Tuesday, September 16, 2008

Hello, from the west coast :)

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We've made it to the west coast, but we're visiting with family, so it will still be a little over a week until we reach our final destination.

Unfortunately, I don't do so well knitting as a passenger in a car (or moving truck) - I'm one of those people who likes to stay alert to the happenings on the road, and I'm not so good at knitting without looking (in fact I'm pretty bad at it) - so I got very little knitting done on the trip. That also may have had something to do with a broken needle... but I digress.

Something I finished before our cross-country move is this scarf:

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Noro Striped Scarf by Jared Flood
Noro Silk Garden Lite 45% Silk, 45% Mohair, 10% Lambswool (136 yards / 50 g per skein), 1 ball each of colors 2010 and 2015
US 5 (3.75 mm) bamboo circular needles

I knit this pretty much as suggested, aside from the following: I substituted a lighter weight yarn (the original pattern calls for Noro Silk Garden, not Silk Garden Lite), CO 33 stitches instead of 39, and used only one ball each of two colors.

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My scarf came out a nice size (66 inches long x 4 inches wide). I found it endlessly entertaining to see which colors ended up paired with one another along the length of the fabric (though I admit to sometimes egging the yarn on in my head when it seemed like a particular color was hanging around for too long).

Some intriguing color combinations resulted. For example, the Kermit and Miss Piggy section:

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The very spooky Count Dracula section:

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The flaming gray squirrel section:

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... and the Monet "Impression - Sunrise" section:

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All in all, a very enjoyable knit.

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Bag by Beth

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Before I left the east coast, I received a fun gift from The Real Baby Beth. She made 5 bags (in the Bag-n-tote Backstroke event) for the Ravelympics and decided she didn't know what to do with all of them, so I was one of the lucky folks she gave one to.

It's made of organic cotton and recycled soda bottle yarn (Little Barn Cotton & Ecospun) - very cool!

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Thanks, Beth!


Swatching and waiting...

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A while ago now (a few months ago?) I did some swatching for several summer tops. Well, summer is essentially over now, but at least I started one of them :)

It's the Proto-Pretty DNA Tank by weasel knits that I've been eyeing for a long time. I think it's a clever design, and I'm having fun with it, though that doesn't stop me from having made a number of bone-headed mistakes that have resulted in much ripping back. I am farther along than this photo shows:

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...but not by much.

I've also been working on a simple scarf of Malabrigo Worsted in the deliciously earthy color Charrua - a rich, chocolaty brown shot through with streaks of sky blue:

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I'm alternating bands of stockinette stitch and reverse stockinette stitch of increasing width. Bug thinks it's quite tasty looking:

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Next time... spinning update!

Saturday, August 23, 2008

Laminaria

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Laminaria by Elizabeth Freeman
Malabrigo Lace Baby Merino Wool (470 yards / 50 g per skein), 1.67 skeins of the color "Vaa"
US 3 (3.25 mm) Knitpicks circular needles

WARNING: This post doesn't contain very many words. My husband and I are packing for an impending move across the country, so I'm a little pressed for time, but thought I should try not to get too far behind in blogging my knitting projects.

In quick summary, this is a beautiful pattern and luscious yarn, and I'm quite happy with the results :)

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However, I went a little overboard with my decision to aim for a fairly dense fabric. I chose a US 3 needle, based on my tendency to knit rather loosely, and didn't swatch. Before blocking, the shawl looked tiny, and the lace looked way too dense, but luckily, it grew to a nice shoulder shawl size - I'll try to get photos of it on at some point, so you can see - with a firm blocking.

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With the somewhat variegated yarn, I do wish the lace was a little more open in general, though I love the density of the border:

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Close-ups of the other stitch patterns:

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...And here's some Bug cuteness for you (with the shawl pre-blocking, as you may notice):

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Also, I was very fortunate to win Angie's recent blog contest prize: 2 skeins of beautiful alpaca/merino sock yarn from the Natural Dye Studio. Isn't it lovely?

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Bye for now!