the Akamai Knitter

First FO of 2007

Did you all have a good weekend? I had a great weekend, but before I go over all of that I have the first finished object of 2007 to report. Let me just add that my picture taking abilities have seem to have been lost in the frenzy of the weekend. I apparently do not have talent when it comes to taking photos so please pardon me.

Pattern: Shifting Sands by Grumperina

Yarn: Andean Treasure in Summer Sky

Needles: Size 5US/3.75mm Bryspun Straights

Started: December 3, 2006

Finished: January 7, 2006

This yarn was great to work with and even though it was a bit boring to do this scarf a second time in a row, it was a great project to take along with me to my knitting meetings. Unlike the first Shifting Sands, this will eventually be blocked then mailed off to Tacoma, Washington to my Great-Aunt Eleanor.

NFL Playoffs = 2nd FO of 2007

You all know that I’m a sports fan right? So since this week was the NFL Playoffs, I got to knit through 4
games of football. The result? A cardigan just for me! Again, I apologize for the crappy picture. I tried taking a picture with it on me via a mirror, but that came out even worse then this poor thing. Hopefully I’ll get better pictures sometime later this week with the sweater on.

Pattern: Knitting Pure & Simple Neck Down V Neck Cardigan

Yarn: Swish Superwash in Jade

Needles: Size 5US/3.75mm Addi Turbos Circulars

Started: January 1, 2007

Finished: January 15, 2007

I can’t believe how easy this was to knit. The toughest part was picking up the stitches for the neckband and even that wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be. It was all thanks to you all who encouraged me to just go for it and bite the bullet. I thought the stockinette would get boring, but the shaping kept me on my toes.

I also thought I’d run out of yarn, but it turns out I have one ball left of the original dye lot so I really didn’t need to add in the other batch of yarn that I bought just in case. Still, I feel it was a good choice to be better safe then sorry. For those who don’t recall, I originally only bought enough yarn for size 44″ and I ended up making the 48″. I had to buy more yarn to make up the difference but I was unable to obtain the same dye lot, so I used the other dye lot for the neckband, the seed stitch hem, and the arm cuffs.

This was such a successful project I’m already looking forward to my next sweater. Only I have a couple of shawls and some other small things I’d like to make first, but the two sweaters that are on my mind are the Ariann and the BPT. I think the Ariann would be great for Hawaii and I just love the way it looks. The BPT is gorgeous and challenging as it has a zipper. A zipper!!

Friday Night Spinners

I’ve been having problems with my left knee. It’s just a touch of tendonitis, but it’s been hampering my time on the wheel. Still I could not be kept away for long. On Friday night, I spun for a bit. I’m almost done with this bobbin.

I’ve been trying to spin a little bit every day. I’d like to be done with this bobbin sometime this week. I think the fiber is Colonial wool, but I’ve had it so long in my stash that I’ve forgotten exactly where I got it from. Still, I’m in love with it and I think it would make a lovely everyday shawl.

Another Convert

On Sunday, Veronica came over to hang out. Since she brough the sushi, I figured the least I could do was supply her with another addiction. So I got out some domestic wool and an extra spindle. I can’t speak much about my teaching abilities, but I can say that she picked it up quickly for she was soon spinning a lovely yarn. It’s too bad I was a bad blogger and didn’t subject her to the camera, but I didn’t want to scare her completely away.
All in all it was a great weekend. Now I’m off to knit some green socks!

Last night at the Aloha Knitters meeting I worked on my cardigan. Thanks to the good company and dirty jokes (you know who you are) I was able to finish most of the hem. When I came home I finished the rest and bound off the body in the morning.

Then it was on the neckband. I dove right in and with the great words of encouragement from all my great friend out her in bloglandia, as well as the fiberlings on AIM, my confidence was back. My first venture was not so successful. I was supposed to pick up 40 sts evenly along the first side of the V and I ended up with 35. I ripped it out without a qualm and started over again and met with success.

For some reason, my brain wasn’t working as well as my confidence and it didn’t occur to me to just pick up my cast on loops for the sleeve and back sections. So I had to pick up and rip a few times until the light finally dawned on me. Sometimes the moniker akamai knitter just doesn’t apply. (BTW, Swish seems to handle repeated frogging with just a minimum of fuzzing.) Finally though, I met again with success and I eventually had all the neckband stitches on the needle.

And after just 3 rows of garter stitch, it was all said and done.

Let’s not forget a gratuitous closeup picture.

I feel a little silly for being so proud of something so simple, but really I’ve never done this before. It’s way out of my comfort zone so don’t I deserve at least a tiny pat on the back for that?

In other news, there are some of you that might remember the Jayne Hat, aka the ugliest hat ever, I knit back in November. Well it’s finally landed and the recipient couldn’t be more pleased. See him modeling it here. I’m so glad he loves it for I surely cannot see what he finds in it to love. Though I do think it looks kinda cute on him.
I also need to come clean with you all for I have lied. Remember the Shifting Sands Scarf I made? Now I told everyone here and everyone else that would listen that it was for my Aunt Eleanor, but really it was for my friend Jenny. She just got it today and she loves it! Let’s hope this mention of it will nudge her into blogging about it. Am I not sly?
All my other gifts for Christmas 2006 have landed in the past week and I’m reminded as to why I love gift giving so much. I hear that the young man who got the pirate mittens wore one of them while doing his schoolwork, while his sister went to sleep with the scarf I made her. I can’t wait to make the matching hat for the boy and I’m ruminating on what I can make next for the young girl. She’s only 3 years old, so maybe I could make her a little sweater. I think some conference time with her mother is needed.

For now, it’s on to the sleeves of my cardigan where I have to pick up even more stitches and I want to spend some quality time with my spinning wheel. Have a great weekend everyone!

I’ve been knitting furiously on the V neck Cardigan. I only have about an inch and half to go for the body then I can pick up stitches for the neckband. Once the neckband is complete I can proceed to the sleeves then be done with it.

And all I can really do is think about being done with it. I can really think about is finishing this sweater and I want to do is finish this sweater. The problem is that I really don’t want to knit this sweater. Only I can’t really finish the sweater if don’t knit the sweater. Right?

I’ve tried to analyze why I’ve fallen out of love with the knitting and many reasons come to mind. It could be the miles of stockinette. It could also be the weight of this thing. It’s getting really heavy and even though the sun has been hiding behind dark clouds the past few days, it hasn’t felt that cool here. So a lap full of sweater isn’t the most pleasant of things.

I think it’s because picking up stitches for a neckband is just way out of my comfort zone. I’ve never done this before and I’m not looking at this with the fearless adventuress spirit that I usually take with me when I embark on a new technique. Instead I see it looming at me like some kind of horrible chore that needs to be done, like cleaning the kitty litter.

Shame on me! What’s changed with me? Nothing so far as I know, but this whole week I’ve been kind of down and out. The contest helped cheer me up and the prospect of mailing out the prizes still cheers me. Other then that I’ve just been feeling kind of blah.

Maybe it has to do with the weather. Like I’ve said there’s been dark clouds all week but for my side of the island there’s been very little rain to go with it, which dissapoints me to some extent. I’m not asking for buckets of rain like the North Shore received, but I would like some showers or some hint of winter weather.

Then again, maybe it has to do with my basketball team losing this week, which makes me feel pretty silly. Really my team hasn’t had this bad a start to the season since 1996 people! I keep telling myself they’re a developmental team. They’re a work in progress.

Much like my sweater. It’s a work in progress. So even if it does look like a gigantic green pile of felted yuck it’s in development! It will eventually attain a state of beautiful. Tonight I shall venture forth to the Aloha Knitters meeting and hopefully I will be distracted from the pain of losing 2 games in a row, which has not happened since the 1990′s. I am still faithful to you my Blue Devils!

I would like to thank my readers for putting up with all this Sports Talk. I would also like to ask if you all heard about the dastardly banker doings of the Blue Moon Fiber Arts Sock Club Fiasco?! Unbelievable. Also, does anyone know of a good online source for Socks That Rocks? So far I’ve only found The Fold. I was hoping to find a place with an online shopping cart as I am becoming rather phone phobic. I also think I’ve contracted hypergraphia from Crazy Aunt Purl. Look how long this post is! Truly, blogging is my therapy.

There was a great response to the contest and many of you guessed correctly. The correct answer to what the Mystery Project really is..

And the winners of the contest are..

1st Place: Meredith

2nd Place: Jenny Raye

3rd Place: Carrie

All winners have been emailed. Thanks to everyone who entered. The winners were picked randomly from a raffle by my mother. This was so much fun, I think I might try to come up with other contests to hold some other time. I only wish I had enough yarn to give every participant.

As for the cardigan, I’m past the side shaping and I just need to finish knitting a few more inches to complete the body then I can move onto the sleeves. There was a disastrous moment when I realized that I didn’t buy enough yarn to complete the size I need for myself.

I needed about 200 more yards and Knit Picks didn’t have anymore of the dye lot that I had previously bought. I figure that I can use the other dye lot for the neckband, cuffs and the bottom hem though. The dye lots are close enough that it’s really hard for eye to see the difference. At least that’s what I’m hoping.

I’m also hoping the sun will come out for pictures tomorrow. It’s been hiding for the past couple of days and while I’ve been really lucky in where I live on the island, there have been unfortunate folks on the North Shore that have been experiencing flooding. It just goes to show how strange island weather can get, since here on the southeastern shore we’ve barely had any rain at all.

All in all it’s been a dissapointing weekend for me. Both of my teams lost. So I consoled myself by watching video clips of one of my favourite shows and now I look forward to January 22nd as if it were the Christmas.

I was sufficiently cheered to also give new thoughts to the contest I’m running. I’ve had such a great response I thought I’d add more yarn to the pot and I thought that I’d change the first prize to something different. So the new first prize will be 3 balls of Shadow in Redwood Forest, giving the winner enough yardage to complete a shawl, and 2 balls of Regia, enough for one pair of socks.

Second prize will be the original first prize booty, which is Wool of the Andes, Bulky weight in Wine, Elann’s Highland Wool in a dark red, and a one of a kind Opal colourway.

And third prize will be 3 skeins of Brown Sheep’s Naturespun in Charcoal, which should be enough for a hat.

Remember that you still have until Tuesday to enter the contest and I will allow multiple entries. I’ll just count the entry that’s the most accurate! I have been knitting away on the Mystery Project with all the watching of sports that’s been going on and I’m happy with my progress. I’m also happy with the process and product, which is a first for me. I look forward to Tuesday when I can share more of my thoughts with you on this projects.

I’ve had sweaters on the brain again and while I dreamt of two sweaters in November, I now have a third that’s just bubbling in my thoughts. It’s the Klaralund from the Noro Cornelia Tuttle Hamilton Collection, Book Number 2. Kim was kind enough to lend the pattern book to me and I have just been drooling over some of the designs. The only problem is that I’m cringing over the price of the yarn, but I think it would just be so worth the experience of knitting and having a luxury item in Noro Silk Garden.

Of course the other problem is when do I fit this sweater into my schedule? I have two shawls to finish and I want to start a third. Then there’s the myriad of small colourwork items I want to do as well. I’m really not sure how to prioritize the items on my list. I’m not sure how I feel about having too many projects on the needle either. I’m already getting a bit panicky at the thought of how many I have going on right now. Any suggestions would truly be welcome.