Future projects

First of all, I've just finished the knitting on my Deep Argyle V Vest! Thus, tomorrow will be the scary day of cutting the thing! It is scaring me though I'm also very excited as 1. I love to learn new things and 2. I can't wait to finish this vest and see how it looks (and start on other projects! :D).

I've been surfing around lately, to find a suitable pattern for a certain yarn I'm having in my stash (I'll post more info and a pic of the yarn tomorrow). I came across a few projects I would love to knit :

From left to right, upper rowfirst :

1. Green Gable by ZephyrStyle

2. Ubernatural, by Stefanie Japel

3. Jemima by Amelia Raitte

4. The Somewhat Cowl by Knit and Tonic

5. Bella Paquita by Marnie MacLean

6. Tempting II by Jenna Adorno

I have to say that #3 and #4 are big faves right now and they are very high on my knitting list! Some of these patterns I've been looking at forever, some I just discovered. From Amelia Raitte I also love Holy (which was in MagKnits) and her socks of course. From Knit and Tonic I also love Essential Stripe, though probably with less stripes. From Jenna Adorno I also like Tempting I, Blaze and especially Impulsive (though she doesn't have a written pattern for the last one :( ). And I love most of the patterns from Marnie MacLean.

Well, there are a lot more patterns and designers out there that I really love and I'll try to post about them in the future, but if you know someone, let me know as I'm really interested in checking them out!

Related to the yarn I'll be showing tomorrow : I'm looking for a pattern knitted up out of Sock yarn similar to the Somwhat Cowl above, or at least a nice tight fitting sweater which - preferable - has long sleeves or the option for long sleeves. I can't seem to find any sweaters knitted on 2.5mm needles, which is actually what I'm looking for! :D

Pictures of my Norwegian Stockings!

I'm still feeling far from ok, and I'm not sure if it's going to change. I'm just going to go to bed and I hope I'll be feeling better tomorrow.

Anyway, before I chase you all away, here is the update!

First of all ... the Norwegian Stockings!

Stats :

Pattern : Norwegian Stockings from Folk Socks by Nancy Bush

Yarn : Dale of Norway, Baby Ull in black, very light blue/grey and blue

Needles : 3mm Addi turbos

Started : March 29, 2006

Finished : April 10, 2006

Modifications : I used kitchener stitch for the toe instead of pulling together the stitches as I like my toes more that way!

I loved the pattern and I will knit these again! It was such a quick knit! I probably won't be wearing them before next winter as the weather is finally picking up, but I don't mind! I will enjoy them so much!

I'm currently working on 2 projects (well, I have more WIPs, but I'm only working properly on 2) :

First is the Deep V Argyle Vest by Eunny. This was a picture from when I first started :

I'm using Rowan Yorkshire Tweed DK (now discontinued but of course still available) in grey and purple. Well, the purple I died myself as I couldn't find a colour I really liked.

I'm already past the beginning of the arm shaping so this picture is really dated. But well, it shows the colours. I'm quite a bit worried about the yarn and the colours I chose. I've seen the vest in this yarn (for one, at Winnie's blog , which is actually Rowanspun, but it's similar) and it looks great, so it might just be my knitting. Of course this vest just begs for a decent blocking. But it might also be the colours. I like the darker colours but it does obscure the pattern. Well, I will be finishing this vest and I will wear it to my grandparents 50 years wedding anniversary, but I can always knit myself another vest in light colours. We'll see.

The other project I'm putting efford in right now are the Sockapaloooza socks. I'm ok with the pattern. I'm past the heel on the first sock, but if I dedicate myself to them I can easily finnish them in a few days. I'm still worrying my pal won't like them. Keeping my fingers crossed!

As soon as these things are done I need to put some true time into the Butterfly dress from Rowan, which I'll be wearing to the wedding of BIL. My sister is making the dress for underneath it (it must stay decent, right? :D) but she won't finish it before Butterfly is ready. Really need to make progress. I'm also knitting a bolero for my sister which I'll be probably wearing at the wedding (happy Belgian weather, it can be 40°C, but it can also be 18°C and raining, so I'm taking no risks!). So those 2 projects are next. There are quite a few other projects I want to work on as well, so I have to keep knitting.

I also started spinning a little again. I love it so much, should do it more! Well, we're supposed to have up in the 20's over the weekend so I might spend some time on my terrace!

Oh, and I'm dyeing yarn, but more on that tomorrow or on Friday. Going to bed now ...

Big update tomorrow

I tried to update twice over the past week but every time my computer crashed. Don't ask, I don't know the reason and it's driving me nuts!

I'm having a major headache for the second night in a row. I think what's scaring me the most is the fact that I'm supposed to start looking for another job. In 2 weeks I'm officially unemployed. I haven't started to look yet, and honestly, I'm just not ready to look for a job again. I've had to many bad experiences and I've lost all confidence. Even a week of horse camp with toddles (aged 3 to 6) didn't make me feel much better. How come I'm so upset here?

Ok, enough whining, more tomorrow (back to the last episode of Taken!).

Input wanted!

I could really use your opinions and input here!

Remember the socks I was knitting for my Sockapaloooza pal? Here they are :




They are no longer going to be my sockapaloooza socks. They are to small and the whole design isn't working out the way I wanted it. I will rip the heel and do a short heel and keep them for myself (they just fit me, to much of a risk to send them to my pal I'm afraid).

Instead of starting the same socks over again I went shopping for some simple yarn, and started thinking something out. My pal loves the more classical design for socks, so I decided to go with something simple.




The colour isn't true in this picture (it's more like a pale blue, jeans-like). But you can see the pattern. I'm using a twisted stitch for the leg, with a nice lace pattern running down both sides of the sock. This will continue down the foot. The pattern is really stretchy and I do like it, especially the way the twisted stitches are working out (which you can see vaguely in the picture).

But isn't this to simple for my sockpal? She works a lot and wanted sturdy, machine washable socks. I think she might like this. I didn't want a sock that was to complicated as for the pattern as it's not always comfortable to wear those socks in work shoes.

Please, please comment! I need some advise now as I really want to finish this socks soon! The deadline is really approaching fast!

Pictures!

So, finally the promissed pictures. A bit later, as always, but I had a rough week and the weekend wasn't any better. I don't know how the coming week will be, but I'm not really looking forward to it at all.

First of all, I've been ordering quite a few things online, and the first package arrived today.



It's from "Die St(r)icknadel", a German based shop that sells Addi turbos at a decent rate. I of course had to order some extra, and that's the Meilenweit sock yarn you see in the picture! The 2 balls of Mega Boots Stretch are for some knee high socks!

The last week I managed to finish up 2 projects for my LYS. Well, one was only finished tonight, but hey, they are done. Here ya go :



Bag based on the free pattern for the Sophie Bag. Sorry for the second picture, I can't get it turned right. Anyway, cell phone added to show size! The felted bag is super! :D




And here is my doggy showing the Ruffle Scarf (don't know is that's the name) from the book Handknit Holidays . I'm seriously happy it's done. I hate the yarn (mostly the colour) and it was just to much stockinette. Don't get me wrong, I'll probably do more of these scarfs for Christmas, but then I won't rush them so much, 'cause it's really, really boring!


I also started a new project, the Deep V Argyle Vest designed by Eunny which is fab! I bought Rowan Yorkshire Tweed DK for it, but I couldn't find the colours I wanted. So this is what I started with :



Don't get me wrong, these colours are gorgious and I'm sure I'll use the white for a sweater in the future, but I just didn't want my vest black/white 'cause I wouldn't wear it and I want to be able to wear this vest!

So I pulled out my dyes and ended up with this :




I used Dylon dyes and mixed purple with a bit of Cherry Red. Could have done with a bit less Cherry red, but it's still and nice colour which I love. It's especially nice in combination with the black (well, more grey, but still). I swatched, but the swatch was to small to take a decent picture off.

Now I got a bit of a scare when my gauge didn't rutn out the way I wanted it, but after thinking it over I found out I was just stretching my swatch to much after the wash, and after another wash I got perfect guage. So I started the ribbing, and after 4 rows I noticed I had twisted the ribbing! That never happened to me before, but hey, there's a first for everything, right? So I ripped and started over. I'm now about 10 rows into the basic ribbing, hopefully more in the near future!

Now I have a little something else to show :



My first Norwegian Stocking! After fiddling with the needles I ended up with 3mm and the sock fits so well! It's nice and tight, which I like! I knitted it in an awful short time, lets hope the second one will go just as fast. But I had a lot of other knitting to do (like casting off the ruffle scarf, which took me 3 hours! Well, I had to cast off 1600 stitches). Hopefully by the end of the week I'll have a pair, that is, if I don't get to obsessed with my vest!


On another note, I started listening to a new podcast (not knitting related) after hearing one of the latest episodes of Cast On, which was done by Sage of Quirky Nomads. If you haven't listened to Quirky Nomads yet, I can really recommend it! Which reminds me of the review of Podcasts I listen to I wanted to do. Man, staying at home means I have no time at all I guess! :D


Last, if you made it to the end of this post, I just posted some yarns at DeStash which is started to get rid of your stash. I'm not to hopefull, as usually not many people are interested in the yarns I offer, but feel free to check it out! The yarns are really good quality (I'm a yarn snob, so that's not really a surprise) but I guess it's the shipping that does it!

Oh, by the way, Sandra, if you are reading this, please do email me 'cause I have another batch of mostly acrylic yarn to send your way, and I don't want anything in return, hear me??? :D

Have to go bed now! :D