Cross it off the list...

Opal Feelings Monkey Socks
Originally uploaded by The Prolific Knitter

I finished these socks up yesterday in the early morning (like 4am early, after falling into bed at 8pm...bliss!) They're a Christmas gift for my 'aunt' (really a great-step-cousin, but that makes her feel old apparently.) I have to tell you... if I hadn't liked the colors so much, I never would've finished them. First, the skein had three knots, and a bunch of dark blue strips that showed up all over the socks like they had blueberry measles. Not to mention that Opal feel... pure steel wool. I like soft things, and I recognize that everything can't be soft. That's okay with me. But this Opal and Trekking have always felt like they had tiny shredded bits of tin cans in the yarn. Needless to say, I won't be buying anymore Opal!

While covering at the Knaughty Knitter yesterday, I had time to knit the first sock of this pair:

In Panda Cotton Print in 'Circus' which is oddly the SAME colors as the previous Opal socks! Totally unintentional... obviously I need some sunshine and rainbows in my life. Anyway, I managed to complete 1 and 1/3 socks in 24 hours, which must be some kind of record for me. (A record that I have no life :B) They're going to be accompanying my best friend on her road trip across the USA, so they need to get done.

While I was working, I found the yarn I've been looking for (seemingly) forever.

Three skeins of Berroco Ultra Alpaca in Pea Soup Mix. It's a lot prettier than the name would imply! It's a nice bright olive color, with flecks of gold, orange, and darker green. Just perfect for Forbes Forest! The Ultra Alpaca is a worsted yarn, so it's heavier than the dk called for... so I'm not sure what to do. I mean, the color is just what I wanted. Not too dark, not too bright, heathered without being distracting, soft without excess fuzz... I could either make the scarf as is and have a stole size, or cut out the center cable and replace with a smaller one. I'm not there yet, but it's on my mind.

Lastly, I'm edging closer to the finish line on my Thermal-ish Vest:

I've finished the back and part of the left front. I've got the rest of the left (just straight up to the shoulder; the decreasing is done at this point.) and the remaining right front, plus the edgings and various small finishing tasks. I'm hoping it fits like I want - my Cashsoft DK vest isn't as snug as I wanted, even with two inches of negative ease, so this best has four inches' worth. It feels weird knitting a 32" bust for myself, but knits are not like clothes. They seem to actually fit BETTER when they're smaller (within reason of course.)

The parents are taking the camera on an anniversary trip so photos and posts will be sparse for a couple of weeks. I'll photo any FOs, of course.

Schaefer summer sweater T

cottonsweater2
Originally uploaded by The Prolific Knitter

I followed the pattern for the Anthropologie Capelet (at peonyknits, just google it) down to where you slip the sleeve stitches onto a holder. I then joined the body (where the 'v' is) and knit around, keeping the YO detail down the sides to give me a convenient place to increase.

It's very comfortable, and not as thin as most cotton sweaters. It'll definitely help regulate the temperature for me at knitting groups, where I seem to rocket from cold to hot and back again constantly.

I used two full skeins of Schaefer Laurel (I have two more in this color, if someone wants to swap) which were 225g each, so I used up 450g for this sweater. I did buy one ball of Silkroad Aran at my LYS the other night, but it was needed for a project I'll be casting on soon.

I'm getting down to the wire on three gifts I need to have done by the end of September - two going away gifts for my best friends who are moving to Los Angeles (a pair of socks for him [worsted weight] and a shawl or something for her.) I also want to knit my niece a present, since she LOVES everything I've ever knitted for her! :) (She actually screamed when my sister tried to take a dress I made off. I think that is so cute... maybe not so to my sis, though!)

Just let it go.

celaeno1
Originally uploaded by The Prolific Knitter

There's been a lot going on in my world lately, not all of it good. But if there's any Buddhist philosophy that's served me recently, it's accepting that life gives what it gives. Things are never 'as they should be' they only ARE. So it's with that spirit that I write this post. :)

The Celaeno socks are coming along. I finished the pattern, but er... it's 7 pages long. Granted, I haven't changed the font and shrunk it (right now it's huge; don't worry about it being too small!) but I also haven't added the cable chart. Er.. I think my problem is that I want things to be TOO clear, and especially when there is sizing involved, it can get REALLY cluttered with extra notes, etc. On the plus side, it will be very clear and have not one, not two, but four (I've knit two different ones now) samples. So you will have a very clear picture of what to expect!

I'm also knitting a sweater that is coming along swimmingly! (This picture has unintended boobage, scroll past it if you're at work. *grin*)

It's two strands of Schaefer Laurel held together. A top down raglan with eyelet details and a perfect fit so far. I haven't decided whether or not to use short sleeves (pros: less knitting, more appropriate for summer; cons: shows exactly how untoned my arms are, not really work appropriate) or long sleeves (hides arm fluff, is work appropriate, but is more knitting.) Can you tell I want something to just be finishedand wearable? Not to mention I have 800g of Laurel to use, and it's so quick knitting that I think I can knock my total stash gs down by a good bit by mid month!

I also did a little stash enhancing. I'm not sure if I mentioned this before, but I had a credit from The Loopy Ewe from a site referral (thank you, whoever clicked through and bought yarn! I hope you had a good experience!) so I decided to use it. One skein of Fleece Artist 2/6 Merino sock in Rainforest:

And two skeins of Shibui sock in Spectrum (which is still in stock at Sheri's as of this post):

I wasn't sure if I should blog about this last thing. But I guess I wanted to hear your thoughts. I cooked dinner for the family on Sunday... and not from a can or box. Marinated and grilled tofu, balsamic asparagus, and mashed potatoes with gravy. They ate it, said it was really good, etc. Fast forward to this morning... my mom leaves her e-mail open all the time, with its own tab. I clicked over today by accident while trying to get to Ravelry. I clicked back again... but not before I noticed that she had written her friend (who, admittedly, I don't like much) saying how awful my cooking was. She actually used the word awful.

I am so, so hurt. Mostly because she lied, and if she knew me at all she would know that I'd rather have constructive criticism than fake compliments. ESPECIALLY if you are going to turn around and slam what I've done! This isn't the first time she's done something like this, either... She always had a smart remark to make to her friends about me, I guess thinking I was deaf? I can understand that a parent isn't always thrilled with what their kids do, but how unbelievably disappointing and juvenile is this behavior? Really!

I just had to get that off my chest. Sorry. It's so depressing when your own mother uses you as the butt of a joke among her friends, whereas my father would probably punch someone if they made fun of me. *sigh* I'll be working on letting this go in meditation tonight...

Placed Cable Gone Awry

Placed Cable
Originally uploaded by The Prolific Knitter

While the yarn is soft, that's pretty much all I like about this sweater (and the pattern.) It was definitely NOT written for those of us with some frontage up top. The sleeves as written - 17.5" - are way too short (by about three inches.) The body is also too short for my taste.

I haven't decided yet whether I should just give it away (I'd rather not) or unpick the bottoms of each part and lengthen them. I have about half a ball left (over 100 yards) and I might rip out the cowl too, which doesn't lay at all. At least it was a quick knit! I finished the pieces on the 28th (including the cowl.) While trying it on, though, I realized this was going to fit something funky, and avoided doing the seaming until last night. (Hoping it would grow in my sleep, maybe??)

To be fair, I think I have broad shoulders, though this has yet to be confirmed. That would explain the weird sleeve fitting. On second thought, maybe I'll rip out the cowl and gift it instead... it's pretty obvious to me that this sweater was meant to be knit with a good amount of ease, on a small-busted gal. If you want to knit the Placed Cable for yourself, definitely give yourself some positive ease and add some bust shaping if your girls are bigger than a B. :)


In other knitting news, I'm rewriting the pattern for my Celaeno socks. The originals were knit last year, but when the iBook went kaput, it took the pattern with it. Now I'm knitting it again, this time out of a delicious ShiBui sock yarn from Haus of Yarn. The color is Midnight, appropriate since Celaeno (the harpy, not the wife of Poseidon) means 'darkness.' Here's a shot of the yarn, and you just see the sock in the background:

I'm going to need a couple test knitters for this pattern, one who has very small feet, and one who has larger feet (though not as large as a man's.) If you can knit these for me, I'll provide the yarn to knit them, and a free copy of the pattern once it's done. You can keep the finished socks, of course, but I do want to have them for a day or two to take photos.

About the pattern: It has a lot of cabling, though not a lot of cables. Nothing as intense as the Bayerische socks, but there are a lot of little 2-3 stitch twists. If you've never cabled before, I don't think this would be the best pattern to learn on! I need the two test knitters to give me feedback on the pattern and let me know what's confusing or unclear. If you think you can do that, please email me at nararabbit (AT) yahoo (DOT) com. If you can, point me to a gallery of your finished works so I can poke around. I am on Ravelry, so galleries there are okay too! Thanks!

Edited to add: I now only need a test knitter for the larger size. If you choose to knit this pattern for me, you'll be knitting it in Fleece Artist Sea Wool in Ivory. Just so you know!