Work in Progress Wednesday v.79

Okay, contrary to what you're about to see, I've really been knitting my face off for the last week or so.  Promise.  It's just that there's not much I can actually show you.

Exhibit A:  I knitted a cute thing (which I can't show off on FO Friday this week either), for my partner in the Blog Hub Swap.  It's cute(as previously stated), but it's secret.  So you only get a teensy bit of a teaser photo:

Exhibit B:  I'm knitting another cute thing for the same swap partner as we speak.  And again, you get only the sneakiest of peeks:

Elsewhere, I finished up Duckie Sock #1 during the first part of the Super Bowl on Sunday.  I like football, so it was tough to divide my attention but it was worth it to finish up the sock.  I love it.  At lunch today, I got #2 rolling so, you guessed it... there's not much to look at:

I'm hoping to get this finished in the next few days so I can wear them to Stitches West, which is only about 2 weeks away!  Whee!

And then we have mitten.  Sigh.  I brought the mitten out and took it to knit night in order to have some sort of visible progress to show off today.  I completely ignored the no-complicated-colorwork-at-knit night rule and boy did it bite me in the backside.  Allow me to demonstrate:

I got the thumb hole closed up and finished the next set of flower stems.  It wasn't until I started the next round of petals that I realized I'd managed to shift one of the flower stems and now I have to frog all. the. way. back. AGAIN.  For those of you keeping track at home, this is the 4th major frogging for this single mitten, which I started just before THANKSGIVING.  I am feeling lots of things right now, but thankful about this mitten isn't among them.  I'm going to put it into time out for a bit and get some knitting successes (and a moderately-sized attitude adjustment) under my belt before trying to move forward on these any more.

I have one more Cute Swap Thing to start -- and finish -- in the next week, so stay tuned for another picture that I can't quite show you.  Isn't this fun?  It's like those picture puzzles on the back of kids magazines.  Can you guess what they are from the mysterious photos?  Feel free to record your guesses in the comments, and all will be revealed next month.

Meanwhile, go check out actual pictures for for-reals progress from loads of other crafty types over at WIPW.  It's pretty much the most fun you'll find on a Wednesday...

FO Friday -- Peerie Posies Edition

Yay, Friday!  Yay, awesome finished hat!  I'm too excited to do anything but this:

(with apologies for the wonky photos, we were running short on time...)



and this:



and this, for no reason other than I love my goofy old gimpy dog.


(There's a reason we call her the "Spitting Cobra".)

This hat is one of my favoritest knitting projects ever.  It was a little intimidating with all the colors (7) and the number you had to knit with at once (2) and the ends that needed to be woven in when all was said and done (eleventy billion), but really it wasn't hard.  And it was SO worth it in the end. 

Several people have commented that colorwork seems too scary, and I totally would've agreed with you all a few weeks ago.  Now I'm here to tell you to get over your fears and give it a shot.  These videos by the folks at Philosopher's Wool are incredibly helpful in getting started and Kate's pattern is kind of genius, so you pretty much can't lose.

Here are my bits of advice for anyone who wants to take the plunge:

If you're the type who snips yarn at a color change and then weaves ends in rather than carrying them along, stop and do it along the way.  I wove ends at the end of every chart and it worked great.  Otherwise, I think I might've been swallowed up by the sheer volume of them.

Go read Kate's explanation of the crown decreases on her blog.  It makes loads of sense out of something that looked utterly nonsensical to me.

Finally, don't tug too hard on that Rowan Fine Tweed when you're trying to keep from getting ladders between dpns.  I broke the yarn 3 separate times resulting in lots of tinking back to get a tail long enough to weave in and one or two swear words, and I wasn't even pulling that hard.

That's it.  I'm working on the mittens this weekend, and Sock and some Christmas stuff, keeping busy while Mr. Right is traveling for a long weekend.  Now if you'll excuse me, I have some embarrassingly girly TV to watch and a load of uninterrupted knitting to attend to.

Hope y'all have a fabulous weekend!  You could kick it off by visiting FO Friday and Fiber Arts Friday for lots more yarny success stories.

FO Friday -- I Broke It edition

You know how I was thisclose to being done with Peerie Flooers on Wednesday, and was all excited to show it off to y'al on this lovely FO Friday?  Yeah, not so much.  I'm about 3/4 of the way through the crown decreases now...

And I have exactly the right number of stitches on my needles.  And the order of stitches from the previous row is correct.  And I'm totally missing a stitch before the first decrease on the next round.  I need 7 stitches to work before the decrease.  I have 6.  I cannot figure this out for the life of me.

So instead of finishing the hat and wearing it this weekend, I've been fiddling back and forth for the last 2 days trying to figure out where my problem is.  I've finally admitted defeat, and tomorrow am frogging back to the last color change to see if that helps.  Boo.

Here's where the pretty picture of my flowery hat would go. 

And here's what you get instead.  It's a metaphor for how I'm feeling right now (well, not really the mustache part)...

Next week.  For reals.  I hope.  Now head over to FO Friday and Fiber Arts Friday for lots of happier tales and more yarny adventures.

Work in Progress Wednesday v.66

Howdy, WIPW-ersnappers!

This is a truly bizarre Wednesday.  It's one on which I have pretty much nothing to share with you.  I know!  I can't quite believe it either.  Here's what happened...

Peerie Flooers is sooooo close to done that I don't really want to show it to you and spoil the big reveal.  So you get this. 

Still pretty, right?

I will say knitting the first part of this hat on my Knit Picks Harmony circs was pretty much the most fun I've had knitting.  Ever.  Knitting the last part on my Clover bamboo dpns is way, way, way not as fun.  I'm not quite skilled enough to wrestle 5 dpns and one color of yarn in each hand simultaneously yet.  On the up side, the rounds keep getting shorter, and the likelihood that I might stab someone's eye out with a blunt-tipped bamboo dpn is decreasing proportionally.

The Power Puff swap yarn is finally winging its way to everyone who participated.  Sorry that took so long, but it ended up being more work than anticipated to get everything ready to send out.  Hopefully, you'll think it was worth the wait once the package shows up!

Sock doesn't look any different than the last time it appeared, but it will get some love after the hat's done.  I really need to get these things finished so I can wear them.  I'm missing prime sock-wearing weather as we speak.

And finally, my Lorna Suzanne swatch is just the same as it was last time, too.  I'm trying to decide if it will really be my next project, or if something else might slip in ahead of it.  Sexy vesty?  Peerie mittens?  I have yarn for all 3 of these burning a hole in my stash, so you'll have to tune in next week to see what project bubbles to the surface.

For now, I'll go finish my Crown Decreases of Doom so I can show y'all how it turned out on Friday, and you go check out all the other WIPW projects.  I hear there's Christmas knitting happening out there!

Work in Progress Wednesday v.65

Okay, so I totally blew my exciting show and tell of the week on this post about my Sunday with Ysolda, which you should check out if you haven't seen it, because it was all kinds of fun.

In other news, I've had almost no time to knit in the last week, between meeting knitting celebrities and getting mugged for candy by the neighborhood children (And also every kid within a 30 mile radius. Sheesh.), and various other obligations.

I am, however, totally obsessed with knitting Peerie Flooers.  Look!

Isn't it so amazing?  I'm totally knitting this whole hat with one color of yarn in each hand, and people... it's working!  I know.  Trust me, I'm more amazed than you are.   Even the back side doesn't look half bad:

I just finished with the first repeat of flooers and am already a few rows into the next.  Then, it's just a whole lotta crown decreases between me and a wooly, warm, flowery head.  Yay!

I also knit a swatch for my Ysolda class.

The funny part?  We were all sitting around before the class started sharing how we'd all been up at the crack of dawn swatching so we'd be ready with our on-the-needles swatches, when Ysolda rather sheepishly mentioned that we didn't really need any swatches at all, and there had been a tiny miscommunication between her assistant and the shop.  She went on to assure us that swatching was really, super important for any sweater project and now we were all way ahead of the game.  She's awesome.

Oh!  And on Saturday, Mr. Right and I competed in an Italian food throwdown (don't ask... it's a cooking competition with a bunch of friends that started last January with ribs and after a pass through Mexican food has now landed at Italian cuisine.)  This time, the competition was fierce.  People had been researching and experimenting and doing trial runs with their elaborate dishes for weeks.  We made the lasagna I always make for company.  And we won!  We totally beat everyone else.  What did we win, you ask?  This:

You're jealous, aren't you?  Wait til you see what it looks like in the dark:

Cool, no?  And creepy, too.  We were going to put it in the window last night for trick or treating but decided it might be a bit too scary.

Finally, if you're waiting for swap yarn from me... it's coming!  I hit a little snag last weekend wherein I spent about 5 hours untangling and bundling yarn that someone sent for the swap.  That meant there was not time for visiting the post office, but I'll get it all shipped out on Saturday, promise.

But now, I'm going to go check up on everyone's progress over at Tami's.  It's kind of my favorite thing to do on Wednesdays.

Work in Progress Wednesday v.64

Hey y'all!  It's officially the Wednesday before my sweater class with Ysolda Teague, and you know what that means, right?  Right.  I can think of little else.  I ordered yarn for my next sweater, which has arrived just in the nick of time.

The pattern is Lorna Suzanne (which appears to exist only on Ravelry), a pattern I became instantly smitten with.  Caveat:  The project page makes it look an awful lot like an old lady sweater, worn over a collared blouse and with a little chain holding the collar together, but really, it's not.  Take a look at the finished sweaters -- it's a super cute pattern and I'm looking forward to diving in.

My instructions are to bring a swatch in progress to class on Sunday, so I plan to get that going tomorrow.  Is it bad form to bring a swatch for a non-Ysolda sweater to a Ysolda class, do you think?  I hope not...   I'm having a bit of a hard time getting to the swatch though, as I've finally (barely) started on Peerie Flooers and it's really, super hard to put it down. 

...which is lucky, because I just now realized that I was supposed to do 3 rounds per color and I've done 2 of each.  And then I cut the yarn.  Sigh.  Guess who's frogging 3 colors worth of fair isle tonight?

In happier news, Snug is not making an appearance here this week since I finished it up last weekend.  I'll add the buttons and give you all a proper show and tell on Friday.  Here's a hint:  It's pretty stinking cute.

Over on the back burner, Sock is still trundling along.  I've got another inch or so of foot to go before I start decreasing for the toe.  And then... sock #2.  Some day.  I'm almost sure of it.

Finally, I'm putting together the last mini skeins for the beekeeper's quilt sock yarn swap now that everyone's yarn has arrived, and am hoping to get everything mailed out by this weekend.  Fingers crossed!

Phew!  It's been a busy week.  Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm off to get ready for the blizzard we're expecting tonight.  In true Colorado fashion, it was 80 degrees (27 C) yesterday and we're expecting a foot of snow to fall between tonight and tomorrow afternoon.  What's the weather doing in your neck of the woods these days?  Are you building an igloo, or still trying to beat the heat?  Share in the comments!  And then go visit WIPW -- there's amazing stuff happening out there!

Work in Progress Wednesday v.63

OMIGOSH, you guys!  The coolest thing happened this week!

So you know I just finished Angostura, and I've been all gushy and happy about finally having a knit garment that fits, right?  And I'm kind of obsessed with Little Red in the City and what a great book it is, and how I want to knit pretty much everything in it and all that.

Well, Ysolda's latest blog entry popped up in my reader on Friday.  It was titled, "Is Ysolda Coming to a Store Near You?"  And I thought, "Wow, wouldn't that be nice?"  But she lives in Scotland for crying out loud.  Denver seems an unlikely spot for a smallish book tour.  And then I clicked.

YSOLDA IS TOTALLY COMING TO DENVER!

And then...  I went and found the store online, and looked at the list of classes she's teaching, and saw "sold out" listed next to the first two -- but not the last one.  So I started calling the LYS at about 7:45 in the morning.  Curiously, they did not answer the phone.  I went back to work until a more reasonable hour and called back at the stroke of 10, when happily they did answer the phone.  Long story not so short...

I'M TAKING A SWEATER KNITTING CLASS FROM YSOLDA TEAGUE!!!

I got the last spot in the last class on the last day she's here and I've pretty much been jumping up and down ever since.  I'm so excited!  It's not until the 30th, so I have some time to figure out what swatch I'll bring to practice on.  But oh man, did I mention that I'm excited?

Right then. Sorry about the detour.   Back to the order of business today.  It's WIPW.  Again and already.  Jeez, that was a fast week.  I've become completely scattered of late, so today you get quick glimpses of lots of stuff without much progress in any particular direction.

Up first is Snug.  The recipient arrived on Sunday morning, and so Snug will officially be Snug-ette when all is said and done.  It's moving along, though not as quickly as it looks like it should:

(Note to self:  Photographing concrete-colored things on concrete doesn't really show them off very well.)

I think it's going to be pretty cute though, once I find some wooden toggle buttons (anyone got a good source?) and embroider the front a bit to girly it up.


Sock doesn't look much different than last week, which is actually very exciting news:

See how it looks all dull and boring?  I've spent the last inch or so of the stockinette portion practicing my continental knitting. Miraculously, I can't actually see a difference between those stitches and the regular variety, which is kind of awesome.  I'm determined to learn how to do two-handed stranded colorwork so I can feel okay about diving into Peerie Flooers in the next few days, which right now looks like this:

...Pretty, but not really the look I'm going for in the end.  Hopefully, it will be easier than it looks to get this project rolling.  Fingers crossed and all that.

The other really fun thing is that almost all of the yarn has arrived for the Power Puff Yarn Swap I'm hosting.  It's SO fun to find it in my mail box and arrange it all on my kitchen table.  Once the last package shows up, I'll get everything divided up and back out to everyone.   Here's a sneak peak for those of you participating...

Fun, no?

That's it for me this week.  I'm looking forward to checking out everyone else's progress over at WIPW -- we all seem to be picking up steam with the fall knitting.  Yay, fall!

Work in Progress Wednesday v.61

Okay, so last week, I was a teensy bit knitting-obsessed.  This week, I'm more like a woman possessed.  Somehow I got it into my head that I could finish Angostura in time to wear it to pick Mr. Right up from the airport on Friday morning (he's coming back from his epic long business trip, we're still working stuff out and I'm looking to knock his socks off).  And since then, I have been knitting like a fiend.  Here's what it looks like now (pardon the curly edges -- I was racing a rainstorm):

That means, all I have left to do is knit the right front.  And the right shoulder cable.  And then bind off, attaching the shoulders to the back.  And then block it.  And then sew up the side seams.  And then run five miles so I can actually sit down in the skinny jeans that I bought last weekend.  All of which is totally doable. Right?  I'm almost sure of it.

I'm still utterly in love with this pattern, even if I do keep making incredibly stupid mistakes along the way (you can post stalk me on Ravelry to get an idea of just how stupid.  We're talking epic here).

In the 90 or so seconds I haven't been knitting on Angostura in the last week, I've managed to become completely smitten with two new knitting patterns: For this and these.  Holy cow.  Have you seen these?  I'm so smitten that I fell all over myself ordering the exact yarn from WEBS, enough to knit both patterns, only to find out that I am but one of a zillion or so people who have to knit them NOW, and that almost all of the colors are on backorder.  Sigh.  I'm trying to wait patiently, but it's not going so well.  Cute though, huh?

I've also knitted more of Snug, which still doesn't look like much:

The blue lines on the sides are meant to be removed to pick up stitches for the sleeves.  Once those are done, I think it'll look more sweater-y and less dishcloth-y.  Here's hoping.  The pattern is interesting, but seems to go through all sorts of gymnastics to avoid any seaming.  I'm not sure yet that it's worth it.  I'll keep you posted, though.

No more puffs have puffed this week, but I'm currently making mini skeins for the yarn swap I'm hosting, and I'm sure once I have a pile of yummy new sock yarns to play with, they'll be popping off the needles again in no time.

In the mean time, you can busy yourself by visiting all the fun stuff that's going on over at WIPW.  As for me, I'll be the girl huddled in the corner knitting the red vest as fast as my wee  little fingers can carry me...