march has left the building...

... along with elvis!


march was a wet and rainy month, so rainy that the constant downpours set a record for the most rainfall recorded in the history of records for march - swell!! 


the pot of gold at the end of this rainbow for me was 'lots of rain, lots of knitting'! yippee! my garden called to me each and every day but it seems i have become a warm-weather gardener as the chilly, wet weather just didn't float my boat!


it is was my third month of keeping my new year's resolution i am most happy to report, and no one could possibly be more surprised by this feat than myself. gosh, i hope i don't break my arm by patting myself on the back!


so... here goes:

my socks of the month are another 'plain vanilla' unit, toe-up with a short row toe and heel, again from wendy johnson's book, socks from the toe up. miss daisy mae approves and is dying to start pulling them off!! she's giving me 'the look' that says 'off with the socks!'.

and i did not limit myself to just one scarf or shawl but three!! this is the blossoms by the brook pattern by ilga leja from knitty, spring-summer 2012. the yarn is mirasol 'hacho' in the color way 'peacock' and is a dk weight. the pattern called for a worsted weight yarn so the shawl is a tad narrower due to the lighter yarn but i had enough of this yarn in my stash to pull it off so... voila! i really like this yarn and am so sad that it has been discontinued - it has such a delightful hand. this was a fast knit.

in second place is this scarf (doubled as a cowl) cracklin rosie designed by shannon squire of twisted for the 2012 rose city yarn crawl. the yarn is the sumptuous blue moon fiber arts 'marine silk - fingering', a combo of silk, merino and sea cell. the color is the one and only 'pond scum', the world's most wonderful color!! it is so soft and yummy - did i mention that i love it? oh, yeah, pattern was free with yarn purchase!! really, there is no free lunch!

and shawl #3 (actually it was the first one i knit) is wingspan by maylin tri'coterie designs. i found it on ravelry and it was free - a very good price!! the yarn is noro sock yarn, famous for long color runs. this yarn was part of my stash and i must say that i'm glad i didn't knit socks out of this because it is rather rough and i think it would be way too scratchy for socks - sort of like wearing a hair shirt!! creepy! as a scarf, fine, bright and colorful - just what someone needs to brighten up the rainy spring days we've been experiencing.


oh, yeah, i also knit a sweater but i have no pictures yet so you have that to look forward to in my next post. it is the selvedge cardigan by amy christoffers from the magazine 'knit wear'. i put a big dent in my stash by using noro 'silk garden chunky' in color 3, lot b, which is a combo of green, blue and purple - delightful!


so, i guess the question for april is: shall i be praying for april showers so i can get my knit on or for a break in the weather so i can get my garden on? only time will tell...

february marches on

and becomes march - the month!!


before i can salute the new month, i must backtrack and recap february and my knitting adventures. 


i'm still on track with my new year's resolutions, believe it or not! i'm probably the most skeptical person regarding this issue as my ability to stay on track has regressed over the years - i'm blaming it on the drugs. no, not THOSE drugs but the prescription statin that i take for high cholesterol - new tests find that it may impair memory. oh, great! apparently you are damned if you do and damned if you don't - take the drug and lose your memory or don't take the drug and die of a heart attack - life's a crap shoot, i tell ya!!


i digress! back to the topic at hand. february yielded a scarf

evelyn clark's swallowtail lace shawl

knit on size 4 needles with knit picks 'shimmer' in the colorway: flower garden. the yarn is a lovely combination of 70% baby alpaca and 30% silk in a lace weight. the finished shawl is a robust 60 inches across by 28 inches long - much larger than i had anticipated. i knit this shawl in the past out of malabrigo lace which yielded a much smaller piece. that is what i thought i would get this time so i was very pleased when i blocked it and discovered the difference.

i gave the nupps the ol' college try but they just didn't cut it - too wimpy- so i used beads instead. much better option as it adds a delightful surprise to the mix! 


i am very happy with the way this shawl turned out and very happy to have it done and very happy to have made a minuscule dent in my lace stash!!


and the beat goes on: socks of the month!


remember brach's candies? i do! they were some of the first bin foods found in supermarkets way back when!! and i do mean way back when!! i always felt like i was soooooo special when my mom would let me get a small bag full of the white nougats - you remember those, don't you? they were white with flecks of colored fruit! yum!!

there were also the coconut numbers that were the exact colors of these socks. those weren't as high on my list but i did love that pink and brown color combo!

this yarn has been languishing in my stash for many moons - like years and years! it is trekking xxl, knit on size 1 double points. the pattern is from the book by wendy d. johnson 'socks from the toe up'. it is a plain vanilla toe-up sock with a gusset heel. my first go at this heel and i really enjoyed it! indeed, i will do it again!

i had intended to do some patterning in the leg but decided that it was futile since it was lost with this self-striping yarn so plain vanilla it is and was - topped it off with an inch of k2,p2 and a very loose bind-off. once again, amazing for me!

i also pounded out a sweater - 'yoked cardigan' by hannah fettig.

i reclaimed this yarn from a previously knit sweater and i can tell you, it is much better this go round! i have no idea who made this yarn or its fiber content but it is a lovely combination of warm and cool shades of gray with a fleck of gold metallic running throughout which is difficult to ascertain from these photos.

this is a top-down one-piece sweater with no seams to sew - my favorite type of knit! i'm also taken with the swing jacket sense it possesses. the pattern is well-written and comes in a wide range of sizes from newborn to adult. i would recommend this pattern to a novice knitter that wants to move beyond the obligatory scarves and hats.

so, that wraps up february. what does march hold? well, for two things - socks and a shawl. i also hope to knock out one last winter sweater of wool before heading into spring and more cotton yarns!!

it's a new dawn!

and a new year, and now, a new month - february!


as the new year was approaching i actually took some time and pondered where i wanted my ship to sail this year in regards to my knitting adventures. 


let me make this perfectly clear before i go one step further - i have never encountered a brick and mortar or internet yarn shop that i did not love - hence, over the course of time, i have amassed a rather large stash of a variety of different yarns. this stash has finally reached the point where i have hit the wall - i really need to get a grip on my stash building and begin to consume some of it before i make another purchase. i recently opened several storage places where i have yarn squirreled away and discovered yarn that i had no idea  when or where or why it was purchased!!! i found this to be somewhat frightening!


so... i resolved that 2012 would be the year of the big yarn bust!! i'm most happy to report that i have successfully survived the first month!! here was my mode of operandi: i found a hat pattern that i thought was pretty swell, dug around and found all of the type of yarn called for and went to work - my pattern was "vortex" by lee meredith, and my yarn was noro kureyon, of which i had approximately 4 different skeins. 

with this pattern, you combine two different skeins for one hat so, tada, i was able to complete eight adult hats and two hats for kids. the biggest gain from this knitting experience was that i really solidified my kitchener stitch skills, something that had been lacking from my skill set - win, win, win!


i love this hat which is a good thing since i now have 8 of them - they remind me of dr. seuss and just thinking about that has to make one happy!


as if stash busting wasn't enough of a challenge, i decided to throw caution to the wind and toss a couple of extra caveats into the resolution mix -why not knit a pair of socks and a shawl or scarf each month? well, why not?

here are the scarves: the pattern is "holding hands, feeding ducks", a freebie on ravelry. the yarn i used for the yellow/blue/green number was two skeins of magallanes by araucania yarns - 484 yards total.

the second and third scarves are blue moon fiber arts labrador - 100% australian wool - 200 yards. all were chunky yarns of the thick and thin variety and were knit on size 10.5 needles. the stitch pattern is called the star stitch and was very simple once you get the hang of it!!

as for socks, i knit up a pair of anklets of my own design using knit picks dancing - a cotton, wool, nylon and elastic mix - a perfect summer yarn, nice and light. these were knit on a size 1, 9 inch circular needle which was an interesting experience! was able to use my new gained kitchener stitch knowledge to complete the toe! woo, hoo!

so, it's a new dawn and a new month - i'll let you know what february brings!

socktober

alas, socktober has come and gone! the surprising news is that i actually knit socks for once! i always have the best of intentions but then life gets in the way (or a shawl, sweater, hat, etc.). 


this year, i made the commitment - socks were a priority (its not like i don't have just a tad bit of sock yarn). i didn't want to knit just any socks as i have a drawer full, i wanted special socks. special as in specialty socks - socks with a purpose!


as a yoga devotee with constantly cold feet, i found my mission - yoga socks! so without further ado, here they are:

yoga #1 and #2. easy peasy - no toes and no heels - and they fit the bill perfectly - my feet stay warm and i can still stick to my mat!the best part - the amount of yarn required was minimal so i was able to use leftovers from previous projects, like these:

win, win, win! that's what i'm talkin' about!!

at long last!

at long last, i have completed the task and another shawl from my knitting bucket list has been completed.

i proudly present: HARUNI by Emily Ross.

i've been smitten with this pattern for a long time but just never seemed to have the perfect yarn. not necessarily the perfect color as i like to think that all most of the yarn i pick is the perfect color since i've picked it! 

since i seem to have an addiction to sock yarn, i tend to purchase single skeins that have approximately 380 to 400 yards which just didn't cut it.  yardage requirements for this shawl were in the 500+ range. as luck would have it, i found two skeins of this luscious yarn: punta yarns mericash - an 80% merino, 20% cashmere. as is my usual 'mo', i had absolutely no idea what i would be doing with this yarn. fortunately i was able to secure two skeins since it only had 262 yards and i knew just one skein wouldn't cut it! after pondering it's fate for several months, ta da, this is the outcome. success!! soft and cuddly, perfect for the impending fall weather!

possessed!

indeed!


i certainly must be, or must have been when i purchased this yarn!


i have no idea what possessed me at the time to choose this colorway!  i purchased this yarn at the 2009 sock summit from huckleberry knits - an indie dyer from bellingham, washington - and enjoyed the feel and hand of the yarn (willow fingering) as i was knitting this shawl (karen  - designed by amy swenson - indigirl.com). the colorway is called endicott west.

apparently, i'm still possessed as this is a yarn i picked up at the 2011 sock summit - indigo moon, fingering weight 100% merino wool in the color starlight. the shawl is an adaptation of the live oak shawlette by romi hill.

the oregon flock and fiber festival is fast approaching and the question is: "will i once again hear a voice telling me to choose a multi-colored yarn or can i possibly choose a yarn that is a solid or semi-solid shade of one color?" only time will tell!

have a berry good day!

sweet little treats to cover the feet of my new great nephew, jaxon!

enjoy, jax!