Proof

Hey look, a WIP!
Photographic evidence that I am still, in fact, a knitter. The project above is (an almost completed!) Springtime Bandit shawl. It's made with 5 skeins of the sproingiest yarn I've ever worked with (Artyarns Supermerino).

"OOOoooo.... Ahhhhhhhhh"

Updates on this project and others to come soon--Whee!

Oh dear...

My poor, neglected little blog...how I miss you so! I have no excuses for you, other than... ummm...these:

• College
  
• A promotion (yay!)
• flickr 365 (probably the guiltiest of the 3!)

To be quite truthful (as a result of the list above), I really haven't been knitting much lately. It pains me to admit that, but hopefully I'll regain steam sometime soon and start stash-busting like mad!

Despite not having knitting to show you, I do have an update to share!

ohai! I'm excited!

That is the expression of one happy girl who has (in her possession) the flight arrangements for studying overseas in Scotland this summer! I'll be studying both photography and history while living 15 minutes outside of Edinburgh-- I can't even begin to tell you how much I'm looking forward to this trip! The one that begins exactly ONE MONTH from today! Gah!

Apologies again for neglecting this neck of the woods for so long--I will do my best to remedy the absence!

When yarn speaks, I listen

Though this isn't a FO post, it is a rather exciting one for you fiber addicts out there! This past Friday, my mom and I did some serious mother/daughter retail bonding at our favorite yarn shop--it was fantastic.

One of the highlights is the yarn pictured - it is [10 skeins of] Rowan Felted Tweed and it's going to be made into a longerish-length Minimalist Cardigan. Have you ever just had yarn speak to you? Well, this yarn said:

"rachel, please knit me into a wonderfully tweedy grandpa sweater"

So I listened.

More finished goodies to come soon!

Meet Ishbel

Welcome to round two of my belated project sharing! This one is a little on the larger side. With that said, let me introduce you to Ishbel:

Hello, I'm a gigantic lace project!

The details:

Pattern: Ishbel
Designer: Ysolda Teague
Yarn: Misti Alpaca Lace 2 ply
Needles: US #7 Addi Turbos
Time to knit: 6 days(...?!)
Made for: Mrs. P
Level of love: Total adoration (and exhaustion)

A closeup of the vine detail.

In short, Ishbel was a deadline project knit for a close friend's mother. She initially asked if I'd be able to complete this shawl back in July explaining that it would be needed for an event on February 20th. "February?", I thought--that's AGES away, of COURSE I'll have time by then! Well, leave it to me and my knack for procrastination to wait until the absolute last possible moment to start this project. It was begun on Sunday, February 8th and completed late Saturday, Februarh 14th. Yikes. Over 40 hours of knitting was put into making this wonder, and I must say, it gave me quite the sense of accomplishment. My roommate verified that it was the most she'd ever seen me knitting in a 6 day span of time. That's a lot of knitting.

I had never worked with Misti Alpaca Lace before, but I had heard lots of swooning over it by other knitters (always a good sign). The project was requested in a neutral color-- Ivory, grey, or black. Since I'd already completed an ivory shawl, black won hands down. Until this project, fingering weight yarn was the lightest yarn I'd used, and I couldn't really imagine knitting with anything any lighter. Right. At many times I had to adjust my tension due to fear of breaking the yarn mid stitch (that never happened) -- a tad on the nervewracking side.

Looking back, I'm certainly glad I have the experience of 2 ply under my belt, but boy did it slow things down! The end fabric was absolutely to die for--one of the softest materials I've ever felt. How so much warmth can come from something so lightweight and dainty, I'll never fully understand.

Ysolda's pattern, as per usual, was absolutely fantastic and easy to follow-- I will definitely be making this again (but maybe in the smaller size). That said, however, I will NOT be doing any more crazy marathon knitting in the near future. As a knowledgeable fellow knitter said to me:

"A stopwatch is for athletes; not knitters".

Well spoken.

Straun: Too much rock for one state

Well hello! By now I'd imagine my absence for over month is [unfortunately] seen as nothing out of the ordinary. Though no excuse is a good excuse, I can say that I've been so wrapped up in the new semester and Project 365 that my poor blog has gone by the wayside.

On the positive side? It means I have quite a bit share! These next few posts might be slightly out of order as far as finishing dates go, but I promise they all happened within the last month. First up? Straun:

Pattern: Straun
Designer: Ysolda Teague
Yarn: Malabrigo Yarn Worsted - Blue graphite (.8 skeins)
Needles: US #5 Addi Turbos
Time to knit: 1/26 - 2/5
Made for: Darren aka Darius Twin
Level of love: total BAMFness

I had been itching to cast on for this hat for quite a while, but (as is often the case with knitting projects) just because I see something I love doesn't mean I'll then have a use for it upon its completion. Luckily, I was able to find an open and willing recipient who possessed the "cool factor" necessary to pull this hat off (unlike me pictured below...*ahem*).

Technique-wise, this project has added a few to the belt. First of all, the invisible loop cast on method. It was a tad on the tricky side initially, but lent itself well to the final product (plus the links in the pattern were very helpful). Because the hat was knit from the top down, it ended with the hemming of the brim portion. Mind you, that process involved grafting 105 live stitches up inside a hat that needed to be kept even vertically while also minding the hem length & brim tension. FUN!

All things considered, however, I really love how this hat turned out and am very (very) pleased with the final product. I'm not 100% certain, but from the looks of it, it would appear the recipient is too!

(Photos & artistry below are a product of Darren Pearson!)

Glad you like it Darren, you rock.

And what's to come? Looks to me like a hat, a pair of mittens, and *gasp* a lace shawl-- Hooooo boy!

A hat for Sam

Just a quick post to share a [very] quick project. I seem to be developing a trend...

Pattern: Well...it's more of a recipe, really
Gauge: 5.5 sts per 2"
Needles: US #10 Addi Turbos
Yarn: 2 half skeins of Cascade 220 Heathers held double
Made for: Sam
Time to knit: 2 discs of Arrested Development (Season 2)
Level of love: easy, peasy, & awesome

Hi, I'm Sam.

This hat was so fast and enjoyable it makes me smile. It was made to recreate a hat that he currently has in black & white and wears all the time. I took a gauge, some length measurements, did some swatching and went to town. I really am pleased with the finished product (and I'd like to think he is too)!

Hey look, a label!

Sigh. All in all, these little projects are basically all I have time for these days--I'm in the middle of taking a very condensed (and intensive) interim accounting course which leaves little to no brain power for knitting. I do have a several more challenging projects lined up for when I'm not spending every waking moment dealing with debits, credits and posting to T accounts. That day can't come soon enough...really.

It's official

Okay, this really isn't knitting related (well... maybe a little), but definitely exciting enough for me to share! Today I stopped by the Office of International Education to get the application needed to study abroad this summer...

...in Scotland.


(that's one VERY happy college knitter.)