Kiri

I've been working on my Kiri shawl again. I hadn't touched it in months, but now I'm a little motivated because I have an outdoor afternoon wedding to attend on the 19th. It would be nice if I could wear this, because other than a fancy event, I don't ever see myself wearing shawls. I must say, though it is looking gorgeous, this project has been the most unpleasant one I've ever worked on. It feels so awkward managing the super-fine yarn on 4.5mm, and the yarn is so sticky that each stitch requires total concentration. Plus there's also the overwhelming pressure to not make a mistake (and the heart-stopping terror when you find a mistake!) because this yarn is so difficult to rip back. I'm sure this shawl will be like giving birth...the end result will be so beautiful that I will forget the pain I went though to get it.

New Scarf

My scarf exchange recipient got back to me, and she was really nice about the whole length issue, but I've decided to make a new scarf. The thing is, on my last email to her, I brilliantly signed my name at the end instead of remaining anonymous, so this is all I'm going to post until she receives her scarf:



Its more Sea Silk! Yeah! At first I was a little bummed that there wasn't more colour choices in the the shops around my place, but after knitting a few inches in, I see that this was a great choice. In fact, I think I like it better than my first scarf!

I'm having second thoughts about the Lorna's Laces yarn for Sockapalooza. I don't think it will stripe the way I want. I emailed Yarntini about McDreamy and am waiting for a reply. There is also this:

Sweet Sheep Self Striping in Changing Tides



which is out of stock, but they will have more in a few weeks,

and
Lorna's Laces in Fresh Stripe:



Also check out Angela's fabulous dye job, in the exact colours I'm looking for! Dyeing my own is also an option. I'm glad I have until July to figure all this out.

Socks

These are the socks currently on my needles:



Waving Lace socks from Favourite Socks. Great pattern.

Speaking of great patterns, I got the perfect pattern for Sockapalooza. They're called "Speedway Socks", and you can find them here. The link is along the right side. At first I was thinking of knitting Jaywalkers, but getting the fit right would be pretty hard. The Speedway Socks look like they will fit better.

I think I've found my yarn as well, but I'm stuck between two choices. Maybe we can have a little vote, and you can tell me which one you prefer. My recipient has asked for self-striping red, blue or purple. My first choice would be Yarntini in McDreamy, but of course that is impossible to get. So my choices are between two Lorna's Laces. Sometimes they stripe, sometimes not.


Yarn #1: Colour - Uptown




Yarn #2: Colour - Ravenswood



Which one would you pick?

Finished Scarf

Here is the completed Sea Silk scarf:

As you can see, it really isn't even long enough to wrap around the neck. But it sure is beautiful, and butttery soft! I bet if I made it one repeat narrower, it would have come out a good length.

The edges were a little uneven from the wires. Next time I won't stretch as much. My recipient still hasn't emailed me back, but I already have some ideas floating around my head in case she would like another one. Maybe a feather and fan shawl with 2 colours of Sea Silk? Maybe a triangular shawl with super-soft Eden Madil bamboo?

New Wires and Magazines

My blocking wires came in yesterday, so last night my sea silk scarf looked like this:



I must say, it was quite a scary experience blocking it. There were such contradicting opinions online on how to block silk, but in the end I went with Eunny Jang, and wet blocked. Also, it was tough getting those wires in! I was scared I would snag the yarn. After pinning, I could see the stitches that the wires went under were pulling out. I'm not sure how I could have corrected that because I weaved in the wire every half inch or less. Maybe I stretched the scarf too much.

I'm not sure if this scarf is going to my exchange recipient any more. I may have to knit something new. The scarf measures only 42" long. Very short! I couldn't find any more Sea Silk in this colour anywhere. I emailed my recipient, and we'll see what she says about the length. Oh well, more knitting is never a bad thing!

While I was out getting the wires, I picked up these:



The last time I bought Knitsimple, I was just learning to knit. The designs in it are still quite unattractive, but the reason I bought it was for the cute amigurumi:

and my favourite:

So adorable! I haven't crocheted amigurumi in a while, and I'm sure I could figure out these dolls eventually on my own, but it's just so much easier to have a pattern in front of you. If you haven't seen much amigurumi, please check out this site. Be sure to see her gallery. Elisabeth Doherty is the reason I learned to crochet in the first place. She has a book coming out this fall, called Amigurumi!: Super Happy Crochet Cute. Can't wait to get that!

Pooling Fixed

Thank you everyone for your pooling tips. I'm knitting from two balls, and so far it's behaving itself. Even though the colour isn't completely even, I can live with it.



I think in the future, the best way for me to fix this problem is to just not buy variegated yarn.

Sock Discovery

Sockapalooza 4 is underway!

I've emailed my recipient, and can't wait to go shopping for the perfect yarn! She likes self-striping superwash, and red, blue or purple, so it narrows down the selection quite a bit. I'm thinking maybe Trekking? Step? I can't really think of anything else. I may have to shop online.

My "sock pal" has emailed me from London, England! She said that she will be going through my blog to figure out the perfect yarn for me, so I decided to look back at what I've made to see if it's an acurate portrayal of my taste, and I made an interesting discovery.

These are the socks I've knit:

The solid coloured socks on the top row I love. I rarely wear them because I like them so much I don't want them to get worn out. Weird, huh?

The vegregated socks on the bottom row...well...I rarely wear them as well, because the colours aren't exactly subtle. I think they're pretty, but just not on my feet.

Here is my sock yarn stash:

Solids:

Vegregated:

The vegregated yarns are arranged such that the one I like most is at the right, and the least favourite at the left.

Notice anything? The coloured socks I've knit are very similar to the skeins on the left.

Why is that? I think it's because I find the Yarn Pirate and Koigu so beautiful, I don't want to screw it up! I would rather keep them in my closet, and every once in a while take them out to admire their colours.

So here is what I discovered about myself: I love sock yarn, I love to knit socks, but I don't knit socks out of yarn that I love. Yeah, you can say it. Very weird.