But this is a photo from several days ago, so I'm actually much further along now. Last night I started the first of the decrease rounds, so I should be able to finish it in time for the closing ceremonies.
Despite going quickly enough, this project isn't without its challenges. I haven't done a lot of colorwork yet and my previous successful project was with much heavier yarn that likely hid any tension problems better. I don't think my tension is horribly off, but this is a strange hat that calls for colorwork with sport weight yarn on US size 7 needles - for yarn that normally recommends US size 5. Since I'm a somewhat tight knitter I was hoping my gauge would be tighter, if anything, and in any case I don't have US 5 or 6 needle tips for my circulars (something that is in the process of being remedied with a KnitPicks order!).
The stitches do look a bit loose, but after dragging my feet for a bit and trying to decide what to do I decided to follow the pattern and hope for the best. Jared Flood is an accomplished designer and I'm going to trust that he had a plan. Maybe between the yarn floats in the back and the halo the yarn develops this will work out. It's good practice either way, but I do hope it works out to be wearable and not an embarrassing example of novice colorwork. Perhaps a nice soak and some careful blocking will help pretty it up a bit, too.
I finally got some decent (not great) photos of my finished gloves and crossed my first Ravelympics finish lines! The gloves qualified for several events, hence a medal for each one:
Cable Cross-Country: All things cables
Mitten Moguls: Mittens, gloves, anything that covers hands/wrists/arms
Single Skein Speed Skate: Projects of just one skein/hank
Pattern:Knotty Gloves Yarn:Dream in Color Starry - Black Pearl Needles: US 1½ / 2.5 mm - Signature Needle Arts Stiletto DPNs : February 21, 2010
I'm really happy with how they came out and how well they fit me, but the black yarn did stain my fingers pretty regularly while I was knitting with it, so these are now waiting for a nice soak in some wool wash before they're put to actual use.
And while I enjoy experimenting with my camera settings and trying to improve my photography skills, I'm primarily a low-level novice with a nice camera, so getting good photos of black, sparkly yarn at night under a lamp is still a challenge. But I'm working on it, and having checked the touched-up results on several different monitors I'm fairly confident that most people should at least be able to make out the fact that there are cables on the wrists.
Photography challenges aside, I didn't feel like it was in the spirit of the Ravelympics to finish these a week before the Olympics ended and call it quits. So, shortly after I finished weaving in all of the ends and double-checking my work I jumped in and cast on a new project that qualified for entirely different events. It's not at all certain that I'll be able to pull off the second project in time, but that's part of the challenge. More on that later.
I debated joining in on the Ravelympics, partly because I was worried that I wouldn't have enough time to focus on knitting something challenging. Eventually I decided that trying something new that would probably take close to 2 weeks was challenging enough, and since there's the option to add additional projects later on if I finish early I jumped in.
So I started my first pair of gloves. I've done most of the glove components for my convertible mittens and fingerless gloves, I just haven't worked through all of the fingers before. No photos of the fingers yet, but I got through the first two without much drama -- the first is probably a little too long (even after ripping out several overly ambitious rows - too much watching the Olympics and not enough watching the actual length of that finger!) and the middle might be a hair short, but I suspect it's all going to work out as they soften up with wear.
I've had the Knotty Gloves pattern in my queue for awhile now, and it seemed like a perfect use for my Starry yarn. The sparkle shouldn't be too flashy and they'll hopefully make nice, slightly dressy gloves to go with any winter coat. And I think the twisted cables (which to me vaguely resemble the entwined circles in the Olympic logo) and snowy sparkles will always remind me that these were my Olympic gloves, and that makes them extra fun!
I don't have a second project picked out yet, but it's almost the end of the first week and I haven't finished the first glove yet. Once I start getting through the second glove, though, I'll start planning another project for the added challenge. After all, I don't want to let my team down!
Xandermommy was part of the 2009 Rockin' Sock Club, and having seen her club yarn and on her recommendation for how nice it was to work with I purchased some, too. That was obviously months ago, given the new year and all, but I finally completed my first pair of socks using some Socks That Rock yarn.
I took the advice of a Ravelry group knit-along and tried out a lovely pattern that really mixed the colors well. So a skein like this:
Became this:
When you step back and look at them from farther away or on the soles of the feet you can see that the yarn still striped, but the linen stitch panels and slipped stitches in the pattern broke it up somewhat and scattered/highlighted the different colors.
Needles: US 1½ / 2.5 mm - Signature Needle Arts Stiletto DPNs : February 5, 2010
I'm really pleased with how they came out and I agree that it's lovely yarn. I love the twist it has - it makes it so much easier to work with and I don't have to worry about splitting the yarn even with very sharp needles, unlike some of the 2-ply sock yarns that split constantly for me, especially when working cables and the like (Curious Creek Wasonga, I'm looking at you). But splitty cables in the Enchanted Forest are a story for another time.
I've knit a lot of baby items for a certain special nephew, some of which kept me occupied in an attempt to finish them in time for Christmas. Even though I got them done in time, I didn't quite think how close Christmas was to a baby shower for Sariebeth's baby. The shower wasn't planned yet, but the due date wasn't too far off so I knew it was coming. So, as soon as I wrapped up some other Christmas gifts I cast on for a sweater set for little Baby X.
Now Sariebeth and her husband agreed early on that they didn't want to find out the sex of the baby. And although some of our friends have given them a hard time about it, I'm totally cool with it. (Having attended the shower I'm even more on board with the not finding out part - they got such adorable little baby clothes with happy yellow duckies and giraffes instead of a million shades of pink or blue!)
My only concern was whether the colors for my project would be gender-neutral enough. I'm not very picky about that sort of thing, but some people certainly are. When I asked my husband if he thought the picture of the pattern looked too boyish, he said he thought it was girly instead. (So far, I think he thinks all knit items for babies are inherently girly!) I figured the conflicting opinions were probably a sign that it was neutral enough.
So I dedicated almost every spare knitting moment to the little baby set and when the date for the baby shower was set I was already well through the sweater and confident I could finish the entire set on time. Fortunately I wasn't procrastinating, because I still have a difficult time finding the right number of stitches to pick up for the button bands and seaming the little booties took many, many tries before I decided it was the best I could do, even if it wasn't very good. Considering the set was made for a 6 - 12 month baby, I'm assuming the soles of the booties won't be taking a lot of abuse anyway. And in the end the finished set had the adorable factor I was going for.
The gift was very well received and Sariebeth's husband mentioned that it looked store-bought - and that he meant that in a very positive way (which I would have assumed anyway). And although I had a terrible time making things that my nephew can actually wear, I'm hopeful that this set is flexible enough to fit little Baby X at some point, whether it's in the 6-12 months range or not! Maybe we can even get a picture or two for a blog update in the future.
Why yes, those are wine bottles in the background behind the Mom-to-be. What, doesn't everyone surround their pregnant friends with copious amounts of wine from time to time, especially for baby showers?
I thought it was time to try to clean up the blog image a bit, so I dug into a new template. Much of the layout is still the same, but the colors have changed a bit and I think it's easier to see where one post ends and a new one begins now.
Let me know what you think and if you find any errors!
The Ruby Slippers kit arrived at the end of last week, so it's time to share.
************ Spoilers from this point on! ************
Still wrapped up:
It arrived packed in a larger box this time, so I wasn't sure what swag to expect.
Unpacked:
I didn't get a photo of the pattern this time, but it includes beads on top of the sparkly yarn, so flashy socks.
This time the bag is more of a black vinyl makeup case with ruby slippers sparkling on the front of it. I can't see myself using it for knitting really, so it's going in the pile of swag for kids to play with. The elongated slipper fabric case, though, is a small DPN case with divided pockets inside. That will certainly see some use, as will the Oz Club fob with the small crochet hook attached, which will be nice to include in smaller project bags for fixing mistakes.
There's also another Oz-themed bookmark hidden behind the yarn in the photo and another great notepad, this time with Dorothy's Shopping List!
Again, probably my favorite part of the whole kit.
The stuffed Dorothy bag is apparently a lavender sachet -- not something easily recognizable for an Anosmic like me, but according to Woolgirl it was intended to grace our sock drawers to help keep pesky moths away.
And the yarn/stitch marker close-up:
Amazing that it includes the tiny ruby sparkling glitter!
Now I know you can't please everyone all of the time, but I have to admit I was really disappointed by the yarn in this kit. As Xandermommy can attest from our shopping at Stitches Midwest, I'm often drawn to shades of red and of all of the kits listed for the Oz Club, Ruby Slippers seemed to promise a gorgeous red. So while this is a lovely base yarn and the silver sparkles are totally fitting, the color is really mostly a dusty rose and not even what I would consider a light red. It's my own fault for having any expectations at all, I suppose, but it's the first time that I have an Oz kit that I don't really want to cast on at all.
So, rather than trying to force myself to want to knit the Ruby Slippers socks, I'm going to put them in time out for awhile. I still have ambitions to knit every Oz kit, but I'm not sure when I'll be over the disappointment and ready to come back to these. At this point I think I might go back to the Enchanted Forest socks that got pushed aside when I wasn't quite keeping up with a new kit every month, although I'm working on finishing up my first Socks That Rock socks first.
