Wednesday, August 31, 2005

New Yarn!

Here are this weekend's Stitch DC purchases:


That's the start of a Branching Out scarf in the Cotton Cashmere. And no, the Silky Wool isn't anywhere near as orange as it looks, but de-oranging the picture makes the other stuff look way too blue. It's much more of a standard hot pink, and will probably become a lightweight sweater for me.

I'm still a little bit boggled at all of the pink stuff, as pink is usually the one of the LAST colors I'm drawn to. And yes, the Branching Out is a gift, and I knew that when I was buying the yarn, but still... am I becoming girly? Horrors.

Thursday, August 25, 2005

I don't know what to do with myself

I have no WIPs right now. None. ZERO. I frogged a couple of things over the weekend, and finished the 2 WIPs that I still had going.

What did I finish?

My Clapotis!
3 skeins of Wool in the Woods Seed-n-Such, "Oslo" colorway.

Here's my couch modeling it:


A slightly closer view:

And an extreme close-up:


I love the yarn. The colors are every bit as obnoxious in person as they look on screen, and the texture is really neat. It wasn't the easiest yarn to work with, because the slubs tended to make one stitch look like two stitches. Once I got used to that, it wasn't a problem.

Finished project #2 is something I've come to call the Bag of Fate. When I was in junior high and high school, I was obsessed with Mystery Science Theater 3000. One of the "experiments", as they called the movies that they would snark on, was Manos: The Hands of Fate, a truly horrible movie about a family that finds a temple to "Manos" run by the Master and Torgo. There might also be an entrance to hell, but it's not all that clear. It's ranked #1 on the IMDB "Bottom 100", and no movie could be more deserving.

Anyway, the fact that there's a yarn line from "Manos del Uruguay" has amused the heck out of me for a few months now. It spawned the Bag of Fate, based on the hand design on the Master's robe. It's my first design, my first intarsia, and my first foray into felting. I just hope the Master likes it, because I wouldn't want to end up like Torgo.


Pre-felting:


Close-up of the hands:
It took 2 skeins of Black, 1 skein of Cherry Red (color 48). I officially love this yarn. It comes out with a cool bumpy texture when felted.

Yarn porn!

This is the package of more Manos (this, at least, was on sale) that I ordered from Flying Fingers.


Yes, that's a postcard in back, with a nice handwritten note from one of the owners. Fast shipping, REASONABLY PRICED shipping, and nice touches like pretty tissue paper and a note during what I'd imagine was a crazy sale for them... I'd order from them again without any hesitation.

Here's the yarn out of the box.

And this is some more Wool in the Woods yarn that I got at All About Yarn during our unofficial Knittyboard gathering there last weekend. This is "Frizee", and I have no idea what the colorway is, because the labels don't say.

I just have to find something other than a Clapotis to make with it... I need some time away from Clapotises.

Saturday, August 20, 2005

Can't put this off any longer

Ok, I figured it was about time to post a silly picture of me with my Jayne hat. The orange and red (the earflaps are red, honest) are Elsebeth Lavold Angora, and the yellow is Jaeger Baby Merino DK... so it's a ridiculously soft, yet kinda silly, hat.


I used about 3 different needle sizes on it (yes, on purpose).

This evening, I taught myself how to do intarsia for a bag I'm working on. Too much fun! The only colorwork I've done up to now has been stripes, and suddenly I can do stuff OTHER than stripes... the mind, she boggles. And all the little yarn bobbins are kind of fun.

Thursday, August 11, 2005

Lookee what I got...

New yarn! Went to All About Yarn in Columbia today, where I picked up some red Manos del Uruguay and this very pretty yarn (Crystal Palace Waikiki).



No idea what it's going to be yet, but it was too pretty to just leave there.

Tuesday, August 09, 2005

First post! Some FOs...

This is me in my 'Fiery Bolero' from IK Summer 2005. It's in TLC Cara Mia, Winter White, which I got on sale (woohoo!). The bulk of this was done while I was lying around with an ugly cold, watching my 24 DVDs. Good times.


Back view


Here's a closeup of the ribbing around the collar (because even though it only took a couple of days, the ribbing was the part that drove me most crazy... pick up 200+ stitches...)





This is my Mitered Square Rug, done in various colors of TLC Cotton Plus.


And here's a closeup of a couple of the squares.





Here's my 'Stepping Out Coat' from Hip to Knit. Good ol' Homespun, with Trendsetters Aura Antique on the edging.







And my Vegan Fox from Knitty. He's too fun.