WIP and Re-WIP

Time to bring this one up in the rotation. Really thought I was going to knit sock after sock after sock this summer. Hah! These have been on the needles since May. The syncopated stitch pattern with many twisted stitches demands a bit more concentration than I've been willing to render. The yarn is delicious, though, an unusual blend of 70% Corriedale wool and 25% nylon, and I'm looking forward to taking it up again. There is an almost silky feel to the fiber, and with the nylon content it should work up into a sturdy sock fabric. 

Pattern:  Ellington by Cookie A
Yarn: Spirit Trail Fiberworks Lina

Also working on re-knitting the scarf/neckwarmer that was frogged a while back. The bottleneck was steaming the kinks out of the yarn. Finally did that on Sunday afternoon; it was so hot and humid already I didn't think a bit more steam wasn't going to cause a fainting fit. I was right.

This is being knit side to side with a 180-stitch cast on. The good news is there are only about 40 rows to knit instead of the other way around. Hope to have this finished and the pattern ready to go in time for the FO Friday after next.

To check up on what other crafters have on the hooks and needles, visit Tami's Amis WIP Wednesday.

F-F-F-F-F-FO

Gisela, a cocoknits design.
Habu Cotton Gima yarn.

Still summer, so this will be worn. Will have to be worn with a Zen attitude, however, because of the wonky stitches smack in the middle of the shoulders. I won't showcase them, but they are there. Washing and blocking didn't un-wonk them because they were misplaced in an attempt to fix a problem a few rows down. Wish I could pass them off as a design feature, but unless I doll it up with some odd embroidery or a crochet motif, it just is what it is: a postcard from Flaw City. 

Good thing I live in a town where wearing a clean tee shirt is the equivalent of the Downton Abbey crowd wearing their diamond tiaras.



If you have an interest in this pattern, order the updated seamless version which was released when I was just about finished with this.

To see some flawless projects, visit Tami's Amis and click through to some of the wonderful crafters taking part in Finished Object Friday.

Three Bag WIP

Easy Tunisian crochet for catching up on TV. The most complicated bit is juggling three groups of yarn, but once they are in the plastic bags, it's not too bad. Ugly, but easy to deal with.

Stashbuster Three-Color Tunisian Blanket. Forty inches wide. Two feet in length, to date. Very airy, so it may not consume as much yarn as I had hoped, but I am pleased with the color combination.

See a variety of works in progress at Tami's Amis WIP Wednesday.

Fanfare FO

Fast, relaxing project for a busy week. A little too warm to wear in the hazy, humid weather, but that will change before too long.

Schultertuch/Dreieckstuch, you can find more information, pictures of other versions, and the link to the Facebook tutorial on ravelry.

Mine was worked with 2 skeins of Noro Silk Garden Sock in color way S279. The fiber softened considerably after a bath in Perwoll.

Visit Tami's Amis to see what other WIP's became FO's this week.

Color Story WIP

Choosing yarns for this project (Stash Buster Blanket in Three-Color Tunisian Crochet this time in a light, airy gauge) was easy, because so much of my stash yarn tells the same color story: teal, terra cotta, green.

Four yarns, nine colors, no new purchases:

Sundara Fingering Silky Merino in Beaded Trquoise, Adobe, Juniper over Sage

Rowan Kid Silk Haze in Trance, Amber, Pearl

Elsebeth Lavold Silky Wool in Forest Green, Antique Rose

Posh Yarn Lucia in nameless pale robin's egg blue







After I chose the yarns I remembered the upholstered bench in the living room. Guess this is my story and I'm sticking to it.

If you want to learn the basics of Tunisian Crochet plus Stitch Diva's three color technique, I recommend this pattern, with it's very clear directions.

To see more Wonderful Wednesday WIP's visit Tami's Amis where Tami graciously hosts WIP Wednesdays and FO Fridays.

The Rivals

Sharks vs Jets. 

Red Sox vs. Yankees. 

Hatfields vs. McCoys. 

Hooks vs. Sticks? 

Sometimes it does seem like it's Crochet vs. Knitting.

I'm bi-craftual as to knitting and crochet, since I learned both crafts when I was fairly young and didn't understand the great divide. Since then I've met a few knitters who think of crocheters as fiber criminals trying to cover the world with chunky granny squares.

I've seen plenty of crochet patterns which are versions of popular knit scarf and shawl patterns or are designed to look like knits. And there are even some that come in two versions like this cute cardigan: Denise DeVoie's One If By Hook, Two If By Sticks 

But as I've viewed the "Top 20" ravelry patterns in the last couple of weeks, I've done a double take over patterns that look like crochet!

See if you agree:  Arcady Sweater, the Rachel Bag, the Sankaku Shawl. So maybe crochet isn't the complete underdog after all.

Hooking Air

Working on Schultertuch/Dreieckstuch with the aid of this handy little table of crochet terms in various languages.

Noro Silk Garden Sock
Color S279

Love the design, very simple, but looks beautifully complex when worked up.  Pattern itself is on Facebook and includes a chart and a detailed photo tutorial.



As a bonus, I learned some German words: Schulter for shoulder, Dreiecks for triangle, as well as some crochet terms. My favorite: Luftmasche. So much more fun to pronounce than "Chain Stitch" and it means "air stitch." How apt is that? 




Really enjoy the international aspect of knitting and crocheting. World harmony through sticks and strings!

Friday = FO + FP

Finished the object and finished the pattern. The pattern is free, downloadable on ravelry.

In the Midnight Hour 

(a crocheted moebius wrap)


Pattern includes line by line instructions, a chart of the stitch pattern, and short tutorial on the moebius join.

Use any light laceweight yarn.  The sample is worked up in Spirit Trail Fiberworks Decima, 70% merino, 30% silk.

Could also be worked at with fingering weight at a larger gauge for a heftier wrap.



Really pleased with this. Started in March 2012(!)and resurrected it in March 2013. Finished the work in May 2013 and the pattern just this week. Hope to work faster next time as I'm no spring chicken and those WIP's and PIP's (Pattern in Progress) are mounting up.

A visit to Tami's Amis is your portal to a weekly celebration of Finished Objects in various crafts.

Wabi-Sabi WIP

Wabi-sabi, a beauty that is imperfect, impermanent, and incomplete.

Sound just like a WIP. Especially one knit from wildly frisky Cotton Gima, a papery Japanese yarn.

Couldn't leave the wabi-sabi photo in all it's wabi-sabi imperfection, so it went through the digital wash.

To see what others are doing with their WIP's this Wednesday, visit Tami's Ami's.

Organize

Sick of trying to wrangle random bits of swatch made of unknown yarns, stitches, and needles. 

Unblocked, but labeled.

New project. New method. Notebook! Duh! Labels! Double Duh! Before you know it, it'll be in a color coded bag and filed by date.

Don't worry, I'm not trying to crochet a key lime pie; that green cotton is waste yarn from my knitting bag.

My FO Flame

Finished! 

In this heat, couldn't bear to put it on and pull up the extended neck into a hood so you could see the whole thing and unfortunately my little display friend Anne Boleyn doesn't have a head. The stitch pattern on the neck/hood section continues the lace and replaces the stockinette with a simple 3 over 3 cable. 

The Lady Is A Ninja from What Else Would Madame Defarge Knit

Definitely didn't love the yarn (DIC Smooshy with Cashmere in Evening Flame), and couldn't find blocking pins to pin out the points. The color is okay. Not a color I would ever wear, so this one is for the gift heap

Since it's my own design, I can't tell you how great the pattern is, but I can say that the book is wonderfully written and edited, and since it includes personal essays on beloved books it's as much fun to read as well as to knit from.

You can see a lot more beautiful projects at Tami's Amis FO Fridays. 

Long & Short of WIP

Clicking away on two older WIP's this week. Photos have been a problem with the continuing rain and haze, not to mention that neither is at its best before finishing and blocking.

The Long: Longshadows(knitspot design)stole is a few inches longer than it was. Started last October it languished for a while when I underwent a period of disenchantment with lace knitting. Will definitely finish by this October.

Resting a bit in the heat.

The short: have gained some traction on Gisela (cocoknits design)cropped sweater, in spite of a bit of frogging due to paying too much attention to the audiobook and too little to the pattern.

Wrinkled and crinkled.

This is the second time I have knit this design and I was determined to avoid some of the seaming, so the body is being knit in more or less one piece and the sleeves by picking up stitches and knitting in the round from shoulder to cuff. I usually like to seam, and appreciate the structure it gives to knit garments, but the rambunctious nature of the Cotton Gima yarn makes seaming unpleasant to say the least.


To see what others are up to visit WIP Wednesday at Tami's Amis; lots of variety and inspiration.