January 12 and I'm already falling behind...

So I said this would happen at least once a week, so I guess I'm only a week behind. So let me tell you what I've been doing since the new year! Not so much with the pictures this time, unfortunately, because I haven't managed to finish anything yet this year.

On New Year's Day I started Seth by Anna Dalvi from the Ancient Egypt in Color and Lace  collection. I've had this gorgeous grey laceweight yarn with flecks of green and turquoise and purple  since last Christmas, and I've been dying for the right pattern for it. And I have to say, this is definitely the right pattern for it.

The colorway is called Sirens and the yarn is made from Merino, Cashmere, Angora and Silk. 

I also ordered some Lorna's Laces Honor in a color specially dyed for Stefanie Japel's Sharing Cowel:

In the colorway "Tresses" 

This is my easy-to-carry-around project, but I haven't had a lot of downtime for knitting at work lately, so it hasn't gone very far.

Finally, Mia Rinde (you remember my favorite shawl designer, right?) has another test right now, so I'm glad to be working on that as well.

Seth is almost finished, but I'm mostly focused on Mia's pattern right now. And, since it had been awhile, I'm using Sunrise Fiber Co. classic sock in Harvest Apple. The bright red is perfect for the hearts on Mia's pattern.

We're currently in inbetweentimes for Nerd Wars, but I'm planning on joining team TARDIS again for the fun. It's the 50th anniversary for the show, so we've got lots in store for the upcoming tournament! And I'll have lots to talk about so keeping my blogging resolution shouldn't be too hard.

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.

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.

Recent Finished Objects - 9 year old Kate is like sooooo totally happy

I knit a lot, so when I don't post, it's probably because I'm being a complete internet slackhead. Meaning, I'm spending way too much time on Ravelry and Pinterest and not nearly enough time actually writing things. So let's fix that shall we?

I've been really shawl crazy lately, but I've also kind of started branching out into other lines of knitting. Right now it's about 94 degrees at 9 pm here in Lexington, KY, so I thought it would be a good idea to make a sweater. Well, I may have it finished by December. We'll see.

It's made with this yarn that I found on yardsellr.com (I try all kinds of different strange ways to save money on yarn), of which I bought a ton thinking I'd make it into a sweater. It's always nice when things work out the way you planned. So anyway, it's not commercial yarn, so I added it to my Rav Stash as unknown Peruvian Wool. It's a raspberry kind of color, and it's more or less worsted weight, but get this, it's singles! I had no idea til I pulled it out of its plastic wrap and started swatching. Lots of people hate singles because they cannot by definition be "balanced" and make your knitting tilt slightly. I'm not too stressed about this though, because I am not a fashion designer and I like my hand knits to look like I hand knit them. Call me crazy.

The yarn is actually very nice for a sweater. Singles tend to be kind of puffy, and the wool is very soft. So it's making quite the nice winter wear. I'm using some linen Nashua Handknits Summer Garden to do two-row stripes every so often just to give it a little visual interest. My red hair doesn't always go well with pinky-purple colors, so I'm trying to mix it up a bit and cross my fingers that I don't look like bubblegum on fire.

So I've given you all this information about this sweater, and I don't have any pictures yet. It's a raglan top-down construction (pattern linky!) that I'm kind of modifying, but I haven't gotten very far yet. Here's why.

SHAWLS!! I've finished so many shawls lately. I take crappy pictures. My friend Kaytee is the photographer, not I, and many of these pictures are in-progress blocking photos. So please, don't judge me. Okay, disclosure finished.

First up - this is the Geometria test knit shawlette for ZaraZ:

Then I made another Pembroke Wrap. I like how quickly the bulky yarn knits up, and it'll make a nice winter fireside shawl.

Finally, I finished the Skywalker Shawl by Laura Nelkin. It went very quickly for me because I did it in conjunction with her class on the Craftsy website. I bought a couple of these classes months back, and I finally sat down and decided to go through one. I really ended up liking the pattern for the Skywalker Shawl (which looks so respectable when done in a solid or semi-solid color), and I was pleasantly surprised that the yarn I chose didn't compete too terribly much with the pattern. This yarn, by the way, is EPIC. I can't imagine a single soul in the world who would actually want to wear this monstrosity, but I love it nonetheless. I call it, Lisa Frank: Jedi Master.

I just got it off the needles and blocking today. Here's a close up of the nausea-inducing glory that is this shawl:

It is awesome.

Now for something non-shawltastic and awesome in a completely different way: I made shoes! Hellz yeah I did. They're just for me though, so paws off.

Cha-freakin-pow. They're crocheted out of hemp. The pattern is Strappy Sandals from the summer 2012 issue of Interweave Crochet. I love my Interweave subscriptions, yes I do :)

So there you have it folks. I actually do have some update-worthy FOs, if I ever get off Ravelry long enough to tell you about them. And on that bombshell, it's time to say goodnight!