knitting school dropout

aww..
thanks for all the sweater/birthday love. i really enjoyed reading all the comments over what has been a crazy week.

a few days ago, our first niece was born, and that's pretty much all the girlfriend and i can talk about at the moment. yay auntiehood!

i've been inexplicably tired this week, like, totally useless, shouldn't bother leaving the house tired, and i have no idea why. needless to say, there hasn't been all that much knitting around here.

i did manage to squeak out a little shawl though. i knit it through some work meetings and lunch breaks and despite the tiredness, forced myself to knit at least 1 pattern repeat a night.

pattern: flower basket shawl by evelyn clark
yarn: elsebeth lavold silky wool, color 15 (yellow). 1.5 skeins
needles: 4.5 mm

like most of evelyn clark's patterns, the lace pattern was easy to knit, but looks really pretty. i only did 7 repeats to the main chart, because i was planning on wearing this as a scarf. the silky wool is nice, but i'm not totally in love with it, and i can't pinpoint why. i'm usually totally in love with everything. i do love the color though, a really perfect yellow.

in the interest of keeping it "real" at chez knittingschooldropout, a very tired-looking, shawl-in-action shot:

ugh, there's no hiding it.

what's next?
after some serious napping, i'm casting on for the mate to my beloved norwegian snail mitten.

that'll be my bring-everywhere-knit-during-everything project. i also have a new sweater on the needles. more about that one later...

Posted by melissa at 07:06 PM | Permalink | Comments (21)

pattern: shetland triangle, designed by evelyn clark.
from: wrap style
yarn: handpaintedyarn.com lace, less than 1/2 of 1 sk.
needles: us6 circulars
approx knitting time: 1 week, with lots of other projects being worked on at the same time.
thoughts: though i probably won't be knitting anything else from this book, it was worth the purchase price for this pattern alone. it was easy to memorize the main repeat, and knit up quickly to a beautiful result. i think i'll be making another one of these as gift giving season approaches.
although i really love the color of the yarn, and that it's very soft, i'm curious to see how it'll hold up over time. it's a single ply and i'm a little afraid it will pill up eventually. still, at $5.95 for 850 yards, it exceeded my expectations. i still have more than half the skein left too!

i'm still plugging away at anais. i almost finished the back, then realized i had screwed up the armhole decreases and had to rip back. i'm bummed because after knitting the swallowtail shawl, and then starting anais, it has become very clear that i am allergic to alpaca. i pretty much feel like i'm coming down with a cold every time i'm near either of these projects for any length of time, because i end up sneezing, getting a scratchy throat and rubbing my eyes. waaah! so after anais is finished, i'll probably gift her to a friend and then knit a wool one for myself. it's just too cute. until then i'll be attempting to knit anais under the influence of benadryl. ugh. drowsy knitting. not fun.

i feel like i've been on a finishing streak lately, hopefully i'll be back soon with even more.

have and great (and maybe long, for some) weekend!

Posted by melissa at 01:01 PM | Permalink | Comments (15)

happy blue things:

my shetland triangle, just waits for a bind off:
from:wrap style

the knitting of anais begins:
from: norah gaughan vol. 1

gorgeous, dark blue malabrigo (squish!)
won from val's awesome blog contest!

my very cute new shoes:
keds, no kidding

it's kind of ridiculous that i started anais, when i was so close to finishing the shetland triangle. i just couldn't wait any longer. it's really cute and fun to knit. yay!

i'm super tired today. i'm still getting over being sick for the last few days so there's your pictorial update for now. i hope to be back in a few days with at least a finished shawl.

bye!

Posted by melissa at 04:23 PM | Permalink | Comments (17)

it taunted me with it's p5togs, and briefly, i gave up. i'm back to say: i win! the swallowtail shawl is done!

pattern: swallowtail shawl by evelyn clark from the fall 2006 issue of interweave knits
yarn: misti baby alpaca lace, less than 1 skein in yellow
needles: not pointy enough inox 3.5mm circulars

although i am guilty of complaining about purling 5 together, overall, i really did enjoy knitting this shawl. the end result is really beautiful and i'm sure it'll get lots of wear. i purchased some Soak, in the sola, evening garden scent and now the shawl smells fantastic too, kinda like walking into a Lush shop.

i'm already thinking about starting another shawl, because i'd like to have another lace project on the needles. i'm thinking maybe the shetland triangle from wrap style. i already have the book, and i have a few yarns to choose from, i may just cast on this evening.

have a lovely sunday!

Posted by melissa at 08:21 PM | Permalink | Comments (24)

the pictures aren't great, but if i have to wait for the weather to cooperate, there won't be any for awhile.

i wish i could capture just how insanely gorgeous this yarn is. it's officially my favorite yarn ever.

pattern: leaf lace shawl from fibertrends, designed by evelyn clark
yarn: handmaiden sea silk (70%silk 30%seacell), 1 skein in the ebony colorway
needles: us5 addi turbo 40"
thoughts: someday i will take this out into the sunshine and take some better photos. this yarn is so amazing. i was a little worried that one skein wouldn't be enough, but i wanted only a small shawl and i ended up with a little left over. it's a perfect size for me.
the pattern is really easy as far as lace goes. it contains both written and charted instructions and the result is so pretty. i can't wait 'til i can find an excuse to wear it!

Posted by melissa at 05:00 PM | Permalink | Comments (12)

i'm dying to get working on a new sweater, but i'm feeling indecisive.
in the meantime, i've finished another one of these noro scarves. this time with silk garden. i used 1 ball of color 34 and one of 208. bring on the cold winds!

i also had the chance to finally finish the belated lace scarf (pattern in pdf format here) for my friend:

unfortunately, i neglected to take a full length photo of it before i handed it off to her this morning, but here's a close up of the lace while it was blocking:

(edited to add: i saw it in her office today at work and snagged a pic)

i knit this as a short scarf, meant to be tied at the side of the neck. i used about half of one ball of kidsilk haze and size 8 bamboo needles. the needles were way too blunt and this slowed me down a bit, especially with the p2togtbl. that is not the reason why this gift was 6 months late though. i love this stitch pattern, and tonight i'm going to knit a few repeats of it in some merino laceweight from my stash and decide if that's what i'll make the next one with. i'm determined to get a head start on the holiday gifts this year. i'd better go do that now.

Posted by melissa at 06:22 PM | Permalink | Comments (6)