the Akamai Knitter

It’s a miracle! The Mingus socks (Ravelry) are finished!

Pattern: Mingus by Cookie A.

Yarn: Wollmeise in “Spice Market”

Needles: 1US/2.25mm

Started: April 23, 2008 (!!!)

Finished: February 23, 2008

Can you believe it took me **TEN** months to finish these socks? I think it’s because I wanted this project to go on forever. I just wanted the experience to last.

I loved loved loved this yarn.  It’s Wollmeise! Wollmeise! I was blessed when Kris brought the yarn over from Germany one year.  The Spice Market is just perfect. It matches a pair of my Danskos perfectly too.

As far as all the hype concerning this yarn goes? I think it’s well deserved. They yarn isn’t splitty and it gives awesome stitch definition. It’s nice to the touch while appearing hard wearing at the same time. And the colors? The colors are amazing. Words fail me.

Still. I’m not paying $75 a skein for it.

I am just sayin’.

The pattern was a little complicated, but I loved loved loved it. I firmly believe a little brain tease is good for the noggin.  I had a rough start, but once I got into the rhythm of the pattern it was smooth sailing.

I cannot wait for Cookie A.’s book to come out. I haven’t pre-ordered it yet, but I will next week. It’s all so exciting! A whole book full of her patterns! Yay!

I had a little helper during my photo shoot.

As for my knee? We shall not speak of it other then to say I have an appointment with my doctor this coming Thursday.

In the meantime, I’m rapidly coming to the finish line on another UFO* (Ravelry).  I have something coming in the mail and I promised myself that I’d get some of those pesky UFO’s out of the way before I started something completely new.

Since I haven’t really been able to update the shop with new yarn, I’m thinking of throwing up a new line of stitch markers on my shop.  We’ll see what I can manage.

One last thing, there is now a Ravelry group for Hungry For Handspun! Come! Join us! Spread the word!

That is all.

Have a great weekend, everyone. :)

*UFO=UnFinished Object in knitting speak, for you non-knitters. I know you is out there.  :)

it is finished.

Pattern: February Lady Sweater (Ravelry)

Yarn: Patons Classic in Navy (yeah, yeah. i know that looks purple.)

Needles: 6US/4.0mm

Size: L

Date Started: February 1, 2009

Date Finished: February 20, 2009

what can i say about this sweater? there’s a reason why over 4,000 people have decided to knit it. it’s fabulous. fun to knit and fun to wear. what more could you ask for?

yes, i still haven’t attached the buttons. yes, i wore it out without said buttons. i swear i’ll do it tonight and maybe i’ll even have modeled shots on friday!

i think this would be a good project for those just venturing into lace, because the stitch pattern is very simple and easy to memorize. just the way i like it. :)

the sweater does run a bit on the large size. if you noticed, i knit the large. that was mainly due to my gauge. i’m normally a 2X, so dropping to a large was quite dramatic.  even the large is a little baggy for me.

i could not, for the life of me, get my camera to cooperate and get an accurate rendering of the color of this yarn. bleh! the above photo was the closest i could get.

there’s been a lot more knitting being done around here since i haven’t been spinning. my knee is feeling a lot better. i’m really tempted to spend a little time at the wheel. i’m trying to hold off, but i did experiment a little with it last night and i treadled the wheel with no fiber for about 5 minutes. the knee held up well. things are looking up!

happy tuesday, folks! i mean wednesday.

yeah.

it’s been that kind of day.

As much as it hurt, I thought it was particularly appropriate to have finished the Snakeskin Clapotis on the very day the Pittsburgh Steelers won the Superbowl. * As you can see, it’s their team colors.

Pattern: Clapotis

Yarn: Zitron Incanto – Color 08

Needles: US8 / 5.0mm

Started: January 13, 2009

Finished: February 1, 2009

Modifications: I knit 11 repeats width wise and 12 repeats lengthwise.

I’m thinking this might be the ugliest thing I’ve ever knit.**

I kinda like the colors, but the way they fall together is just this side of hideous.

I kinda liked the yarn, it’s soft and it drapes well.  Only it split like a mofo, which annoyed me to no end. On the whole, I don’t think this yarn is worth the frustration seeing as how spendy it was.

On the bright side, once I was able to get past the splittier-then-hell yarn, I did enjoy the knitting. The Clapotis is always a fun knit. I’ll just be more careful of what yarn I choose for it in the future.

Also, in my defense, the store model was really pretty.

*sigh*

With all this doom and gloom over a failed knit, I started another project that’s imminently appropriate for February.

It’s the ever trendy February Lady Sweater (Ravel it!). I’ll be knitting along with the effervescent Megan S. and I’m using Patons Classic Wool in Navy.

So far, I’m really loving the wool. It’s softer then it looks and it’s incredibly squooshy. Thanks to Kim for turning me on to the good stuff!

Unfortunately, what you see there will soon be frogged. My gauge is wacky and after some counseling from my Wendy, we decided I should go down a size or two if I want the sweater to actually fit me.  It shouldn’t be too painful as there’s not much there to rip out.

You can see that most of my time this weekend was spent knitting. I was too sick to spin, but as much as I miss my wheel, I’m definitely getting my knitting mojo in gear! Plus, I’m on my way to better every day. So no worries there!

Thanks to everyone for their get well wishes. They were/are/whatever well appreciated.

Happy Monday, people! I hope you’re all recovering from the weekend well!

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*I was cheering for the other team, the Cardinals. I won’t go into a football diatribe, but I will say it was heartbreaking. *sigh*

**Of course I could be wrong.  I don’t see straight when I’m ill. I reserve the right to change my mind. I’m always whiny when I’m sick.