Holy Crap! I've not updated in a really long time. Sadly I don't think I've finished many projects since then. A couple nondescript scarves and a cowl.. I should take pictures, but you know. Lazy.

Anyway, getting back into knitting a bit, so hopefully I'll update some stuff.

So I got through my big Icaru snag and am chugging along contentedly. I JUST finished my fifth pattern repeat (which should be the last one) with an ENTIRE ball of yarn left over. That doesn't seem right. So I'm going to do a couple of extra repeats until it looks big enough. At least I know I have enough to do the actual feather pattern!

Christmas Knitting (for my own reference) :
- Mom : another shawl? Maybe Hanami? I don't know D:
- Grandma : Print 'O The Wave and maybe socks.
- Merridi : Smoke Ring or This or This (both as a scarf)
- Jan : Unbiased
- Nana : Malabrigo Scarf and Knucks

Knitting Back

I hit my first real snag on Icaru today. It's actually kind of a tragedy, since I was just starting to get back into the swing of it. I was nearing the end of the fourth pattern repeat and the end of first chart purgatory was in sight. I could almost touch it.

Then, in a moment of haste (Dani called to say "Come heal Mechanar!" and I said "Boy howdy I will!") I threw my knitting down and WoWed for the rest of the night. The next day, I hastily shoved my knitting in my bag and ran out the door. And therein lies my greatest mistake - haste. I didn't check to make sure that the knitting was secure, that the stitches weren't perched precariously on the edge of the needle with only hope keeping them from falling.

And fall they did.

I hauled out my knitting the other day and realized with great anger that I had effectively dropped a number of stitches, including but not limited to at least 2 yarnovers and what appears to be a series of k2togs. I honestly don't know what exactly got dropped, but all I know is that one small corner of my knitting is seriously effed up. I've knit back a good three or four rows now and it looks like in two more I'll be able to get back to the point where I can fix it. Maybe.

I still haven't decided what to do about the extra yarn I mentioned in my last post. I'm leaning towards extra repeats, but I'm still unsure. I guess it all depends on how big she turns out to be when the last repeat is finished.

I am Uninteresting

So really nothing interesting has happened in the world of knitting since my last post.

Well, nothing interesting has happened in the world in general. Except the World of Warcraft. I'm on my way to becoming King of Healers in WoW, it's very exciting.

Icarus is plodding along. For the first two repeats she flew, FLEW along, growing exponentially. Now I dread her growth. Every row I think "Oh god, it's just getting bigger". This is both good and bad.

Good, because I know the larger she gets the closer I am to being finished. Bad, because I know the more she grows the slower my progression will be. It's kind of a love/hate relationship.

The yarn is behaving beautifully, as expected, and looks fantastic, but I worry about it felting in my hands while I knit. I tend to get sweaty palms (yuck) and sometimes I fear that the lovely Malabrigo halo will turn into a felted monstrosity.

I'm in the middle of the fourth repeat now and my first ball only now seems to be getting smaller. It's beginning to seem like I might have a lot of yarn left over, and I'm wondering whether I should do more repeats or hope for enough leftovers for a smoke ring. I'll probably go with more repeats, because I want this to be huuuge :D

giganto update

I was a very terrible person this weekend and spent WAY TOO MUCH on yarn. But I think I'm definitely set with things to knit for some time, especially because I'll be knitting two shawls and some socks.

My mom took me to Bonnie's in Carefree this weekend and it was a great little store! It had TONS of yarn, including the almost unreal Malabrigo Lace. I was looking through a few back issues of Interweave Knits and my mom happened to see the Icarus shawl.

"Oh my god!" She said. "Can you make that for me?"

I considered for a moment, but decided 'heck, why not, it'll be a challenge!'. This was the perfect excuse to pick up some of that aforementioned Malabrigo Lace in the Velvet Grapes colorway :

At dinner that night my mom mentioned a few times that I was knitting her a beautiful shawl for her birthday. Her birthday in two months. I had to stop her several times and say "Mom, wait, no... this MIGHT be done by Christmas. Maybe. But definitely not by your birthday."

Maybe by her birthday next year, but I think the only things that would cause the shawl to be knitted that quickly are me quitting my job and dropping out of school. And quitting WoW.

So after that slightly expensive little outing, I came home and realized that I absolutely had to have the yarn for Jeanie RIGHT NOW or I would die. So I went to Kiwi Knitting instead of studying and picked up a few more skeins of Araucania Ranco Multi :

It's almost enough to make one weep. But I promise that this time I did not lick the yarn.

In addition to all of this new loveliness, I finally got around to taking some pictures of my most recent FOs. They're up on Ravelry as well.

Pattern : Ballet School Dropout by Inspire Knits

Yarn : Knitpicks Gloss in Burgundy

Needles : Knitpicks Harmony DPNs, size 2

These were so quick to knit and I wear them ALL THE TIME. I liked the construction, it was unlike regular socks. I just wish I could make them a little lower.. I guess I'll have to play around with modification. They stick out of my ballet flats a little, which isn't a big deal, but I think it would be nicer to have socks that didn't. I also added some elastic around the garter edging, and I think it's helping them to stay on a little more.

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Pattern : Monkey by Cookie A

Yarn : Araucania Ranco Multi

Needles : metal dpns, size 1 (unsure of the brand)

These were another really great knit, but unfortunately I've been unable to find shoes that show them off sufficiently. The colors are gorgeous, and once the soles felted a bit they became MUCH more comfortable. Unfortunately I'm paranoid about the cuffs of socks not being loose enough so I made these ones REALLY loose, and thus they wouldn't stay up. But this problem was easily rectified by adding a little bit of elastic.


And, to close, here are some pictures of dogs :


The Chim can be creepy sometimes.



And Sora hates to be worn as a scarf (but I think she secretly loves it).

My Knitpicks order finally came!!!

I will neither confirm nor deny that I sang a little song and chanted happily about yarn when I got home.

SOCKS again

So I've been agonizing over which socks to knit with my aforementioned Knitpicks Gloss burgundy yarn. I was so entranced by the Twisted Flower socks that I cast on for them today. I also bought some delicious Ranco Multi to knit Titania's Revenge (the ravelry pictures are much nicer). I just can't wait for my knitpicks order to arrive so I can start knitting even more socks!! I think I'm seriously addicted.

In FO news, I finally finished both pairs of Fetchings (one for me, one for my grandma). Now all they need is thin elastic at the tops and bottoms to keep from curling (and pictures), and they will be ready to wear. I feel productive. I won't even mention that I have a perfectly good almost-finished Unbiased sitting around waiting to be lined and seamed. The day I finish that will be a most productive day indeed.