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)

let's just pretend, for a minute, that a scarf would have been appropriate for today's weather

the entrelac scarf is done, just in time for the 60-70f degree temps coming this weekend.

details:

pattern: i used the entrelac tutorial from the spring 07 issue of interweave knits. i've never tried entrelac before, and the instructions were very clear.

yarn: 3.25 balls of noro silk garden color 251(from 3 different dye lots, because i purchased them at different times)

needles: us6 bamboo straights

thoughts: entrelac is easier than i expected. i found it hard to put down, telling myself that i'd knit just one more block before i went to bed. it'll impress your friends and co-workers and it's so damn pretty. you should try it if you haven't. it makes knitting a scarf fun again.

today was the first day i felt better after being really sick for 2 1/2 weeks (note to self: get out of heathcare field now), so not much progress has been made on the green cardigan. i predict that it'll grow quickly from here on out though. the lace pattern is a really simple one called arrowhead lace from one of the barbara walker treasuries. there are 2 panels of the lace on the front, 2 on the back and 1 running down the center of each sleeve.

i'd better get knitting. it seems like great weather is on it's way.

Posted by melissa at 08:27 PM | Permalink | Comments (12) | TrackBacks (0)

wow! thanks for all the lovely comments on my sweater. i highly recommend the pattern. it's very clear and easy to adjust. ah, the beauty of the top-down raglan.

i started feeling ill when i was out with my friend last night and today i can barely remove myself from the couch.

i'm itching to start a new project, but before i tackle another sweater, i thought i'd give something new a try:

i'm using eunny's entrelac tutorial from the latest issue of interweave. entrelac, much like colorwork or lace is totally entertaining to me. i was just going to knit a swatch, but i'm having fun so i'm just going to keep going and call it a scarf. i have 3 skeins if this silk garden colorway, which should be enough, i think. i know it appears that scarf weather has left the building in new england, but really, you never know.

i received some new books for my birthday and today i had some time to actually check them out. top to bottom:

crazy about cupcakes: 300 recipes for cute food? i am so excited. even though i am not much of a baker, i will make and eat lots of cupcakes, thanks to this book.

lotta jansdotter's simple sewing: i didn't even know this book existed until it was given to me. i'm psyched to get back into sewing again and the projects in this book seem like ones i might actually be able to handle without stressing myself out. the sewing machine and i don't always get along.

twinkle's big city knits: i'm not sure how i feel about this one yet. don't get me wrong, this is a pretty, pretty book. wtf is up with the sizing though? i think the size choices exclude a huge amount of knitters out there. the sweater designs consist of 2 things i don't normally like: bulky yarns and cables. that being said, i actually think several of the sweaters are really cute. i'm not sure about this one yet.

ok, my hot water bottle wants to take the place of this laptop. i'm out.

Posted by melissa at 06:15 PM | Permalink | Comments (11)

i was flipping through the new issue of interweave today and when i got to page 36, i had to look twice. there was an ad for blue sky alpaca/silk with a photo of a woman wearing a wrap with a diagonal lace pattern. this is strange because last week, while i was supposed to be shopping for a specific needle, i was distracted by the blue sky alpaca/silk and ended up walking out of the store with 5 hanks. after some consultation with ms. walker, i settled on the diagonal madeira lace pattern. i wanted something at least twice the width of my widest scarf, that i could wrap around my shoulders, or wear around my neck, folded over. this was my jury duty knitting on monday. from what i can see in the photo the wrap may be a few inches wider, but the lace pattern seems to be the same. i just couldn't believe it was an ad for the exact yarn i'm using too. weirdness.

hard to see, but that's the ad:

this is how much knitting you can do while waiting 3 hours to be called in to the court:

the lace pattern is one of the easier ones out there. after a few repeats, you can pretty much read the stitches and know what to do next. the blue sky alpaca/silk is some wonderful stuff. i think i'll be using more of it as i knit gifts.

i also started knitting clapotis:

i just couldn't resist. i am always freezing, and i can totally see myself wrapped up in this baby as i suffer through another winter in an apartment with drafty windows.

i'm using noro silk garden lite in color 2013. i was a little disappointed at first, as all the balls of this particular colorway were very brown and pink when i saw them in person. when i ordered it though, the ones i received were heavy on the purple, which happens to be my least favorite color. maybe this will change that though because as i'm knitting it up, i'm quite smitten.

Posted by melissa at 07:35 PM | Permalink | Comments (6)

i decided to start with small projects first, in order to shrink my WIP pile this weekend.
first off, i've finished the girlfriend's ganomy hat. i'm sure i'll be stealing this from her until i can knit one for me. maybe she won't like it, now that it's done.

pattern: ganomy hat from EZ's knitter's almanac
needle size: u.s. 10.5 addi turbo
yarn: rowan biggie print? ( i lost the label) in grey
i intentionally knit this on smaller needles than recommended for the yarn, for a more dense fabric. this hat must provide warmth during the endless shoveling of harsh new england winters.
i cannot recommend this pattern enough. once your read it over, you won't have to look at it again and you'll end up with a ridiculously cute hat. yay!

i also finished another Noro Kureyon striped scarf for a friend's birthday. same deal as before, 1x1 rib alternating between two different balls, every 2 rows. i think i used one ball of color 156 and one of 157, but those ball bands could have ended up in the bottom of my bag from something else. i think i'm totally burnt out on these now though.

now i'm off to map out my route to the federal courthouse. yep, this knitter has jury duty tomorrow. i hoping for lots of uninterrupted knitting time, i've lots of big projects to get moving on.

question: are they going to swipe my addi's at the metal detector? or should i just switch to my plastic denise needles and play it safe?

Posted by melissa at 02:24 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)