Fresh, Hot Wastes of Time

Girl’s tie front bolero

Originally uploaded by addlepated

I made this out of Wollmeise Twin in the Spice Market colorway.

This was a really, really miserably written pattern that I bought for $6 because both kids wanted a shrug made from it.

Imagine my horror when I downloaded the pattern and realized that it was knit in five separate pieces, all flat! Even the sleeves were knit flat and had instructions like, “Working 16 row pattern as given for 4th size of Back starting with 9th row of patt counting first and last inc sts as one st on inc rows worked on Back. Work 64 rows inc in st at each end of 9th and every foll 8th row, working inc sts in patt. 49 sts.”

WHAT THE HELL DOES THAT MEAN??

Friends and neighbors, I pondered on those two sentences for two hours. An hour per sentence. And then, I said to myself, “Self? Why are we pondering on this? Let’s write our own sleeve pattern! We know what stitch count we need!”

And damned if I didn’t write my own sleeve pattern.

Bolstered by my success, I went on to adapt the body pattern to be knit flat so as to avoid having to seam up the sides. I’m currently working it this way on the second shrug. So far, so good. I have written up my extensive pattern notes on my

Lia Sweater

Originally uploaded by addlepated

Since finishing my 10 Shawls in 2010 challenge, I wanted to branch out into something different. I really enjoyed knitting cables for the WWII Watch Cap I made a while back, and this fall’s issue of Knitty came up with the pattern that spoke to me. So I purchased the yarn – Malabrigo Chunky in Burgundy – and set off to work.

The yarn was a royal pain to wind but very nice to work with and wear. You can see more details about my saga on my Ravelry project page.

Currently I’m knitting a couple of shrugs for the kids, but I really want to do some more cabled stuff!

Not a Drop

Originally uploaded by addlepated

I started this way back in May, and it was going to be my “on the road” project when we traveled to New Orleans during the summer. We ended up not going, so the poor little work in progress sat on the needles hibernating until I finally finished it in one fell swoop around September. Then it was so long that I decided to block it in half, which necessitated acquiring PVC pipe, so it sat for another few weeks unblocked. Now it has finally gotten the love it deserves and is blocked and finished.

Yarn: Wollmeise 100% in Herzblut.
Pattern: Not a Drop

Reverb Shawl

Originally uploaded by addlepated

This Reverb Shawl was a test knit for Melisa McCurley. I knit it up in some really gorgeous Fiber Optic Foot Notes sock yarn that is an intense purple. Unfortunately, my camera doesn’t show purples, so it comes out as an intense blue in the picture.

It’s a modern looking pattern in an asymmetrical shawl.

Spring Is In the Air

Originally uploaded by addlepated

Yet another shawl. In case you’re wondering why I’m making so many shawls, I have two answers for you. First is that here in Texas, we don’t get very many genuinely cold days, so shawls are perfect to wrap around your neck when it’s cool out. Second is that I’m participating in a 10 Shawls in 2010 challenge on the knitting site Ravelry — and this one is number eight!

This is my Spring Is In the Air, made from Wollmeise Twin in Petit Poison Nr. 5. I ran out of yarn twice on this shawl, which was a minor tragedy because this is German unicorn hair wool and very hard to come by. Happily, I found a kind Raveler who sent me a few extra grams of the same colorway she had – only to run out of yarn again 10 stitches away from binding off the entire shawl. I made use of my cast on tail and managed to bull through it all, only to realize that for whatever reason, the bind off was too tight and I couldn’t block out any points. I suppose I could have called this my Comedy of Errors shawl, but I did persevere and make a halfway decent garment.

Abrazo

Originally uploaded by addlepated

Here’s my Abrazo. I picked out the yarn – Knit Picks Gloss, combo merino and silk, very nice – and brought the leftover beads from my Shipwreck Shawl with me to New England and thought it would be a relaxing bit of vacation knitting. Ha. Instead I ended up doing the 367 stitch cast-on three separate times before it stuck, since this shawl is knit from the bottom up, and I couldn’t talk to anyone when I had a piece of floss strung full of beads dangling from my mouth. However, once the lace was finished, the stockinette portion zoomed by, and the short row construction was very cool.

Gail – detail

Originally uploaded by addlepated

Here’s a detail shot from my Gail Shawl. I made this for myself to wear as a Matron of Honor shawl for my very longest-time friend’s wedding in New Hampshire this August. The yarn was Handmaiden Sea Silk, which is made from silk and sea weed, and perfect for a wedding at sea (although trying to buy two skeins that 1) matched and 2) looked like the color on the manufacturer’s website was, in the end, impossible).

This shawl is enormous. I can use it to hang glide.

This is possibly the silliest thing ever. I wrote this for a Ravelry contest in the Selfish Knitter’s group. An ode to all those tired of ripping, tinking, and frogging. Sing it with me (to “When You Wish Upon a Star”).

When you rip upon a scarf
Makes no difference where you are
Every stitch of that attire
Will come unglued

If you come upon a seam
No hard tug is too extreme
When you rip upon a scarf
As froggers do

Fate is kind
She brings to those who tink
Ample reasons to think
They’ll be reskeining

If it’s laceweight or it’s bulk
There’s no reason you should sulk
When you rip upon a scarf
Your seams stay true.