FO: Winter Roses

My husband has a coworker who has commented on every hand knit he's worn. Always inquiering to see if I had knit it and then mentioning the yarn, or how pretty the colors are, or lovely the pattern is. My husband relays these messages to me and always add that when ever she comments on a hat or scarf he tells her "You should see my wife's other knits. This is nothing in comparison" (isn't he sweet!)

This same coworker has gone out of her way a few times to help my husband get acclimated to the new team here in Chicago so I thought as a holiday/thank-you-for-all-your-help gift I would knit her a shawl.

I gave my husband the assignment to find out what her favorite color is confident that whatever she she loves I could stash dive and find it in my very :cough: modest :cough: stash

When my husband got home from work I said "so.... what's her favorite color?"

"You'll never guess" he replied

And after going through every color of the rainbow I ended with "Brown?"

"No"

"Black?"

"Nope"

I thought for a second... "WHITE!"

"Yes!" and then sadly said "but you don't have white"

I chuckled as I headed to my stash (wait I meant to say "modest" stash) and came back out with two different options. "I have plenty of white"

He picked his favorite and I started what is usually a lengthy search for a pattern but this time things came together quickly as I found Rosa by Kristen Hanley Cardozo right away. This is one of her newer patterns and after looking at it I knew it would look just fabulous knit up in white. I love that it has some design in the middle but also some stockinet that I could sail through to make up time as I wanted to get this shawl done fairly quickly...

It took me just over a week of knitting and Winter Roses was done. And I found it very appropriate that during most of my knitting it was snowing peacefully outside. As a knitter there isn't a whole lot better than having a good project to work on, a hot cup of coffee, a nice blanket to cuddle up with while it's snowing outside.

Pattern Details:

Pattern: Rosa by Kristen Hanley Cardozo

Needles: Size US4 KnitPicks Zyphers

Yarn: KNitPicks Bare - Merino Wool/Silk Fingering Weight. I had 4 grams left over.

Mods: None needed. This pattern is beautifully written with both charts and written instructions. I would definitely knit this pattern again! LOVELOVELOVE

FO: Tweed Baby Blanket & Hat

When I saw this blanket made by Jared Flood of Brooklyn Tweed I knew I had to make it. The simplicity of the center paired with the lace edge was just perfect in my eyes. Not too cutesy but cutesy enough - know what I mean? So I immediately went to KnitPicks and shopped around for the perfect yarn when I ran across their line of organic cotton available in four colors. The four colors available are gorgeous and colors together looked fantastic... I immediately added them to my basket (as well as some of the tweed) for the gorgeous blanket I knew I just had to knit.

Not long after my purchase I got the news that my sister was expecting. I was so excited and knew immediately that I was going to knit this blanket for the baby. And since this was during us packing up and getting ready to move to America I gathered all the cotton together and packed it carefully in my bag so that I could start knitting it while we began our new adventure (you may remember me showing the beginning of this project (here).

Knitting this blanket was a pleasure. The pattern is written well and it made it easier to make the modifications to handle the lighter yarn I was using. I also loved watching the colors as they changed from light to dark.

Project Details

Pattern: Tweed Baby Blanket by Jared Flood
Yarn: Simply Cotton Organic Sport from Knit Picks in marshmallow, malted milk, toffee and ginger
Needles: KP’s Zephyrs in US 4
Modifications: Since this pattern is written for a bit thicker yarn and bigger needles I had to knit more in order make the blanket the right size(ish). I knit up two balls of the marshmallow increasing as directed then started the decreasing at the end of the second ball. I added the “E” as I finished up the decreasing and used the contrasting color of ginger.

For the lace boarder I added two lace repeats to each side of the blanket. For the coloring I did the 1st lace chart in marshmallow, 2&3 in malted milk, 4&5 in toffee and 6 and BO in ginger. I then blocked the blanket as tight as possible. I loved the blanket and will definately knit this again!


After I finished the blanket I had plenty of the yarn left over and felt that the blanket needed a little hat to go with it… So I found a top down pattern for baby hats. So cute!

Project Details

Pattern: Top-Down Baby Hat by Jennifer Meyers
Yarn: Simply Cotton Organic Sport from Knit Picks in marshmallow, malted milk, toffee and ginger
Neeles: KP’s Zephyrs in US 4 using magic loop
Modifications: I did the crown in the marshmallow and added 2 extra increases. I then knit down until I had roughly 5.5 inches left and started the first lace chart. I decreased the lace charts to be for 12 stitches and knit the colors in the same striping as the blanket.

I love the way the hat came out… Better than I had anticipated! But I’m a little worried it’s going to be a bit big for the baby - time will tell! She’ll grow in to it sooner or later right?

I am really happy with this little set. In fact I am so happy with it that it was hard not to keep it! I can't wait to see baby "E" all wraped up in it.

Packing - Part 1

ugh.

ugh.

ugh.

Honestly I just hate packing. I always feel it's too early until suddenly it's too late and there is too much to do. I will procrastinate packing, in any form (vacation, moving apartments, moving countries!), for as long as possible until I'm cramming anything and everything I can get my hands on into whatever luggage/boxes I have on hand. This usually ends up with me packing a bunch of stuff I don't need. But oddly through my procrastination method I have actually become quite efficient at figuring out what I need and all the tricks to making it fit in my luggage (Love you space saver bags!!!!) and not really forget anything essential.

But this time is different (kinda) where I am attempting to get things done sooner. In fact I have ALREADY started packing! I have weeks left before we go but packing? Yup, I started! What have I packed you ask? I know. I know. You really just want proof that I am actually packing and not just saying I'm packing just to make it seem like I'm not just sitting around eating bon bon's all day (That was only Wednesday). So I started packing only THE most important thing! My stash!

That is four large space saver bags and two medium stuffed with all of my lovely yarn. I wanted to swim in it! In fact pulling all of the yarn out of their hiding places get me inspired. I started looking at the yarn thinking of all the lovely things I could knit with it. This Knit Picks would be great for some fair isle... this BMFA would make some lovely socks... OOOH this Posh Yarns would make a beautiful shawl....

I gotta say that it was very difficult to stay on task! But I did and it's all boxed up with FRAGILE written clearly all over the sides and all of the yarn is safely tucked away in plastic as to not experience any mildew or water damage.

As for the set of Knit Picks Options and Zephyrs those are going in my luggage. Can't take any chances there! I mean I'm not worried that the box of yarn wont make it (If I was I would be shipping my clothes and carrying on a bag full of yarn!) I'm more worried that I'll be somewhere and need to do an emergency cast on and wont have my needles!!! And I need choices people!! The needles. go. with me. (insert crazy-eyed look here)

What if- what if i'm walking around town and I stumble across an LYS. And I haven't been to one in months so I will definitely go in if I see one. And they have gorgeous cashmere on sale! (Let's not talk about the yarn diet right now cause we're talking hypothetical here) and and I have to go in and buy some and it's so lushes that I can't wait 2-3 days for the boxes with my needles to arrive to cast on cause (duh) it's CASHMERE. No I have to cast on something that day! But then I would have to BUY needles and well we know that just not economical... Not when I already have a full set of perfectly lovely Knit Picks Options! See, it's more realistic just to make sure I have my needles with me AT ALL TIMES! oooh and the Addi sock needles I have as well. What if I want to knit socks? but the bamboo they are packed cause really I'm not a fan of bamboo needles... I prefer metal. And the DPN's they are in the box too cause once you know magic loop well then do you really need your DPN's anymore? (I'm sure I'll live to regret saying that!) Nope. So just the full set of Option and Zephyrs will be enough.

But you had to know that some yarn stayed out cause I cant go up to a week with out yarn! That's just crazy talk right there. So I have set aside some pre-put-together (I don't think that's a word) projects that will keep me occupied for a few days and additionally for the crazy long ass flight home. As for what those projects are? You'll just have to wait and see!

I made purple yarn!

Apparently dyeing yarn is like eating chips - it's so hard to stop after the first time.

Dyeing yarn has gotten under my skin and I just can't stop! I LOVE IT! And a couple weeks ago I got the perfect excuse to dye again...

My good friend Melissa is getting married... She needs to cover her shoulders in the church she says. That's when a little thought bubble popped out of my head. A shawl!!!!! I have been itching to knit a shawl for a while and this would be the perfect excuse! I have seen her dress and it's gorgeous! It's also an absolutely gorgeous shade of purple... and she wants the shawl to match only to be a lighter shade. "I can do this" I tell her! Getting excited and plotting how much fun this would be.

I start scouting patterns for shawls. I narrow it down to the Flower Basket or the Swallow Tail. I studied them both and showed them both to my friend. Fortunately yet unfortunately she loved them both and was more worried about the color... I got the color covered I assured her.

I finally did and eeney-meeney-miney-moe and chose the Swallow Tail.

I picked two skeins of naked Malabriio Lace for the shawl because I saw the same yarn used on some other people's projects and it looked fabulously soft while still showing stitch definition


and then I picked some naked KnitPicks fingering weight (merino wool, silk) just because I wanted to make the dyeing worth it!


Then I got to dyeing!!!

I picked a beautiful purple dye by Dylon that I knew would match her dress perfectly. Look at the beautiful purple water...


Here's how the Malabrigo came out. I wanted it to be all purple but I also wanted it variated so I stuck two ends of each skein in the dye for about 10 minutes. Then I stuck the entire skeins into the water for another 10 minutes so that it would come out with darker and lighter spots


And the KnitPicks Bare. For this I just stuck the entire skein in the water because I would like to try to add a different color to this at a later date and see what happens.


Aren't they fabulous!!!

Then I got started knitting the shawl with my new Zephyr needles from KnitPicks I might add.


I'll keep you posted on my progress

Yarn diet - over!

So if you have been following my blog for the past 6 months that you know i have been on strict yarn diet. The guidelines were that I could not purchase any yarn for six months. No matter what. No excuses.

My last yarn purchase was December 24th 2008 when I bought some Knit Picks swish. This was about the same time that we were deciding that we would go to the States over the summer. With re-organizing my stash and seeing that I have plenty and I don't need more and deciding to go to the US where I knew that I would want to buy yarn without restrictions (I mean it isn't often I can go hang out in an LYS and touch and smell and coddle yarn) I knew I had to diet. So I made a deal - No yarn for 6 months but no restrictions in the States if and when we got there.

Well today, my friends, all that waiting paid off. After 6 months (well 5 days short but really who's counting) I bought yarn! Beautiful, soft, colorful yarn! 5 skeins of loveliness from Purl Soho in New York. I cant show you what I got yet cause I want to be able to re-live my trip again when I get home and post here what we did the whole time. SO picture then.

I just had to stop by today to tell you that I have finally completed my yarn diet and now, during my travels, you'll see a few of the projects that I finished to help with the de-stashing. Yay! But don't worry I'll try to keep up with the posts while I'm flying all over the place.

P.S. 15 hrs is a LONG time and people should NOT spray perfume on the plane!

FO: Roaming Hat

The Dubai and Abu Dhabi knitting groups are in collaboration. We are trying something new. Actually it's been going for about 6 weeks already but I digress

Our new initiative is to have a roaming bag where each knitter can put in yarn or take it out as they please. It's so much fun! Here's how it works. As knitters you always end up with an extra ball of this, a half a skein of that or the few balls in a color you just bored of or not that into. But other knitters maybe looking for exactly what you have but don't need/want so you put it in the bag and hand it to the next knitter who takes out anything that they want and puts in what ever is in their stash that they are ready to get rid of.

This has been so popular with the group that we moved from a small box to a HUGE bag which we have now outgrown as well so it has a little sister bag that rides along with it.

I loved this concept immediately. I got rid of some too-bright blue yarn, a skein and a half of some lion brand that I just wasn't going to use again and an impulse buy from my trip to Lebanon last summer. All yarns I'll never use but maybe just maybe one of my knitting friends will! Bonus this helps free up space for all the yarn shopping in the states I'll be doing (my reward for 5 months of not purchasing yarn) yipee!

What did I take out you ask? I took out some lovely yarn from The Hazlitt Flock of Wenslydale dyed with Kool-Aid. I had tried to resist taking anything out the first time I received the bag even though I spotted this lovely gem. But the color was irresistible and when this little ball was sitting deep in the bad the second time around. So I took it and didn't think twice.



But I felt guilty. I cant just add to my stash for no reason. That's not how a diet works. I have been so good on my diet (did I mention I'm 5 months yarn free!) that I couldn't just add to my stash willy-nilly. No, if this is like a diet then when I break the diet I have to run an extra mile in the morning. So I found a pattern right away and got to work.



I made, what I lovingly refer to as, the Kool-Aid Lace Hat.

Details
Pattern: Georgian Lace Cap - Free from KnitPicks
Needles: 7's
Yarn: The Hazlitt Flock Wenslydale
Color: Peach
Mods: Nope! What's to change? But as you can see it's a bit dark on the bottom and but it also ended up having another dark stripe near the top so I decided to go with it and embrace it's uniqueness.

Basically I love this hat. LOVE IT. The color, the pattern, the yarn. Love!

I might have a problem....

See when i got this last order of KnitPicks I officially ran out of the space I allot for my yarn.

Officially means that I cant cram, squish or shove any more yarn in to the three spaces that hold my yarn. The reason I don't want to expand on my alloted yarn space is that I'm afraid my stash will get completely out of control then.

I know you are asking "Sheesh Lindsay (cough not lingy -latest attempt at my name- cough) How much yarn do you have?"

Well. Let me tell you. I have more than I thought was possible given that I live in an LYS Free country. :::deep breath::: I have 149 skeins. Seriously 149. and when I calculated the yardage (thanks a lot Ravelry but some things are better left unsaid) I calculated that I have roughly 10 miles of yarn. 10 MILES. And ok really 149 isn't THAT bad. Right? I mean I got 26 of them just this week so really I have 123. See that? I stash busted right there!

But even 123 is a lot. So I have devised a plan

First step: is to NOT buy yarn but to use the yarn I have. Although I like to think of this as a Yarn Diet rather than abstaining completely... I mean if I have a really bad day, I'm going to need a yarn fix. Or if I travel internationally I can tell you now, yarn will be purchased. Lets be realistic here. However, I will commit to making no yarn purchases for the next 90 days. :::hyperventilating::: Where's a paper bag!!!!

Second step: Stop saving the yarn for the perfect pattern (that I haven't found yet) and just use it, after all when I do find the perfect pattern I can buy the right yarn in the right color for it!

Third step: To knit. I think that is key to reducing my stash.

Does anyone else want to join me in this quest? We might even be able to make this a little fun.We can call it the UAE Knit Down '09. Perhaps who ever reduces their stash the most gets to be the 2009 Queen UAE knitter! or maybe something more fun than that... oooh! Or we can all put something in to a pot and who ever knits the most gets the pot? Ya know just shooting ideas off the top of my head here. I'm completely open to suggestions....

Knit Picks!!

I got a shipment today! I know! I'm so excited. Let me show you what came...

First I needed some more Knit Picks supplies. I ordered two sets of cables and a second set of both 7's and 5's. I also got some of the buttons that are the rainbow colors like the KP Options. I LOVE THESE!!


I also got some some Wool of the Andes in Coal and Telemark in Cream and because I already have some colors stashed and I thought these would give me t he perfect opportunity to work on some fair isle work.


and then there's this! this is the reason i place the order in the first place (really i don't know how the other things ended up in the basket. i'm blaming it on... uuuhhhh... the mouse slipped? yeah! the mouse slipped! lets go with that one) it's the Swish Bulky in Squirrel Heather. And I love the color

It's merino. It's soft and comfy and I can't wait to turn it into the Windowpane Coat from Interweave Knits. I'm so excited to get started!


On a side note I saw this as I was leaving for work today



I heard that it is something called "rain" that comes from the sky. hmmm. Apparently it's a natural and common phenomenon. But really I just don't trust it. I mean water comes from the black hoses running along the ground under the bushes. Not the sky. Right?