Many knittings but no blogging

I have been a busy little bee but haven't been able to blog because I got a new computer and everything is different so I am still trying to figure things out. But here it goes for now.

Peony Shetland Triangle shawl

Here's a close up of the shawl


The whole shawl. You can see where the skein changed because the color is slightly different.


This is my baby making a funny face posing for me :-)


Firebird Clapotis

This is at the end of increase, before the "even" row.


I am about half way through now, but putting it aside for christmas knitting


Sunrise Circle Jacket

This was done before the Thanksgiving trip and not a christmas present. In fact, nobody will really ever get an adult sweater that's not related to me or share my last name. Sleeves are a bit longer but I can live with that


My second Pomatomus sock out of MamaBlue seasilk yarn.


love it, love it! I have to confess: it was gonna be a present but I like the finished object too much and couldn't let it go.

My favorite model showing the Yarn Harlot's Unoriginal Hat:

I love the smirk on his face. This is going to charity.

Series of Koolhaas hats. First up is The Fiber Company's Road to China:


Side view:


Top view as the model tries to run away (tired of modeling)


Immediately caste on for the second one right after. Using Sundara's worsted weight yarn (color mossy)

(my model is napping so didn't get a picture of him wearing it)

Working on the third one out of cascade 220 worsted in silvery color:


Okay, I am gonna breath now and go learn how to back up the computer.

The new Twisted Collective is up

This one just screams my name. The subtle front, the dramatic back and the color.

Love small cookie cutters!

Baking has slow down but not before I made these adorable animal cookies. Don't you just love my adorable ladybug timer? :-)

It's been too long

It's been too long since a knitting picture has appeared on this site. We are catching up today. Here's picture of us down at Santa Cruz to check out some yarn shop and have yummy lunch at Gayle's Bakery. Their lavender cookies are so good! Mary wearing her *just* finished sweater vest. Evil Chelsea introduced us to Gayle's :-) She was so nice to be the chauffeur for the day.


I got some buttons for the BSJ at the Yarn Place in Santa Cruz. I did not bring the sweater but knew I needed some turquoise and was very surprise they are such a good match.


Here's Orion modeling the BSJ. It's clearly too small but I thought it was very funny he looks like a tiny gay man purposely wearing shirts too tight.


Here's a picture of the End Paper mitten before it's ripped out. I needed the white yarn for a project plus this was too tight so I did not want to make it and not fit me. Will try again with bigger needle. (used 3.0mm this time)


Here's the twisted stitch practice from Cookie's Cable class (arranged by the Guild here). This was challenging because I had to cable on the wrong side too (if I had done it in the round, I would not have to cable on the wrong side) This is the class that sent me home searching for the Twisted Flower pattern that I couldn't find for the longest time.


Finally finished the second Daisy Stitch mitt. I made a big mistake, can you see (I'll give you a hint, it's the left one)? Kinda bugs me A LOT but I only noticed it after everything was finished. What to do? Make another one and chuck the defective one out?


Alright, this jacket took forever. I think it's the stitch; it's a slip ribbing pattern. You can't really see it, but it's really doing the whole sweater in ribbing. The button bands are puckering up. Gonna do some blocking to see if it will help. Still have to add buttons.




I immediately cast on for the Sunrise Circle Jacket. I've had the yarn and pattern for a while. What prompt me to do it now is: I am making myself do a Kate Gilbert pattern before I can buy another Kate Gilbert pattern (and more importantly the yarn for it). I've been dying to do Wisteria and this is bit of delay of instant gratification. Back to Sunrise Circle Jacket: I love the yarn. It's brown Plymouth Tweed but it's the little orange and green bits in it that I love.


Gotta find a way to upload pictures more often....

Obsessed

Okay, I just have to get this out of my head. Even that might not do any good.

I've been obsessed about the Wisteria sweater from Twist Collective. This is the first none cardigan sweater that's makes me want to make it and make it NOW. Maybe it's because the design is so simple and elegant. Maybe it's the none reverse st stitches around the cables. Or maybe it's just great photo. I don't know. All I can do is delay myself by making me work on the current sweater (and hopefully finish) so I can cast on a Kate Gilbert sweater that I already have the pattern (Sunrise Jacket) and yarn before I go head and buy the pattern and yarns for Wisteria.

Lots of photo to show. Will post soon.

I am not crazy!

I found them!!! They fell off the bookshelf on the back and it was on the back of the bookshelf. It feels good knowing I am not crazy; that I did not just think I have them, I actually have them. Thanks for your sympathy. It made me know that I am not alone :-)

Now I just have to find the diamond shape in the baby's puzzle and the the newly acquired toy train engine (he's only planed it for less than one day!)

Just need to vent

I can't find two sock patterns I got from one of the Stitches West. One is BMFA's Ceder Creek and the other is Twisted Flower. I know I bought those patterns because I really like them and wanted them for a while. It's just upsetting because I try to keep a neat house so I know where my things are. So not being able to find them is driving me crazy because that objective of knowing where my things are is not achieved! Very very frustrated (more frustrated because we just took a class with Cookie and I wanted to make that Twisted Flower sock)!!

This is why I haven't been knitting

My good friend, Pam, gave me a baking book and I've been baking cookies none stop. So it's all her fault that I haven't been knitting. ;-P

It's too hot to knit sweaters

It's been too hot to knit sweater so I've been knitting socks like mad. I forgot how quick they are. Here's the finished Merlot Monkey Sock. It's BMFA's STR lightweight's rare gems color way I picked up from Stitches West. I thought Monkey might be a good idea for it. What do you think?


And what's so neat is the color matches Jasmin's hair color! That's her posing with the sock on the WWKIP day.



The Baudelaire was finished before the Merlot Monkey got started. Here's a finished photo.



I actually started another sock (pomatomus) before the monkey was finished. The color is so just so intense I needed to take a break from it. I think the pattern and the yarn color is good together, no?



On a non knitting related note: We went to the DeYoung Museum up in SF for father's day. It was free and the new Chihuly exhibit was opening that weekend too. Thanks to our friend Renee and Stephen's family we were able to go to the cool things that happen around the bay area. Baby seems to like it too!

What I did in May

It's been too long. I will blog more often I promise. It's just I don't upload photo often because I don't trust my old computer so each time I upload, I need to back it up to an external hard drive. Now the same old computer doesn't have enough memory thus making the whole back up thing kinda manual and hard. I don't want to talk more about this, I am just hoping to get a new computer soon.

Now, some knitting content. I've been working on the Trapeze Jacket from Stitch Diva Studio using the Newton's yarn I got from Stitches West. I am holding two strains together to get the right weight. It's 60% cashmere and 40%wool. So soft. I admit the color seem like a good idea in the beginning but after knitting up some I am feeling that the color is really loud. I just need to wear something back with it or something. [Ravelry Link]



Now the jacket is taking a lot longer to knit (then the last one) because it's slipped stitch and the fabric construction is just dense. The weather getting warmer didn't help either. I did not want to touch it for a while. I did manage to pick some socks up and finish them.

Here's the Earth Day Sock 2008. I am calling it Earth Day Sock because I started the first Earth Day Sock last year with a color way call Earth Day. And I thought this color way is a bit earth like, so why not keep the tradition of casting on another Earth Day Sock on Earth Day (April 22). These are just plain top down sock but it's knitting with one of the most luxurious yarn: Handmaiden's Casbah (I think color way Nova Scotia). Another knitter joked that she doesn't want to go back to her other sock yarn after working with this.



There other second sock I finished was the Gentleman's Fancy Sock from Nancy Bush's Knitting Vintage Socks. Here it is being worn by the baby as a thigh high stocking :-)



After finishing some second socks, I immediate casted on a new sock. This is Cookie's Baudelaire on Knitty using Mama Blue's Sea Merino in "Penny" color way and using my favorite sock needle: Susanne's ebony 2.5mm.


i am craving for some pink color though...might start something else soon.

My first adult size sweater!

I really like the sweater. I love the color, I like the pattern and everything. It would have fit better if I do the next size up. But I was afraid of running out of yarn since the size I did called for 1430 yards and I only had 1400 yards. It turns out I could have done the next size up because I had one whole skein untouched! [ravelry link]




Earth Day Sock
I finished the Earth Day socks! I casted it on Earth Day last year and after finishing the first one, I didn't touch it for almost a year. I think it's having to tackle the Japanese short row that was making me procrastinate. In the end that was a good reason because I did a bad job with the Japanese short row on the second sock. They turn out a little longer for me so I might make them a gift. [ravlery link]


Gentleman's Fancy Sock
First of the Gentleman's Fancy Sock from Knitting Vintage Sock with Schaefer Anne yarn is done. I hope the color is not too complicated for the pattern. [ravelry link]


Retro-Style Shrug
Retro Shrug from Lace Style with Malabrigo in Stonechat color way. Two skeins of Malabrigo worsted was just enough (cutting pretty close) for the medium. I think large would fit me better though. That means we'll need more then two skeins for sure (with lots of left over). [ravelry link]

Small FO's, updates and Stitches West

Citron Jaywalker
Finished the first pair of jaywalker for me. After finishing a pair for the sock pal last year and the failed pink one (just too big and did not decide to rib until about 70% done with the second sock!), finishing one was all I could manage before putting it away for a long time. By the time I picked it up again this year, the month had chew two holes in the heel. You can see the darning on the left one with a different color (red, blue I believe). I probably wouldn't darn socks except I haven't even wore these yet. I know, the striping of the two is very different. Ravelry project info.


Pattern: Jaywalker (the larger size)
Yarn: Sundara socks in "Citron"
Fit: 8 1/2 inch
Needle: US 2 (2.75mm) Circular (when th wooden ones broke) and Susan Bates Silvalumes (realized like the wooden ones better)

Jailhouse Rock Monkey


Pattern: Cookie's Monkey from Knitty (love this pattern! So easy to memorize, it's like doing stockinette like January One said)
Yarn: Blue Moon Fiber Arts Sock that Rock light weight in Jailhouse Rock color way.
Needle: Blue Skye Alpaca US 2 (good needles, but too expensive and I think I like the longer dpns so I only need to use four instead of all five)
Ravelry info for this monkey

Pumpkin Hat

Used left over Deam in Color Classy for the top. It's cute interesting effect. Didn’t do such a good job hiding the stitches on top but made the green part look more 3D.
pumkin hat info.

FFL update
Finished second repeat of chart 2 and gazillion more stitches to go. Sorry to sound a bit discouraged, it's just according to the percentage chart, this is only 22% done. But the beauty of the pattern and yarn will keep me going.



Ravelry info for FFL

Stitches West Finds
There were so many treats at Stitches West and one of the most impressive items I saw was this vest knitted by a lace knitter and designer Joyce Williams.

This was knitted on a 000 size needle and took longer then most of the intricate shawls she makes. Here's a close up:


And this is the awesome Ravelry wall image that everybody loved:

Daisy, Dragon and the Red Socks

Here are some recent projects. Been working on the Daisy Stitch Hand Warmer from the PurlBee. It's super cute and when I saw it in the store, just couldn't resist. Making a pair for Joanne and one for me. Ravelry info here.



Replacing the "Coral Reef" with "Jungle" here. Will make another pair that has Coral Reef.

It's an arm warmer for the baby!



This is the Dragon Scaled Mitts from the purlbee too. Yes, I browsed through their projects and started doing all the ones that I like. I used a 3.00mm instead of US3 (3.25) and I think it's a bit too tight for my comfort even though everybody says the mitts should be nice and snug. I might do the second one in 3.25 just to see if I like it better. On, the yarn is Blue Sky Alpacas Melange. I just loved the color. It has a bit of red peeking out once in a while too. Ravelry Info.



This is the second of the big red socks (first one given to the recipient already) I made for my cousin who's a big red socks fan. Making big men socks are not the most exciting thing. It just goes on and on...Sent it to Maine yesterday.

It's Been Too Long

It's been too long since I last posted, but rest assure there has been much knitting.

The baby blanket from dream in color. Gosh, Ravelry makes it so easy to update the project info now it makes me lazy to have to look up and link up info here.
Dream In Color Classy Happy Forest (Just more then 3 skeins!)

This Surprise Baby Jacket was made for a friend's new child and Orion's modeling it down there. My friend is a big google fan so google colors were used in this sweater.

Modified "Fetching" out of Manos de Uraguay Silk Blend. I think I will make one for myself out of the green one on top. Oh, the one on the left is a 3x2 rib out of the the multi color, woodland.

First sleeve for the Twist Cardigan by Bonne Marie Burns using Sundara's Worsted yarn. No, it's not what you think. I am starting on the sleeves first.
Crossed Over Jacket in Simply Baby by Debbie Bliss.
I must complain about this sweater. If you noticed the model in the book is lying down. Well, the whole back of the shirt is in 2x2 rib and that includes the neck. There are no special instructions on finishing of the back neck so when I first put the jacket on, the neck area was stretching so much that it would not stay on him! I had to improvise to stop the rib from stretching. It's like this book "When bad things happen to good knitters" says: when the picture doesn't clearly show the finished product, they are hiding the flaws in the design. Now I know that's why the baby was lying down!!

Cabled Hat from Classic Elite's Uptown Knitting. As I use the baby to model the hat, my husband says to me "and you wonder why people think your son is a girl?"
Side view to see the braided icords.
And we saved the best for last: Knitted Thanksgiving meal saw at a LYS in Noe Valley, SF