Ketchup

In the interest of avoiding tear-induced boredom while I am vacationing on Sleeve Island, here's an update of my (paltry) summer knits. Like a lot of you out there, I was hit hard by the Summer Knitting Blahs, so my FO list for 2005 is a short one.

The Bitch

Pattern: Bonne Marie's Gigi
Yarn: Brown Sheep Cotton Fleece, MC=Candied Apple, CC=Caramel (I couldn't resist!)

Technically, this is a Fall/Winter Ought Four project. Technically, it was also an easy project. But in My Little Knitting Universe, cotton just happens to be my Kryptonite. Even a lovely blend like Cotton Fleece had me crying for my mamma. Add to my ongoing gauge woes (resulting in me knitting right handed rather than my usual leftie stylee) my sudden need to make tubular cast ons and cast offs in 1x1 ribbing and size 2 and 3 (!) needles... and Gigi quickly became known as "The Bitch".

I knit this sweater five times before getting it right.

Bitch.

But now I love her.


It's always the quiet ones, I tell ya!


Tubular cast on hem in 1x1 ribbing


Tubular bound off edge in 1x1 ribbing

The I'm Moving to Portland! Shawl,
Take Two

Pattern: Charlotte's Web Shawl, Koigu
Yarn: Koigu's Premium Painter's Pallette Merino (KPPPM) in various purty colorways.

Both pattern and yarn purchased at my old LYS Yarn Paradise

This was my second take on the shawl. The first one went to my friend/real estate guru SuperAwesomeNatureLady AKA "C". She helped me to sell our house back in Asheville FSBO, and AS IS. AS fracking IS. So I knit her a "Thank you, you kick ass!" shawl and included little silver letter block beads in the crochet border that spelled, you guessed it: "A-S I-S" etc. etc.

I loved hers so much I knit one for myself. This is a great pattern for keeping you occupied enough to not worry (too much) about selling a house, moving across country, and finding a job, while being easy enough to also allow you to watch things like "Queens of Comedy" uncut at one o'clock in the morning (while sitting on an old futon in an abandoned house with nothing but a teeny tiny TV and a box of Special K Red Berries).



Take Two lounging after over an hour of futzing


The Glamorous I-Can't-See-Any-Details-You-Twit Shot


That's more like it...

The Manos of Fate

Pattern: Glampyre's One Skein Wonder.
Yarn: Manos del Uruguay kettled dyed heavy worsted weight yarngasm in reds/purples/blues, purchased at my other LYS Earth Guild.

I bought the yarn on a whim February of Ought Three (I think, it was snowing) because... well it's Manos. For the next two years I'd take out the skein, rub it against my body in suggestive ways, and put it back in my yarn cabinet. I didn't want to make another scarf or hat or something out of this, I wanted to make something special. Then Glampyre came up with this super fantastic pattern and you could almost hear the stars clicking into place.


Eet ees to swoooon...


So that's it. It seems the more experienced I become at this craft, the s-l-o-w-e-r it's getting. The result is fewer projects, but I think I love them a little more as well.