Grab your knitting needles and come relax with me.
Thursday, February 25, 2010
Keep Knitting...
I have ten inches left of knitting left on the meditation rug. Right now: 382 stitches per round. Depending on how things work out, I think I will have 764 stitches for my border and then I will make a knitted on edging with intricate cables.
I will be lucky if the main portion of this rug is done by closing ceremonies of the Winter Games. I have 90 rows left, but all of this garter stitch is the boring part...the border and edging is the fun part! That will be thrilling...if I can decide the order and placement of the runes. lol
In other knitting news: I think I will be taking my socks out of time out. I am feeling the sock itch again. (No there is NOT a cream for that!) Not sure which sock I will take out first...prolly the cute bees kness knee highs...because I don't beed to seriously rework them like i need to rework the Cat Bordhi socks I am working on that refuse to go over my heel.
Refresher pictures!
These are super cute no thinking required (not my pattern afterall)
Like the cute strappy, but it's pulling the instep too tight. Must solve the puzzle, but I do not, at this time, want to spare the brain cells.
These (I forgot to mention them above), need more design work. I am stalled creatively on these.
Right now my brains is stuck on a few other things more lacey in nature. It's a good thing because I have a new project that I welcomed into my lap (Super Secret though) and my knitting bunnies have been working over time weaving a pattern in my head.
I actually haven't knit on the Citron shawl this week, but I figured it was about time I took pictures. I have been concentrating on the meditation mat and when I need a break from that monotony I knit on the Lilac Blooms Scarf.
Yes lace is my go to relaxation knit.
Anyway, the mat.
I haven't made that much progress really...but it's bigger, but haven't increased at all. I have about 22 more rows till I can increase again. I also realised a few rows ago, it's a good time to practise my continental skills. It's a little stressful on my shoulders (it's cause I am tensing them), but that'll pass once I get better and stop being so tense about it. Grin. Maybe someday I'll be ready to use it in my lace work. I can knit fine continental, it's the purling that I really need to work on.
I am almost done with the first ball. I am so far into it; I am wondering if the 4 hanks of wool was way too much? Not sure, at this point as circles are tricky to work out yarn amounts.
So tonight while I "rest" my shoulder I think I'll knit some lace. That'll be nice and relaxing.
This has pushed it way to the front of my knitting queue.
I have been wanting/needing a meditation mat (or rug) for quite some time and lately the need has become pressing. I came up with the idea last month and finally got the yarn, Knit Picks Bare Peruvian Wool.
It's my pattern, knit from the center out using Pi shaping and I am going to knit runes in cables along the border. The plan is for it to be about 36 inches to 45 inches across. I will be offering the pattern for free once it's finished.
Oh and I started this bad boy on Friday (I got the yarn that afternoon and it was wound up in time to watch the Olympic Opening Ceremonies). It's already nearly a foot across, I am hoping to have it finished before the Closing Ceremonies. Of course, it's going so quickly because it's only the center...just wait until I am on row 197.
I guess I AM knitting an Olympics project after all. ;-)
We've had a week of rain (and then it was Micci's birthday)--so it's been hard to take pictures and it's just been chaotic. And then there's that video game that has totally sucked me in (Harvest Moon: Tree of Tranquility). Let's NOT go into our car problems...major, long drawn out sigh.
I got pictures of the finished Lace Ribbon scarf.
It did soften up in the blocking and I have been wearing it without too much of an itchy neck. It pickles me sometimes but not enough to throw it off in disgust. Grin.
It was a delight to knit and is now a delight to wear. And the fix (I needle felted it) is not noticeable. Woot.
It's nice that I have been able to wear it this late in the season. Yeah, in Texas temps warm up a lot. But this year it's been unseasonably cold (it SNOWED a FOOT in Dallas). As it was it got into the 70s today, before it dropped to 45 suddenly with a evening cold front. (Yes, my head told me a good 2 hours before as the pressure dropped like a penny from the Empire State Building).
Yeah, so I blocked the Lace Ribbon Scarf this morning. And I saw THIS! as I was blocking. I don't think the blocking snapped it (or nearly snapped it)-clearly the yarn is still holding on my the tiniest of threads. I kinda blocked around it until I can fix the break after the scarf dries.
It's smack in the middle too...so I CAN NOT go back and reknit. I think it'll be alright, seeing that it's next to a yarn over-maybe I can spit splice the yarn? I am sneaky crafty so I think it'll come out okay. (Thinking positively here)
The scarf blocked out, measures about 10 inches by 77 inches. It's going to be a nice drapey scarf I think. I did wash it with conditioner (what I use on my hair), so hopefully that'll quell the itchiness factor.
Oh here's a pic of my blocking...ignore the clutter.
The Lace Ribbon scarf is FINALLY done! It only took 18 months... I still need to block it. So it's not 100% done (at least how I record things on my Rav page). It's a rainy dreary day (and nearly the end of the day)-so I will block it tomorrow.
Unblocked though, it is long.
And it will probably grow when I soak and block it, but I quite like (love) long scarves. I am a bit worried because the yarn (even though it is 100% Alpaca) is very itchy on my neck (damn sensitive neck). I am hoping the soak and the conditioner I use softens it up.
Now I can start Citron!! Dance, dance! I still need to wind the yarn. Woot, I get to break in the new Tinky Swift. Hee hee. Technically since I started the snood, I ought to finish that first as well, but technically it did hop into Knitting Bunny-hood, not really Another Designers Pattern.
God, I love technicalities!
And this is the yarn I will be using, the birthday yarn from WEBS.
I am thinking it will look fantastic paired with my brown lace dress.
The problem with knitting scarves (slower than backwards) and BLOGGING about it, it's hard to show interesting progress pictures. Here look it's the scarf, it looks the same, but um it's longer? And because I knit so incredibly slow...I am wondering if my knitting blog can be compared to watching paint dry. What do you think? Tell me, be honest. Smirk.
Well here's Lilac Blooms the same but longer.
It really is a fun knit and easily memorized...I don't even need my pattern notes any more. If I was smart I would work on a draft of the actual finished pattern, so it'll be done and finished once this scarf is completed. (First I gotta steal back my desktop from the kids).
Because I don't have enough to knit, this weekend I started a new project. It was at first someone else's pattern, but then because I am me I just started doin' my own thing. So a hat turned into a snood. (I have been wanting to make a snood for a while now).
I know it doesn't look very snoody, yet. Does it look snoody from this angle?
No? Yeah, looks like a blob to me too. I am not sure if it WILL be a snood once I am done, but I have hopes. High grand hopes. It's going to fly off the needles soon though, as I am knitting on size 9 needles.
I am in desperate need of a finished project. Oh what happened to the Lace Ribbon scarf that was very nearly complete? I am still plugging away...I just got, erm, distracted. Grin.
I am waiting for it to grow to my size. I think I have one more foot of knitting...I think. Heck, this may turn into The Scarf That Never Ends.
