As promised
THIS is what I bought yesterday. It's actually most of a kit to make the Koigu Hexagon Coat from the Holiday issue of Vogue, but I'm not going to use it for its intended project. I've actually been thinking about buying this batch of Koigu for a while, because there were some colors in there I've never seen AND some that I haven't seen in years (the yellow I used in my Tramonto shawl is in there, and I've only ever seen it the time I bought it for my shawl, 4 years ago!). The kit came with 36 balls of yarn, 6 in a mostly-solid green that I really didn't like . . . so I made a deal with a coworker, she took the green and I took the rest!
27 new Koigu's to snuggle up with the rest of the stash!
All Koigu, all the time!
It should come as no shock to anyone that I keep creeping closer and closer to knitting all Koigu, all the time! The Koigu Cashmere pullover is almost done, I have to sew the second puff sleeve in and weave in the ends and then I can wear it.
The puff sleeve came out cute, didn't it? This was my first time knitting and sewing a puff sleeve so I took my time and really thought about it and planned it out. I looked for info about them online and there really wasn't anything geared to knitting, so I ended up looking at sewing resources about puff sleeves, which were also scarce. I finally found something about how to alter a paper pattern for a set-in sleeve to a puff sleeve, and used that concept for the knitting. I first printed out graph paper in the correct proportion, then drew in my sleeve cap using my pattern. Then I cut it out and altered it to have a wider top, glued that onto the graph paper and traced it again, translating the new edge into stitch counts.
Then when it came time to sew in the sleeve, I again tried to look up information in my references, namely the big Vogue Knitting book, which had no specific information about how to sew the gathered edge onto the smooth edge. So I ended up winging it and found a good ratio: 3 sleeve stitches to one body stitch gave it a nice gathered puff. I'm really happy with how it came out and I can't wait to wear this cutie!
The peach blob on top of the cashmere pullover is my newest Koigu project, which is actually a commercial pattern! I know, shock of shocks. I just got the new Vogue Knitting and it has this cute shrug pattern in it:
The gauge is exactly right for KPPPM so I jumped right in and already finished the back and picked up stitches for the body. The instructions have you knit the body even for several inches, which seems really strange to me (I think it would make more sense to have some increases), so I picked up and started a sleeve instead of continuing the body. My plan is to finish the first sleeve and try it on to see whether the pattern might work as written or if I have to alter it. I don't have that much faith in Vogue patterns since they tend to always have some problems, and I'd rather do it right the first time than blindly follow a pattern that seems wrong only to have to rip and re-write it later anyway.
Oh, and in health news I went to the doctor for my knee and he says I damaged one of the disks of cartilage between the leg bones, behind my knee cap, and that is what's causing my varying degrees of pain. I'm on prescription anti-inflammatory, taking Glucosamine to encourage the cartilage to grow back, and doing exercises to tighten the joint. It definitely could have been worse and I'm happy I went to get it checked out so I don't have to worry about it.
Back to the couch to finish my pullover and give my knee a rest!
Happy New Year to everyone! See you in 2007!
Too many WIPs, not nearly enough time *
I have absolutely lost my mind over the last 2 weeks or so. I still have SO MANY old projects lying around, and yet I keep starting new ones. And buying yarn. And starting more!
Over the last week I started two new sweaters. Both blue. Both sort of variegated. And pullovers.
I told you I was in a blue period.
The first:
The flash kind of made the colors look too neon, the real thing is less variegated looking . . . this is a pullover I'm knitting in the Koigu Cashmere (if you thought I was addicted to Koigu before, we better come up with a new word for my affliction now that Koigu Cashmere exists) color 844. It has shades of navy, purple, and a sort of seafoam blue and it's absolutely stunning. Gorgeous. I cast on for this last Wednesday night and worked on it while at Stitches -- if you saw me knitting madly while you were there, this is what I was working on! I finished the back on Sunday, which goes to show that even on size 4 needles, I do make lots of progress as long as I'm faithful to just one project. I immediately cast on for the front, and have almost all the ribbing done . . . but then I got distracted.
By more blue yarn.
The bottom is knit from the handspun I got at Stitches and the solid is Cascade 220 from the stash. What's really funny about this project (other than how much it looks like the other one) is that I had bought the handspun thinking, "What the heck am I going to make with about 400 yards of heavy worsted handspun?" I knew I didn't want to just make a scarf or something simple that wouldn't be "worth" the yarn. And I knew I liked the way the yarn looked in garter stitch. So eventually my brain churned this all around and I came up with the idea of using the handspun as the border and solid navy for the body. I was knitting the border and I kept wondering what yarn to buy for the body . . . it had to be 4.75 sts/inch on size 7's, and it had to hold its own against the handspun . . . and then I went stashdiving and found Cascade 220 in the perfect shade of navy. (which some of you may remember was originally going to be the jacket from Knitting Nature. But I'm over it)
I told Adam proudly that I had saved myself some money by finding this in the stash, and that this is the reason I hoard yarn to this ridiculous extent. He rolled his eyes.
* And you thought you had a knitting problem . . .
FO: Koigu Cashmere Armwarmers
I finally got a good shot of my finished Koigu Cashmere armwarmers! These turned out amazingly well, so well that I'm seriously considering making another pair. They're really really warm and functional, and perfect for fall weather. If it gets much colder to quickly they won't be getting much wear, but I'm thoroughly enjoying them now! I actually wore them at Stitches almost the entire weekend, so if you stopped by the booth you got a sneak peek of them already.
They were super quick to knit and the pattern is really great. I definitely recommend them if you're looking for cute accessories, or they would be a great gift!
Project specs:
Pattern: Gauntlets from Sally Melville's The Purl Stitch book
Yarn: 2 skeins Koigu Cashmere in color 608
Needles: US size 2 DPNs
Started: October 11, 2006
Finished: October 14, 2006
Stitches East 2006 Redux
I just got back home a couple of hours ago and went straight to bed to take a little nap. What a weekend! Between setting up the booth Thursday afternoon and breaking it down Sunday afternoon we saw tons of knitters, petted lots of projects and sold lots of yarn. The Koigu Cashmere was very well received (there were people who rushed into the booth saying, "We hear you have Koigu cashmere!" It was great to see everyone so excited!) and as you can probably imagine flew right out the door booth. Don't worry, we still have plenty in stock!
The crowd was significantly smaller on Sunday than on the other days (I suspect because there was a football game going on next door and traffic had to be a nightmare!) so I got to wander around and do a little shopping . . . here's the damage:
The photo's overdeveloped b/c of the flash but it's the best I could get (stupid daylight savings making it dark at 4:30!).
On top is a Strickwear kit which I had never seen in person before. I'd seen it in the Patternworks catalog but I wasn't willing to order it before feeling the yarn because I had no idea what kind of wool was in the kit. Turns out it's quite soft and the colors are just as amazing in person as I had hoped! This is a kit for a bolero in their Sunset colorway, you can see it shades from yellow to purple. I won't be knitting their pattern, I just wanted the cool yarn! I'm planning to knit a short-sleeved pullover with this.
On the bottom you see 6 skeins of Koigu . . . I really can't justify this purchase other than to say that I'm addicted! My boss laughed at me when I came back to the booth with them. But some of these are colors I've never seen before! And the rightmost one doesn't have a color number, it just says "NR" on the label, so I suspect it was a mistake. Too cool!
And leaving the best for last, on the left are two skeins of Tanglewood Fiber Creations' handspun Merino. I'd never heard of them before but I fell absolutely in love with the yarn. Trish (who blogs here), the spinner/owner has great colorways and this plied Merino is cushy and soft like good sock yarn but at a bigger gauge, and the barberpole color changes are to die for! The only problem with buying handspun stuff is there's never enough of any color to make a big project, these two skeins aren't exactly the same but I'm planning on doing a 2-row jog with them and filling in with a solid navy blue.
Speaking of which, I spent all weekend knitting a new project with the Koigu Cashmere in a navy blue sort of color. I think I'm in a blue period . . .
Oh, and before I forget, I got to meet a bunch of people IRL whom I only knew online! Several readers walked up to me and introduced themselves, thanks for saying Hi and thanks for reading! And at one point Cara came in and I recognized her immediately. She came in the booth while we were kind of packed and she was in a hurry but I insisted on giving her a hug and then instinctively looked down to check out her knee socks, which I bet is what everyone does when they first meet her! And Blue Moon had her blanket hanging in their booth and it's beautiful, but that awful lighting made the bright green GLOW, it was kind of spooky.
In comparison with Rhinebeck, there were not nearly as many bloggers around. At Rhinebeck it seemed that everywhere I turned someone was saying hi to me or I was recognizing someone. At Stitches, I met up with a bunch of people I know IRL but never see, but only met 3 or 4 virtual friends . . . there definitely seemed to be more bloggers at Rhinebeck. I wonder what that says about bloggers? Or about the events?
Either way, it was an exhausting, fun-filled weekend. Thanks to everyone who came by the booth to say hi, and if you couldn't make it be sure to check out the String blog for pictures of our booth! They should be up in the next day or two.
