Hurrah! More excitement

Today, my yarn for Rogue arrived from Knitpixie. 7 skeins (1 extra in case I run out) of Bartlett's Glen Tweed 2-ply in Lovat as shown here:


In addition, to that, however, was a skein of Blue Sky's Cotton in Honeydew. It's so soft I keep stroking it and holding it against my cheek. Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm. I think it's even yummier than Calmer (shocking, I know). The cotton will be saved for Branching Out from Knitty.


But rest assured, the Ravenclaw socks are coming- or is coming, since I'm only working on one at the moment- along slowly but surely. I'm finding fingering weight yarn and US1 DPN's a pain in the bum. The size 1 DPN's feel like toothpicks, and I'm constantly afraid I'm going to snap one, which I suppose really wouldn't be such a big deal, but it's still somewhat nerve-wracking.



Apologies for the quality of posting, I was hyper (for whatever reason) last night and didn't get to sleep until late, so I'm exhausted today. Blah.

Happy happy day!

So why is today a happy, happy day, you ask? Well, let me tell you.

It started off fairly rocky, I have to admit. I had to get up at 8 in the morning which for me, Miss College Student who never has to get up before 9:30- was ridiculously early, especially as I haven't gotten a good night's sleep in the past couple days. I did manage to get back to sleep and not wake up until 12 in the afternoon, however, which is where the story gets good.

After an hour's worth of knitting, I finally finished my second sock of my first ever pair. Here they are in action, or at least being worn:





And here they are pretending to be innocent and ignorant. As if socks could ever be innocent and ignorant, hah!




While I'm immensely proud that I finally have something to show on my blog and FINALLY finished (at least the knitting portion, it's quite obvious the ends still need to be woven in) a non-scarf garment, I have several issues with the finished object. For one thing, there are holes where I picked up the stitches. Luckily, you can't see them in the picture (as if I would ever let the public see that, heh!). For another, the cuff is uneven where I joined in the round. I'm not sure whether these issues are worth frogging both socks at a later date and reknitting them, but we shall see.

What cancelled out my disappointment with the socks entirely, however, was the arrival of this in the mail:





What 'this' is, namely, is hand-dyed Ravenclaw-themed yarn from Sunshine Yarns, along with a pair of handmade stitch markers, for free! Well, the stitch markers were free, anyway. A few weeks ago, I saw Gryffindor-themed sock yarn on The Blue Blog, and emailed Dani, the owner of Sunshine Yarns, asking if she'd be able to make any Ravenclaw yarn. Thus the birth of my yarn! Not only that, the blue wasn't exactly the same as in the picture I showed her to describe Ravenclaw colors, so she let me have the skein for $15 instead of $23. Nice, huh?

And now, after about half an hour, the hank of yarn looks like this:



And I'm ready to swatch! Hurrah! (The yellow and black thing you see in the background is my Hufflepuff WIP. I'm so ashamed of it I won't even show you a full picture. Lemme tell you, that thing is HIDEOUS).

Cashmerino Astrakhan

Soooo . . . After seeing Becky post about it on Fluffa!, I did a little research on my own, and decided that I would love nothing more than either a scarf or a pair of socks made out of Debbie Bliss's Cashmerino Astrakhan.

I swear I am not addicted to Debbie Bliss yarn. I promise on my wee tiny little knit-addicted life that I do, on occasion, branch out. Just not recently, heh.

You Are Chinese Food

Exotic yet ordinary. People think they've had enough of you, but they're back for more in an hour.

What Kind of Food Are You?

Interesting . . . my Chinese heritage must have played more a role than I thought . . . hmmmmmmm.

Confessions of a knit-aholic

So, um. Let me tell you a little story . . . I suppose it really isn’t as unusual as I’d like to think, but it explains the trepidation with which I view my steadily growing stash.

Back when I first really got into knitting, which was about two summers ago, I had no idea how much I could do with a bit of yarn and a set of pointy sticks. So, I reasoned to myself that the best way to go with this new hobby was to only buy yarn for one project at a time, to make sure that I could actually FINISH said project and therefore not waste yarn, money, and time. A very wise sentiment, wouldn’t you agree?

Wise, but not effective. Look what came in the mail this week:



That’s two skeins of Cascade Fixation sock yarn you’re looking at in Color No. 5104, obtained from Allison over at www.simplysockyarns.com. The yarn is for the Broadripple sock pattern at Knitty, to be knit on needles that are STILL being used for the second KPS beginner’s worsted weight sock as shown here:



Meanwhile, I still have Midwest Moonlight on the needle with 22 repeats of the lace pattern to go:



And I'm already thinking of starting my first lace project. Not only that, but there's the paper for sociology I have to write for Monday along with a theater midterm, and and and and . . . *wails*

I was so proud of being unique, of actually having the self-control and the wisdom not to build a stash.

Now?

Not so much.

Look what came in the mail today! I was playing with the photo touch up options, and can't figure out how to undo the sepia tones in the photo, but I'll figure it out soon.

What you see in the photo is a pair of Crystal Palace Bamboo needles size 5 and 2 skeins of Debbie Bliss Cotton Cashmere in Pink 07- for my Midwest Moonlight Scarf from Pam Allen's Scarf Style. I told myself I wouldn't cast on for the scarf or do anything to it (or even open the yarn or the needles) until I finished my KPS Beginner Sock's mate, but we'll see how far I get with that vow.




I finished one more repeat of the Irish Hiking Scarf a few nights ago before putting it away in disgust. It's good knitting to do while I'm waiting for something, I'll admit, but otherwise, ugh. Almost as tedious as the Harry Potter scarves I made last summer. Enough complaining, it's time to study. I shouldn't even be blogging right
now, on October 10th, I have 2 midterms and a paper due. Stress muchly anyone? Yes, I think so. But everything's better because there's knitting in the world! :-D

[Edit] I AM IN LOVE WITH TEH COTTON CASHMERE! It flows through my fingers. It is rather easy for the needles to get caught in the plies of the yarn, but it's soooo soft and easy on the hands. I really want a sweater with this yarn, and I can already envision the perfect pattern. NO, Lily. Self control.

*hangs head*

I guess I'd better go study . . . *sigh*

First sock, Irish Hiking Scarf pics

My digicam came in the mail much earlier than I expected, so I present pictures of my two current WIPs (we are not discussing the Hufflepuff scarf. The Hufflepuff scarf is currently in detention for juvenile deliquency).


My first ever completed sock in all its unprofessional glory:





I didn't realize the picture was so blurry- when I finish the sock's mate, I'll try and take better ones. I call the sock unprofessional because the cast on edge is kind of uneven- I think this is because I used tubular cast on for an even number of stitches, and decreased in the first row. Thus, for my second sock, I'm trying cable cast on.

Here's the same sock on my foot (Does this make me look fat . . .? :-P):





You can see the ends that I haven't woven in yet peeking out from the tip of the toe. I almost want to keep them there so I can tie the socks together when I'm not wearing them and make sure I don't lose them that way, but I think the dangling string would make for difficult wearing. Just a guess! :-D


And here is the Irish Hiking Scarf (which I keep on typing as the 'Irish Hicking Scarf'):





It's a really easy pattern- it's just incredibly monotonous. Also, the yarn (Knitpicks Merino Style) isn't nearly that bright- it's much darker and somberer (is that a word?) in real life.


I took a close up of the cabling, but the picture came out all dark and blurry. I'll give that another try for my next update. :)


[EDIT] I used the Knitting Pure and Simple Beginner's Worsted Weight Sock pattern for the sock, and the Irish Hiking scarf pattern can be found on www.helloyarn.com

First Post!

I've had this blog for a while, but upon the completion of my very first sock, I have decided to make this into my official knitting blog. I feel that Livejournal is fine for personal stuff among friends, but not so much among a more general audience. I'm not really sure why, that's just how I feel.

For this coming week, there won't be any more entries because I don't have a digicam at school with me at the moment and thus don't have pictures. Come this weekend, I'll begin blogging in earnest. For now, here are the things I have in store:

1. Knitting Pure and Simple's Beginner Worsted Weight Socks
YARN: Classic Elite's Renaissance Wool- I don't remember the colorway as I think I threw out the labels- whoops!
PATTERN SOURCE: www.jimmybeanswool.com
STATUS: 1 sock completed, 50% done

2. Irish Hiking Scarf
YARN: Knitpicks' Merino Style in Hollyberry
PATTERN SOURCE: http://www.helloyarn.com/irishhikingcarf.htm
KNIT ALONG: http://irishhikingknitalong.blogspot.com/
STATUS: about 30% completed, 1 skein of 4 used up


3. Hufflepuff Scarf
YARN: Knitpicks' Merino Style in Honey and Coal
PATTERN SOURCE: www.atypicallyknit.com
STATUS: Ugh. About 5% completed


4. Midwest Moonlight
YARN: Debbie Bliss Cotton Cashmere (I think) in 07 Pink
PATTERN SOURCE: Pam Allen's Scarf Style
STATUS: Still waiting for the yarn and needles to come in the mail


5. Tramonto
YARN: Koigu KPPPM
PATTERN SOURCE: http://www.chiagu.com/
STATUS: Materials not yet acquired, still in debating stages, hee

That's all for now, see you next week!