other WIPW entries.  I'm ridiculously behind on reading them myself, but there's always awesome stuff going on over there.

See you Friday!

Work in Progress Wednesday v.129

Greetings from Puppy Land, where everything is snuggles and puddles and please-for-the-love-of-all-that-is-holy-don't-chew-on-THAT, and where there is only precious little time for knitting these days.  The culprit:

Lucky for her, she's ridiculously cute.

But!  I did manage to knit a bit.

For instance, I managed to knit enough of my Baby Sophisticate sweater to realize that I have not enough yarn to finish.  Boo!  Looks like I'm about 12 yards short on sleeve #2, so I'm currently trying to decide how to remedy the situation.

Cute sweater though, eh?  Think the recipient would notice if it had only one sleeve?  Design element?  No?  Yeah, me either.  Sigh.  Stash busting is hard, man.

In other news, I'm nearly done with the back of my Austin Hoodie, and loving how it's looking, especially the woven section and the ribbing (Is it weird that I desperately want to block it RIGHT NOW?)...

I'm hoping to finish up the back and get started on the fronts in the next couple of days because I expect the sleeves and hood to take a soul-suckingly long time.

For now, I have a question if anyone's game.  I'm working on a row where I knit X number of stitches across the back, then put Y number of stitches on a holder for the neck, then work X number of stitches on the other side, and begin working up the left shoulder.  The pattern doesn't say to break the yarn here, or to join new yarn on the other side of the held stitches, but that's what I need to do, right?  I'm sure it is, I'm the sort who obsessively follows directions, and it's not in there.  Anyone care to nod at me before take the leap?

Then, after you solve all my problems, go check out the rest of the Work in Progress Wednesday posts.  I'll see you there!

Work in Progress Wednesday v.127

The weeks just keep flying by, don't they? A blink and it's already (WIP)Wednesday again!  Craziness.  Things are cracking along over here.  I've made some (seemingly invisible) progress on the Austin Hoodie...

I swear it looks nearly like it did last week, but I finished another 3" of body, then started the cool woven section -- linen stitch, I think -- and divided the back from the fronts.  I'm currently marching up the back of the sweater, determined to wear this thing at Stitches West.  That's 35 days from now, but who's counting?  Right. 

And, as promised, those two partial skeins of yarn got some attention this week, and have morphed into this:

Actually, that's what it looked like on Saturday when I decided that I'd better take a picture in case I accidentally finished before I had time to take a proper WIP photo.  No such luck, as I've slowed down considerably over the last few days, strategizing.  You see, this is how much charcoal yarn is left:

24 grams.  And I still have one shawl collar/ button band and two striped sleeves to make.  It's gonna be a squeaker, my friends.  I decided to knit the collar/band first, since I know I want that to be grey, then weighing my yarn as I go to determine how much striping the sleeves will require.  So cross some fingers for me, please.  You can check back in a week or so to see how it all turned out.  You're all biting your respective nails, right? 

Meanwhile, I'm going to get back to the task at hand.  Mr. Right is leaving for a business trip today (boo!), so I expect to have lots of uninterrupted knitting time and silly girly movies to keep me going for the next few days.  Could be worse, right?

Work in Progress Wednesday v.126

Happy WIPWednesday, peeps!  I'm still here, and while I don't have anything even remotely exciting to share with you, I can promise that I really have been knitting my fingers off of late.  Evidence:

That right there is a solid 12.5" of Austin Hoodie body.  I know it doesn't look like much, but really it's a megaton of knitting in frustratingly skinny yarn.  I really, really, really want to have this finished to wear to Stitches West next month, but I'm not sure I'll make it.  Cross y'er fingers for me?

The most annoying thing about this is that it's a New Year, and I've survived the holidays, and I have some time finally, and I want to knit ALL THE THINGS.  Right now, please.  And so I'm knitting like a crazy person and making not much visible progress since I'm working at such an itsy gauge.

Only one thing to do:  Cast on Something Else!  Of course, that's the answer to all manner of knitting dilemmas, right?  So by next week, this little pile of yarn...

Should look a little more like a Baby Sophisticate.  Yay for instant gratification projects!*


*Yes.  I'm well aware that this will actually slow my hoodie pace, thus actually preventing me from achieving my goal.  But don't bother me with details right now, there is a shiny new pattern to be conquered!  Woot!

PS.  You can feel free to pull out the I-told-ya-so's next week when I'm crying about my snail's pace.  I think that's fair.  Until then, go check out all the other (slightly more sane) WIPW entries over at Tami's.  They're sort of universally awesome.

Cheers!

Work in Progress Wednesday v.125

Surprise!  Also, Happy New Year!  It seems I took a bit of an unintentional holiday while I adjusted to married life and working from home these last few months.  Sorry 'bout the radio silence, but I think I'm finally in a place where I can comfortably get back to blogging.  Yippee!

And what better place to start than my beloved Work in Progress Wednesday.  And I have work!  In progress, even!  I think the last time I popped in, I mentioned that I'd finally cast on for the Austin Hoodie I'd been dreaming about for ages.  It's still plugging along, but it's not terribly photogenic yet.  Exhibit A:

Really though, it's much farther along than it was.  There's about 6" of body there and I'm busily working the waist decreases at the moment.

It'd be bigger, but I got some crazy idea that I wanted to make a pair of fingerless mitts for my shiny new sister-in-law for Christmas.  And that meant I should probably also make a hat for her husband.  Totally reasonable if not for the fact that I had this revelation right around December 10 while I was finishing up a pair of socks.  But I pulled it off.  All of it.  For a minute there, I felt like Super Knitter.  It was exciting since the socks fit like a dream and both of the gifts were well received.  It was also exciting because I have material for lots of upcoming FO Fridays.  Bonus!

Anyway, while I was busily not blogging, I was doing other fun stuff.  We got some snow!!

Then Mr. Right had a birthday which prompted a weekend trip up north to Moose Country, resulting in lots of this:

And a pleasant amount of this:

And then Christmas appeared, and brought this with it:

*insert Kermit flail here*

I've been wanting a food processor for ages, and am so excited to finally have it.  Now I feel like I need the perfect recipe to test it out.  I've been perusing my new Smitten Kitchen cookbook, but haven't settled on anything yet.  So I'm open to suggestions.  What should I make with my fancy shmancy food processor?  Feel free to leave ideas in the comments -- I'm terribly impressionable.

With that, I'll say "See you Friday!"  And really, I will.  Promise.  I'll also be around more this year and will get back to blogging about other stuff some times too. Good times will be had by all.  Hmm... This sounds suspiciously like a list of New Year's resolutions, but let's just call them plans, shall we?

Edit:  Confession:  I wrote this post on Tuesday night and scheduled it to post on Wednesday morning.  It went ahead and posted it anyway.  I guess Blogger figured it'd been long enough between posts or something.  At any rate, if you read this on Tuesday night, be a sport and pretend it's Wednesday.  Mmmmkay?

Work in Progress Wednesday v.121

Greetings from the land of Brrrrrrrr!  Winter weather has finally arrived around these parts and it has gone from unusually pleasant to freakishly cold in very short order.  I'm having trouble adjusting.  As I type, I'm huddled up to the fireplace (Mr. Right is traveling on business tonight, or I'd be snuggled up to him), and wearing ALL THE CLOTHES.

I'm also knitting.  True facts, people.  When last we met, I was just about finished with sock #1.  And now, just two short weeks later, I'm just about to turn the heel on sock #2. 

Not bad considering that in between I hosted Mr. Right's parents for 5 days and cooked a ginormous Thanksgiving dinner for 8 people.  Well actually, I cooked dinner for 20-ish people, but there were 8 folks in attendance.  Leftovers, anyone?

I'm hoping I can crank through the rest of sock #2 and make it back here for FO Friday, but that might be cutting it just a little bit close.  We'll see.

Now, it's true confession time.  And boy is it embarrassing.  Remember that Austin Hoodie that I'd just barely started a couple of weeks ago?  I had to put it aside.  Why, you ask?  Well, it calls for a knitted hem.  And it's been sooooooooo long since I've done one that I have to take the time to consult the tutorial.  That I wrote.  Seriously.  I have to go read a tutorial that I wrote 2 years ago to remember how to construct a knitted hem.  That is all kinds of pathetic, my friends.  I don't even have children yet, so I have no excuse for the fact that my brain seems to have liquefied and trickled out my left ear.  I plan on pulling it out tomorrow, and will give it a shot.  I hear it's a pretty good tutorial.
 
Oh, and remember how I was all excited about making homemade mozzarella?  Well.  It was a spectacular failure.  I've no idea what went awry, but when all was said and done and I'd followed very carefully all of the detailed directions, I had slightly sour milk.  Undeterred, I've signed up to take a cheesemaking class on December 9.  I'm hoping for actual cheese this time, but you never know.

In other news, we decorated for Christmas:

Yay! 

ps.  Go check out all the cool craftiness that's happening over at WIPW this week. 

Work in Progress Wednesday v.119

Excellent news, peeps!  The Ugliest Sock Ever has grown on me, and now that it's almost grown up I actually kind of like it.  It's still umm... vivid? But it's kind of fun I think.  Proof:

And once it has a mate, I think they'll brighten things up considerably this winter.  That's my story and I'm stickin' to it.

More excellent news, too!  I actually managed to start a second project.  It's SO nice to have the knitting mojo back and to have stuff to work on these days.  I'm loving it.  This...

...is the very beginning of an Austin Hoodie.  I've had this pattern in my queue for aaaaaaages, and last year at Stitches West, in a frenzy of It's-my-birthday-there-is-no-budget shopping, I picked up 5 skeins of madelinetosh's Tosh Sock in the Calligraphy colorway so that I could finally start knitting it.

Unfortunately, the yarn was so pretty and so expensive that I was a little paralyzed by fear:  What if I knit the wrong size?  What if I screw it up?  What if it's too small?  Too big?  In the end, I realized that none of these things would be anything near the end of the world, so I dove in.  So far?  It's lovely to knit with, though as you can see it's still very early.  It's also kind of a big pain in the bum to alternate skeins, but I really want to avoid obvious changes from skein to skein, so I'll deal.  I can't wait to wear it!

That's what's cooking around these parts these days.  At least on the needles.  In other news, I've finally managed to gather the elusive ingredients required and am going to make CHEESE this week.  Crazy, no?  I'll let you know how it goes, and whether I end up witha tasty pizza or a burnt out shell of a kitchen.  Fingers crossed on that one!

See you all over at WIPW!

Work in Progress Wednesday v.114

Aaaaaaaaaannnnnd... we're back!  Hi.  Me again.  Still trying to work out how to fit regular blogging into my new life schedule and mostly failing miserably.  But I'm trying, so I get an E for effort at least.

Mr. Right's house went on the market and sold in 4 (FOUR!) days, so when he totters off to work in the morning, I've been spending my days packing up stuff at his house, moving it over to my (our! squee!) house and unpacking it.  It's working out pretty well, but it's sucking up a TON of time. 

We still haven't sent out our wedding thank yous yet, or even managed to finish opening our gifts, which is getting a little bit ridiculous.  This week.  Really.  I hope.

On the knitting front, we are in uncharted waters, folks.  I finally finished Nympheas, which is all blocked and totally lovely, and which you'll get to see on Friday.  And I don't have anything. on. the. needles.  Shocking.  It's not for lack of trying though, I promise.

I took the plunge and swatch for Idlewood. I'm always spot on for gauge (with the exception of the fancy new tube top described below), but this thing looked like swiss cheese. I don't have needles in the next size down, so it's on hold until (if?) last year's Christmas present shows up.

Undeterred, I bought a lovely skein of Blue Sky Alpacas Suri Merino to knit Ptarmigan.  No swatch since it's just a cowl, right?  Yeah.  About 4 rows in, I discovered it was twisted, so pulled it off the needles and realized that the circumference was 38".  So.  You know, more slightly large tube top than cowl at that point.  I ripped.  I started again with smaller needles.  Smaller tube top this time, but still.  This yarn does not want to play with this pattern, and that makes me just a tiny bit sad.


Now I'm swatching for my Austin Hoodie.  Swatch with recommended needles was waaaaaaaaaaaay off (are we sensing a theme here?), so I went down a size and am not-so-patiently waiting for it to dry.  Proof:

Since I can't manage to knit a freaking thing these days, I turned my precious knitting minutes and all my pent up energy toward assembling a present Mr. Right bought me a few weeks before our wedding.  Behold, The Storage:

Isn't it purty (silly flash glare aside)?  It's so solid and wooden and organize-y that I'm completely in love.  Sock yarn in one bin, sweater quantities in a couple of others, cotton, laceweight, mini skeins... it all has a shiny new home.  My husband rocks.  It's not knitting, but it will definitely tide me over for a while.  At least a day or two.

See you all over at Tami's for WIPW!  Cheers!