the Akamai Knitter

I finished the Star Crossed Slouchy Beret (Ravelry) last night and I am ecstatic.

Stats:

Pattern:  Star Crossed Slouchy Beret

Yarn: Malabrigo Merino Worsted – Cypress

Needles: size 10US and 11US

Started: February 12, 2010

Finished: February 16, 2010

This project just annoyed me to no end. It wasn’t the pattern, which was well written and easy to follow. It wasn’t the yarn, which was simply divine.

It was the needles.  I used 16″ Addi Turbo Circulars for the most part and there just wasn’t much to grab on to. My hands ached trying to hold on to what there was of it.

Evil needles. Very evil.

Now that the hat is done, I’m now finished with the Ravelympics. I could attempt to finish the Lyra (Ravelry) for the WIP Event by the 28th, but I really doubt I have the time for that. I have two beading classes within that time frame and I’m sure that’s going to sway my focus away from the knitting.

Let’s face it. I have the attention span of a hamster.

So I think I’m just going to do my own thing and be glad I was able to participate, even if it was for just a short amount of time.

Look who woke up!

Happy Wednesday, people!

I was so out of whack yesterday I completely forgot it was Valentine’s day, so a belated Happy Valentine’s Day to all of you.  It was also Chinese New Year’s so a belated Happy New Year as well!

I spent the day watching The Wire – Season 5*, knitting, and making some jewelry.  Some of it I can share with you, the rest will have to wait as they’re gifts to certain persons who read this blog.** *

Actually, I can only share one piece with you.  It’s a charm bracelet.

I admit to having a bit of  a skull/skeleton fetish, so I couldn’t resist those Day of the Dead charms when I saw them.  It’s just too bad they’re too big for stitch markers!

The stones I used are Black Jade, Blue Goldstone, and Swavorski Pearls. At least I think those are Swarovski Pearls. They were just floating around in my stash with no label.

Don’t you hate that? Mystery beads and mystery yarn really get my goat.

As for the knitting, I’ve made some progress on the beret.

I think I’m achieving slouchy. I hope I am at least.

o.O

Sammy is meditating on the state of slouchy.

Happy Monday, everyone! Hopefully the majority of you are enjoying a day off. :)

*This is my second go around with The Wire. I just can’t get enough of West Baltimore. At least from a distance.

* Some of my friends and I decided to exchange gifts on Chinese New Year’s instead of Christmas so we’d be less stressed over the holidays and we figured we’d be able to get them out on time by then. The less stress worked. The being on time thing? Not so much.

I woke up at 6:30am and I couldn’t get back to sleep. I didn’t even get anything productive done. Don’t you hate that?

On Friday I was woefully unproductive, so here’s me trying to catch up.

Stats:

Deep Blue

100% Superwash Merino
250 yards
4.05 oz – approx. 12WPI

Enchanted Knoll Farm “Blue Octopus”

I was very fortunate to get my hands on this fiber. Enchanted Knoll sells out fast and boy did I love spinning this up. I love how slick superwash fibers are and I think superwash has an added softness to it.

But that might just be me.

The colors in this skein are my utter favorites. If I didn’t have piles and bins of yarn everywhere I’d probably be keeping this. But really, I see this becoming a hat and what use do I have for a hat?

Stats:

Violets In The Forest

100% Rambouillet
250 yards
4.2 oz – 12WPI

Hungry For Handspun – “Moss Agate”

I bought this fiber because it was simply beautiful and it stretched me out of my comfort zone. These are so NOT my colors just like the Zuni aren’t my colors. I had a blast spinning it up. Rambouillet is one of my favorite fibers. I’m still trying to get the hang of the low-twist single though.

Finally, I thought I’d mention that I’ve joined the Ravelympics. Due to other commitments, I decided to just knit up something small.

Since I still had some leftover yarn, I chose a hat to match the Fetchings I made my friend Lisa. She chose the Star Crossed Slouchy Beret pattern. (Ravelry link.)

I duly cast on at the appointed time. Then I ripped. Then I cast on.  Etc, etc, ad nauseum.  I finally got a rhythm going and got this far:

Until I realized that this was not going to be a slouchy beret. So I ripped it all out and I’m now using bigger needles and I’ve gotten a little bit past the ribbing.

This is why I chose a small project.

Kitty!

Happy Sunday, folks! I hope you all have tomorrow off. :)

First I was going to make this ball of yarn into the Damson.  When that didn’t work out, I attempted the Travelling Woman. Only I was defeated by the sheer simplicity of achieving a certain amount of stitches after knitting a certain number of plain stockinette rows.

How much of an idiot am I? :P

So this sad ball of yarn,

is trying very hard to become the Sunbird (Ravelry link).

It hasn’t been easy as not only has my thumb still slowly healing, but I’ve also had the stomach flu since this past Thursday.  I’m much better now and since there are no plain stockinette rows to confuse me, the shawl is taking shape.

Hopefully the third time’s the charm. :)

Now revel in the cuteness, but excuse the late night crappy photo.

Happy Wednesday, everyone!

I’ve been positively lazy the past few days. There’s been attempts at knitting, crocheting, and some wireworking.  All of which have resulted in the realization that my thumb still needs more rest.  So I continue with activities that are less taxing on my injured digit, like spinning and seed beading.

I don’t have much handspun to show yet, but I finally finished a leaf component in black and sewed one of the Trillium Flowers to it.

I like this much more then I do the white. I’ve always been more partial to black then white though.

I can finally show off some knitting I did before the thumb injury. Here are my first pair of Fetchings that I made for my friend Lisa.

I used Malabrigo Merino Worsted and boy was it a pleasure to work with such a nice yarn.  More details are on my Ravelry project page if you’re interestesd.

Another gift I can now share is a pair of earrings I whipped up for my friend Blogless Barbara. The project idea came from the magazine Easy Wire and it’s one of those things that made me want to slap my forehead and say “why didn’t I think of that?!”

Quincy is just ecstatic over all the jewelry fun.

Happy Tuesday, everyone.  Thanks for all the well wishes. They’re truly appreciated. :)