To do list...

Is growing. Rapidly. Okay let's sort this out:

Before Oct 1

• Finish Myrtle stole ( approx. 150 more rows + blocking) This seems doable if I only work on this for the next two days. 
• Wind Raspberry yarn, knit and block swatch for Sotherton sweater
• Carson shawl...maybe. Doubtful, but it's always there.

Between Oct 1 and Oct 28 (i.e. Nerd Wars time)

• Sunrise Fiber Co. winter accessory KAL - Shadowfax boots
• Dalek Hat(s)
• Mia R tests
• Sotherton Sweater

Crap, I forgot about the Muleata test (again). I should be able to finish that in a couple days in early October. Sigh.

List will grow after Oct 1, once I find out what the Nerd Wars challenges are and how I'm going to answer them.

Survey says...

Team TARDIS baby. So I'm going to go with my originally planned sweater and use the crossing cables to represent River Song & the Doctor's crossing timelines. How clever.

I have a feeling Pinterest will play a large role in my team tie-ins for this tournament. As for example...

Thanks pinterest

Also, a Dalek hat is in the works. And I'll probably make my own sonic screwdriver at some point. And a rewatch is in order. So excited!

Decisions, decisions...

Okay, I bought enough yarn for a sweater, had the pattern all picked out, then I got on Ravelry. I was just gonna check, you know? Make sure what I picked was the best choice...

Four hours later, I'd whittled my 30 pattern list down to 3 options for my dissertation in the upcoming Nerd Wars tournament. Seriously, I made a friggin spreadsheet for the patterns including columns such as pattern cost, what size I would make, yardage, mods, construction, needle size, gauge...it was pretty intense.

First, the yarn:

Eight skeins = 1200 yards. Apparently that was a little short for the intricately cabled sweaters I was drawn to; I had to eliminate a number because of insufficient yardage. Unless I wanted to make a sweater for my incredibly skinny, gorgeous sister, but as much as I love her, I'm not using Malabrio on her, mkay?

Okay, now for the contenders. I bought the yarn originally because I wanted to make this sweater (and because Craftsy was having a blowout sale and I really just spend way too much money on yarn when I don't need to):

In case you haven't noticed a trend yet, I'm really into cables for this project. Fall just equals cables to me. What can I say.

Contender number two:

This bad boy is the most expensive pattern of the bunch, and the least clear on the yardage. But, as this picture shows, I would modify the neck so it wasn't so turtlenecky like the original pattern. Also, I could do the sleeves last, two at a time, so I wouldn't run out of yarn. A thought.

And the final option:

I don't know how this would look in my raspberry, but I love the cable, it's a relatively cheap pattern, and it appears to give me more of a cushion regarding my yarn requirements.

So obviously I'm super torn right now. I want to start swatching so I can put together my dissertation proposal; plus I just want to play with my Malabrigo. Hopefully finding out which team I'm on tomorrow will help me decide!

I love when this happens - Finished object!

Okay, I know I said I was going to blog my knitting more. And I said I would share as soon as I finished something. But I went out and took pictures of this lovely shawl - another from Mia Rinde - and I just wasn't thrilled with how they turned out. Then I realized I'm super lazy and probably won't get around to taking better pictures until I finish another project, so I may as well share this with you now :)

This is Shallow Waters, made with Sparkle Lace from Sunrise Fiber Co. in Vieux Carré.

I love love love this pattern, and I love love love this yarn, but I'm not so sure how I feel about the combination. However, it is finished, it is sparkly, and it's growing on me.

Like most of Mia's patterns, this one is very intuitive and simple to follow along, but still has enough challenge to keep it interesting. The scalloped wave edging took about 40% of the yarn.

This baby is huge - clocking in at 26.5" down the spine and 45" across the widest part horizontally. I really wish these photos showed the sparkle in the yarn, but as I've come to realize from shopping for sparkly yarn to photographing it myself, it's really easier said than done. So here's just one more picture for your viewing pleasure:

And now I say goodnight.

Knit to self....

Knit more sweaters. I love my shawls, but I just saw this blog post on the Twist Collective Blog about jettshin, a knitter who makes incredibly gorgeous sweaters. I'm feeling inspired; maybe I'll un-relegate my sweater attempt from UFO status just in time for cooler weather. Plus I have a few pullovers and cardigans in my queue, and I just bought an ebook in Interweave Knits' sale yesterday about top-down sweater construction. Okay, now I'm sounding very ambitious, but perhaps a sweater pattern is in my future...hmmmm...

Anyway, as far as things I'm actually working on at the moment - my Shallow Waters is just about finished (ten or so rows to go) and the second clue for the Myrtle Mystery KAL has come out. I've finished the first chart repeat on that but still have quite a ways to go. No worries, however, I've had to place that at the bottom of my priorities because I have another test shawl that's kind of been languishing on the sidelines and I need to crank that out.

I've also been a bad girl, ordering yarn I can ill afford, but it was Lantern Moon, and it was on sale, and it was a gorgeous red color...what's a girl to do?

Seriously, how was I supposed to resist? Damn you, Craftsy, and your wonderful deals!

I've set it up with Grouchy Geisha by Marisa Hernandez (maidenbklyn), whose designs I've long admired but never knit. Currently there are six other patterns ahead of it in the queue, so there's no telling whether I'll decide to reapportion the yarn for another project between now and then. But as of now, that's the plan :)

And who knows, maybe a sweater will jump ahead in the queue, preventing my need to either return to Kentucky to get some fall clothes out of storage, or buying new sweaters here in St. Louis. Though a return to KY would also mean I could grab some more yarn out of storage...much to think about here chillins. And on that note, I bid you good day.

My Precioussss: A yarn petting story

So my favorite ever designer is also one of the nicest people on earth. Seriously, Mia Rinde, you're the best.

In related news, I got some yarn in the mail today. Now, enjoy the yarn pr0n.

Madelinetosh Tosh Lace in Filigree

For a shawl inspired by the Alchemilla plant

Koigu Painter's Palette Premium Merino in P866

For a sunset-inspired shawl

Madelinetosh Tosh Lace in Steam Age

For a snowflake shawl

Omm nom nom.

Also, I wanted to somewhat recant my harshness regarding Laura Nelkin's Mystery KAL. I'm having a case of the really nice designers lately, but Laura is a genuinely kind person, and I hope no one inferred otherwise from my comments. My problem was with a specific participant who got a little shirty with me, and when I have like 5 other projects going at the time, it was just really easy for me to drop that one. I hope once it comes out I can find time to sit and knit it at my own pace (which admittedly will probably be quicker than 6 weeks!).

I'm still working on my Shallow Waters test knit for Mia with Sunrise Fiber Co. sparkle lace in Viex Carré (I know you were wondering when I was going to bring up SFC!). I'm on the edging charts now, and this baby is gonna be pretty big. I'll post pictures when it's all presentable-like.

Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to go lay down in a pile of yarn. Ahem.

Myrtle Mystery!

I've yet to do a Mystery KAL that didn't burn me out (see this post), but the lovely Mia Rinde is doing a free one, called Myrtle, and since I've never made anything of hers that I didn't absolutely love, I decided to give a shot.

Now, the pattern suggested 900-1000 yds of lace weight, but Mia said her tester with a tight gauge used less than 900 yds. Okay, well I have this gorgeous skein of grey laceweight with subtle flecks of purple, green, turquoise...but it's only 815 yds. We'll see how it goes. It knitted up beautifully, and since it's merino, cashmere, angora and silk, it's pretty much the softest yarn I've ever worked with. But unfortunately, at the end of clue 1 of 5, I'd used over a third of my yarn, and that just wasn't going to work. Here's how it looked though, for oogling purposes (SPOILERS for Myrtle KAL-ers!)

So anyway, that is the first clue, and it took me about 8 hours in one day to do the whole thing. I went out in search of some complementing yarn to integrate into the stole to make it go a little further, but I couldn't find anything that was just right and I wanted my FO with this yarn to be stunning. So I ripped it out and I'm saving it for another perfect project.

I started again with the stole yesterday using Mad Color Fiber Arts cobweb that I've had for awhile. And I have over 2400 yards so I know for sure I won't run out :) I had planned to make a sweater with it, but if I'm being honest with myself, that's probably never going to happen. And since most of my yarn is in boxes in a storage unit in Kentucky, it's not like I have a lot of options for this project hanging around in St. Louis. It just so happened that this yarn is the only one I have that goes over 850 yards, so here it is! But I'm actually quite liking using it. I've never used cobweb or single ply yarn before, so it definitely took some getting used to. But the color is amazing, and while it's not as soft as the other yarn I was using, the fabric has good airiness to it and it feels good on my skin. So after another couple days, I managed to re-knit the first clue:

This time I pinned it to a different bed with different sheets, and there's quite a lot of contrast :)

For those of you who may be interested in joining this free KAL, click the link above and download the first clue before Sept. 7. Mia is posting each clue for a week, so if you don't have time to knit it, save it to your hard drive before the next clue is posted because the new one will supersede the old one. At the end of the MKAL, the pattern will be listed for sale too :)