Knitting in pink

After my "Too many projects, too little time" post I decided that the 2 important projects for this month to work on were my Dublin Bay socks, for Socktopia and my Center Square hat for Fair Isle February.

And since I had finally received the yarn I was waiting for to knit Center Square, I cast on yesterday morning for it. This is what it looks like now:

Yeah, that is a fully completed Center Square. Once I started working on it I just couldn't put it down. And I finished it that same afternoon. My main complaint of the hat is that it is a little too tall for my head. If I were to do it again with the same yarns I might make a shorter ribbing and skip 2 solid rows at the top. It still fits well enough and keeps my head really warm. It still needs blocking but I might wait on that... I've worn it twice already and with the cold outside I can really use the warm hat. In the picture you can also notice my brand new KP Chart Keeper, which proved extremely useful for this project and will be used more and more.

Stats
The hat was knitted on February 8th 2007.
Yarn: Lamb's Pride Worsted in Chianti and Victorian Pink
Pattern: Center Square from Knitty
Mods: skipped one plain solid row before the decrease to avoid making it even bigger.
Conclusion: My husband said that he would wear a hat like it in manly colors, so I might make another one of these. Maybe for next winter.

I've also been working on my Dublin Bay sock #1. I have just finished the leg and now I have to decide on which heel to do. Either I'll do the heel as written in the pattern, a band heel, a regular short-row heel or a garter stitch short-row heel. 2 of these would be new to me so I have to look into it more before I make a decision.



I really like how the yarn works with this pattern and the striping that is going on. The yarn I am using is from Grafton Fibers, color unknown, bought at Rhinebeck last fall. I call it "Rose Garden in the Fall", which fits the rose theme for Socktopia.

I've got too many things I want to knit and I'm not sure how I can fit everything into one month!

I've got the Austermann Step socks for my husband that I want to finish for Project Spectrum. I'm up to the heel on the second sock. - I have until the end of March so I should be ok.

I've got my Dublin Bay socks started over the weekend on my way to Montreal for Socktopia - February

I'm a little further down the leg, I probably want to knit 2-3 more inches before starting the heel. If I work only on this I might make the pair by the end of the month.

The thing is, I also am part of Fair Isle February and would like to knit Center Square before the month is over. I know that I just finished the Fake Isle hat, but it was finished in January, so it doesn't count for me!

I also received today the yarn I ordered for Thermal. Although I doubt that would be the first sweater I started working on.

And, as written in my last post I just received the yarn for Lady E...

I also want to try making a Calorimetry, and a pair of Fetching! Lol! I wish there were more of me!

I guess I can only knit one thing at the time and the most important things to finish as per self imposed deadlines are my Dublin Bay socks and Center Square. The others can wait a little longer!

I am proud to show you my first fair isle project. Meet Fake Isle Hat from Magknits.

First the cone head shot just after finishing it:

A top shot:


Multiple shots after a good soak, drying on a vase:



Before blocking I was a little concerned about the fit of the hat. I felt that the top was too pointy and that it was a little too tight to be able to pull it down enough so avoid the cone head effect. After the soak I tried it on and the top part stretched enough that the top is flatter, so I think it will fit well. But we'll have to wait until the hat is completely dry to know for sure.

Stats
The hat was started on January 14 and finished January 25.
Yarn: Noro Kureyon in 126 and Lamb's Pride Worsted in Fuschia
Pattern: Fake Isle hat as mentioned above
Mods: I'm pretty sure I used size 7 needles instead of 6s to account for my tight knitting. I also magic looped it after knitting the first 2 rows or ribbing flat.

Conclusion: It was my first experience fair-isling. I had to teach myself to knit Continental so I could knit with a color in each hand. Of course there are some issues with puckering but I am quite pleased with myself. I think that I just might make matching mittens with the leftover yarn!

Next up in Fair Isle will be Center Square from Knitty.

I'm going to leave you with this picture:

Kmkat and her kneedles wants to know what our wallpaper is so here is mine:



This picture was taken by my husband in Shelburne Falls Mass back in August 05. Next to the entrance to the Bridge of Flowers is a little weaving shop where the owner sells a bit of yarn, handknit socks and other cute stuff! And this is just outside her shop.

First:

I have to thank my Secret Pal for this lovely and delicious package received last weekend.

I haven't had a chance to try the hot chocolate yet, but it sure looks yummy. I did try out the marshmallows though, and they are really good!

Thank you Secret Pal!

Second:

I finished chart 1 of my Fake Isle hat.



It's a really fast knit. I think I need to sit down and work on it twice more and I'll be done.

Thirdly:

I got something in the mail today...



These are row markers made specially for me by Beadmarkers. I've bought stitch markers from her before and I saw that she made row markers too. I conveniently found that out after seeing that the stole I want to make (Gothic Leaf Stole by Sivia Harding) has a 20 row repeat. I am really pleased with my purchase, go and check her stuff out!

The last few days have been very productive on the knitting front. I have started 2 new projects and finished 2 projects. Where to begin...

First, let me introduce a completed Bejeweled

artsy photo or just plain out of focus!

Stats
Bejeweled was started on December 27 and finished January 14.
Yarn: Done Roving "Indigo Moon" 50/50 Fine Mohair/Wool
Pattern: Bejeweled by Lisa Shobhana Mason
Mods: Used US 10 needles, Increased till 24 stitches, length is about 60".

I had fun knitting the scarf. The pattern was really easy to knit and it went really fast. The yarn is a little itchy due to the mohair but it looks really nice and keeps the neck warm. I will definitely knit this again.

Second finished object is the garterlac dishcloth by Criminy Jickets. A couple of weeks ago I started obsessing about knitting Lady Eleanor from Scarf Style. And before investing in the yarn and the book I decided to try out the technique, see if I could actually do it! I had seen this pattern before and decided it would be a quick and easy way to try the technique and use some of my dishcloth cotton.

Here are the results of my experiment:



I really enjoyed the technique, it's really simple and the results are really cool. As you can imagine I had tons of ends to weave in. Using 2 colors on the dishcloth wasn't a wonderful idea but I didn't have any variegated cotton in the stash. Also, I am uncertain about the picking up of stitches part. Should I have picked up stitches only on one side? There was no mention of that in the pattern. Any experts on the subject want to comment?

After finishing both Bejeweled and the dishcloth on the same day my fingers were itching to start something new and this is what happened:



I know it's hard to tell what it is so I'll help you. It's the beginnings of the Fake Isle Hat from Magknits. I just couldn't wait any longer! Considering that it's my first fair isle project I think that it's going rather well. The color choice wasn't the wisest, though. The pattern color is very similar to the background color in this section of the pattern. So the fair isle pattern doesn't show very well, but it hides mistakes too! : )

Here's a close up shot



Ok, enough blogging, more knitting!