It's 3 billion degrees outside...

...therefore, I knit.

I am in massive stashbusting mode.

Yarn to use:

2 skeins of Heritage Fingering in red.

1 skein of Ultra Alpaca in mossy green

Lots of small amounts of Malabrigo worsted and Noro worsted and fingering

Multi-balls of Rowan in a somewhat unattractive butterscotch color

(To be perfectly honest, half of this I don't recall buying or what it was originally for.)

But there's also stuff I want to do that wouldn't really help me to achieve my stashbusting goals.  I want to do another shrug in black for work (practical!) And also an Abalone cardigan.  I've been aware of this pattern for a long time but recently have started wanting to actually do it.  It looks fairly goof proof and practical as well... Maybe in Malabrigo - Paris Night (navy) or Pearl Ten (dark putty-charcoal)???   lust.

Also on the horizon:  I need to fix the Regina Hat I did a few months ago-- massive guage misshap, people.  Soooo cute if I can just get it right.  Quite art deco.

Need to finish a lovely striped scarf I started a while ago... heck, I need to finish a LOT of stuff.

knitting for therapy followed by throwing knitting against wall

The new job and the holidays have had me pretty busy and pretty stressed... which means I have knitted a lot of stuff.  When I get this way I tend to knit-binge where I start lots of huge projects that I have no hope of finishing in the next six months but maybe by the time Fall rolls around again.  I'm amazed at how therapeutic it can be though. 

The other thing that happens is I tend to start a project then realize it's not going to work out for whatever reason and I'm stuck with a specific quantity of random yarn.  A perfect example of this is the skein of Plymouth Alpaca Prima fingering weight I picked up in Murfreesboro last summer that just can't seem morph into a decent item.  It's lovely moss green (which I thought would be pretty with my yellow jacket) so I started with a scarf pattern featuring leaves along one edge.  Two lessons learned from this fiasco:

• Alpaca is not good for details.  Leaves knitted in fuzzy yarn just looks like lumpy scallops.   A shame to make all that fuzzy goodness into badness.
• Multiple YO's are my nemesis.  I will find a way to muck it up.  This is a recent development.  I think I have a mental block.

So, I'm going to frog this mother and try something else... something simple and without any freaking lacework or open stuff.  Methinks something with a nice ruffle that won't devolve into epic suck if a little fuzzy.

Pillow Talk

Yeah, this was a real scream.  Knitted pillows for mom and dad for Christmas in Cascade Eco Wool in Ecru (it looks yellow in the picture.)  You start in the middle on dpn's then you graduate to two circulars and eventually you can use just one.  C16's are no joke.  Mom will have to do some sewing to finish them but I think the finished product will be worth it.  Nearly drove me crazy.  By the time you get to the outside, each row has approximately 5 billion stitches... and I made two.

Lap Blankets & Throws

Knitted for my friend, Michelle, with Gedifra Highland Alpaca.  The stuff sheds like a cat but the finished product was nice.  I used 15mm needles... so, horse's legs.  I want to eventually make either one of these for myself or a beekeeper's quilt which would be more of a longterm project.

Hats!

I'm in Christmas gift mode.  This started with one sister who wanted a red hat resulting in the one you see top-left.  This was a pattern called Side Slip Cloche from the book "Boutique Knits" by Laura Irwin.  I did that one in Malabrigo Worsted in ravelry red and liked the results so much I made one for myself in Debbie Bliss Cashmerino Aran (bottom left).  It's kind of the perfect project for luxury yarn!

The top right hat was also from "Boutique Knits" called Argyle Lace Hat.  I did this one for sister #2 who wanted something gray and loose fitting.  It took a little more time than I usually invest in something so relatively small but I think it was worth it.  I used Misti Alpaca Worsted in Charcoal.  Misti is kind of my fantasy yarn.  So squishy and soft!  I used antique buttons for the seam.  They had once belonged to our grandmother.  If I had not had her collection to choose from, I think brown leather buttons would have been really darling.

The black beanie at the bottom was a stash-buster project.  I had some Misti Alpaca Lace and some Crystal Palace Kid Merino.  The pattern is Simple Pleasures Hat from purlbee.com.  I improvised a little, holding 3 strands together rather than two (two alpaca, one kid).  Even though the pattern is simple and the color plain, the result is surprisingly feminine.  The yarn is quite soft and fuzzy (which didn't show in the pic for some reason) and the fit is slouchy.  Somehow when I wear it, it manages to NOT wreck my hair.

Next on the horizon: 
A lap blanket for my friend, Michelle
Pillows for my parents
My first attempt at a Stephen West pattern (Spectra.)

It's almost October

I've done a lot (as usual) and just need to take photos.  In other news, I am attempting to write a knitting pattern.  It's for a houndstooth pullover.  Hopefully, my brain can work this out.  And hopefully I will not be wasting six skeins of Rowan.

Leather Buttons & Toories

Well, here's the finished Puff Sleeve Feminine Cardigan.  The peplum gave me some trouble due to me goofing one stitch and I couldn't figure out how to unknit and reknit a YO... which led to me ripping it back to the garter rows and starting over.  THEN when I got to row 17 in the peplum (which I was already aware had an error in it) I kind of starting winging it.  Never smart.  It mostly worked out though.  I love the leather buttons.  It looks fine on a hanger but really darling on a body.  It is a little cropped but not in an unflattering way.

Once the cardigan was behind me, I decided it was time to revisit a recent knitting disaster a la Malabrigo Silky Merino.  I bought this wool in Cloudy Sky along with a handmade glass button with the intention of making another Indian Summer hat like the one I had made for my mother for her birthday last year.  I had no problems whatsoever the first time I did that pattern.  This time however I think in the middle of all those YO's (again with the YO's!) I think my stitch marker may have moved under one of them at the beginning of the row which would have made me start to YO one stitch to soon.  The result was that four or five inches of the netting where going in one direction then it started going in another.  It was bizarre-O.  I decided to walk away from it for a while so I put it away to do my shrug and cardigan etc.  So Sunday I decided to try to correct and finish it.  I tried to fix the bad rows only to make the exact same mistake again.  Ripped back to the ribbing and at that point I think I had one of those mental blocks where I just kept making the same mistake over and over.  So I decided to scrap Indian Summer and make something else.  I went with a Toorie.  (The pom pom hat <<< is a Toorie.)

This is a really fun pattern.  You start with a provisional cast on-- which I had never done before.  I used a crochet provisional cast on (thank you youTube!)  So, what that means is you use scrap yarn to crochet a series of loops onto your needle then you go to your real yarn and start working off of those loops.  This shows how to to that.  What she's not explaining in the video is that the whole point of this cast on is later you will unzip those loops and the bottom of your work becomes live stitches again.  talk about burning the candle at both ends.  The way all of this happens in the context of the pattern was a little odd for me though.  She has you unzip the stitches and but them on a dpn and then you bring it up with your stitches at the top and knit them together (meaning two stitches, one front one back, at a time.)  This creates a tube-like hem at the bottom.  I can't even tell you how weird it was for me to follow those instructions!  I kept thinking, "Why am I doing this?  Is this even right?"  Well, it turns out the point is at the end you run yarn through that tube and drawstring that mother.

Okay, so I finish the hat except for the pom poms at the end.  I don't like pom poms.  I want to use my dang button.  So I made individual petals from a pattern called For Joana (four because I ran out of yarn.  Five or six would have been nice.)  I assembled them on the pom pom/ tube casing side and put the button in the middle.  TAH DAH!!!

So, not really sure what to do next.  I have black Mohair and black lace weight and I need black clothes for the new job.  Those sound like two exceedingly frustrating yarns though.  Errrrr...

Project Updates:

I've been busy.  First I did another Two-Tone Shrug (but not with two tones.)  This is a pattern from the book "Fitted Knits" by Stefanie Japel.  This is the 2nd time I've done this pattern and IT IS A WINNER.  This stupid thing is universally flattering, practical and doesn't really require a perfect fit.  I knit this one in Noro Aya.  I was really unsure of the colors at first-- they seemed too pastel for my taste but the further I got into it, the more I liked it.  The photo is from when I was maybe 20% into the project, just to show the yarn, but I need to take a decent completed photo.  So, so pretty.

I finally did a Buttony Sweater.  I decided to do short sleeves (which I almost always prefer) and am thinking of maybe adding a collar... maybe not.  I still have to weave in the ends and sew on buttons and then I'll take a picture.  More later in it's own post, I think.

I started the striped hand warmers and I think I'm going to frog them.  Not sure what the problem is, maybe too many color changes, but I just don't like them.  The thumb gussets are wonky and the color change looks odd because I was knitting them on dpn's and the tension is bad.  Maybe should have made the color change in the middle of a needle instead of between them.  Erg.

So, I was going to do a Japanese pattern next simply called "Empire Waist Pullover."  It's a tunic with several different lace patterns going on-- very pretty.  So, I was excited about doing this and ordered yarn.  I got Rowan Pure Wool DK in Mimosa which is a nice butterscotch-y color.  Luckily, it was inexpensive as I got it on clearance as that particular colorway has been discontinued.  Bought the needles I needed and sat down to start.  The pattern begins with the waist band then you pick up stitches to do the bodice, then again for the bottom.  I had to start over maybe five times on that stupid waist band.  I kept doing left slanting decreases as right slanting and when I finally got about three or so pattern repeats in there and could see how it was going to look, I didn't even like it.  And what did I not like about it?  It looked too much like crochet.  Have I become one of those people?  When I only knew how to crochet, it irritated me to no end when I would hear knitters get an attitude about it, like it was an inferior craft.  Now, I want to avoid it myself unless I can work with fingering weight yarn-- because it won't be so bulky and granny-looking.  (Self-loathing.  Yes)

So, I abandoned the Japanese tunic but now I have 11 balls of Rowan.  I did a random pattern search for pretty much anything knit with dk weight that I can use up a good amount of what I have.  Might as well.  One of the top results was a pattern called "Puffed Sleeve Feminine Cardigan."  It's from "Fitted Knits"-- the same book the two tone shrug pattern came from.  Well, why not?  I've only done the one Stefanie Japel pattern, but it was so good I did it twice.  The really nice thing about ravelry is when you look at all the projects users have done from a particular pattern, you can usually get a feel for how good the pattern is.  They either look universally good or bad.  This one looks pretty good.  So, puffy sleeves it is.  I've done the collar and almost half of the yoke so far and I'm pleased. I think I want more Stefanie Japel books.

My Garter Cowl

Quick Update

Currently working on:

Garter Cowl by Rachel Smith

This is her picture so mine will be different.  Could possibly finish it this weekend.  This is a mixed bag of a project for me-- knitting with fingering weight makes me slightly crazy because of how long it takes but I tend to prefer the finished product much more so I'm more likely to use it.  It is really beautiful so far.  Looking forward to that ever-gratifying cast-off.  Using Noro Silk Garden Sock in 307 and Classic Elite Silky Alpaca Lace (held double) in Black for the contrasting color.

Next in line is a small, fast project: Long Striped Hand Warmers by Purl Soho.

The yarn I got for this is Knit Picks in Edamame and Cyan (so, light green and bright blue).  I do love hand warmers.  It's the gussets I love.  Funny enough, that used to be the most intimidating part of knitting hand pieces when I first started.  I think these will be cute though and I've never tried Knit Picks before.  Stripes may or may not get to me.  We'll see.

I'm saving the sweater for last in this little queue.  I have a ton of Berroco Ultra Alpaca (aka Blueberry Sweater of Wretchedness which I will be burning... uhh, frogging).  Decided to make it into a Camden sweater.  This pattern includes detachable sleeves.  I loathe sleeves so, this puppy will definitely be the sleeveless version.  I have minimal experience with bobbles but I think it will be fun.  I'd better be spectacularly good at them after this!

Obviously, this one will be more time consuming and, seeing as it is JUNE, it will be a while before I need any of these anyway.   The good thing about this project is, it will be free.  I already have the yarn and needles and the pattern was free.  I really wish it would turn out well to redeem Berroco from the never-use-again status I have been on the verge of giving it.  Last chance, Berroco!