WIP Wednesday

Still working on my Latvian Garden, still making little mistakes but still LOVING it!

Action shot!

I finished Chart 1. Three more to go!

I'm using CC 1 (the red) for part of Chart 2.

Sharing post with WIP Wednesday.

Repost for Friday

ETA: Still plugging away at the blanket. I worked 3 rows of hearts in red, 2 in bouquet (a heathery purple) and 2 more rows in red. Will add a final row of red hearts and then move on to Chart 2 :)

Reposting for Fiber Arts Friday and Creative Friday.

Color! Why was I so late to jump on the color work bandwagon? I love bright, saturated colors (as Vianden, Aidez, and many more of my projects testify), so color work and I should be natural affinities. Sadly, I was scared of all the twisting of yarn and long floats of yarn that stranding involved, of the bobbins intarsia involves and I just find double knitting a bit tedious.

So I drooled over the Latvian Garden pattern for months. Years, maybe.

Till I decided to jump in last week. And I couldn't be happier! Tension issues, and minor mistakes notwithstanding.

I'm leaving reasonably long floats since the wool is scratchy and the blanket will be lined.

The stockinette curls terribly. As expected, I suppose. The Palette yarn is lovely and saturated but I've found so many frayed and broken bits in the green its disgusting. At  least it splices together like a dream.

I'm sure there will be many more color work projects in my future. And I will need some hand holding and possible Dutch courage for the steek!

Sharing with WIP Wednesday

Farewell, T!

One of the saddest truths about being an expat, living in a mixed, mostly transient community, is that people come and go. They leave to start families. They leave to sometimes return home. They leave to put down roots.

One of my closest friends here, is leaving for good. She's returning to her roots and while I am deeply saddened at her imminent departure (she flies out today), I'm happy that she's happy with her choice to return home. With their family growing, it makes sense for her and her husband to go back.

I dedicate this post to you, T.

Today's FO is the baby blanket I knit for her. I won't be able to meet her or her baby anytime soon and although I will miss seeing her and cuddling the little one (due in a few short months), I hope the blanket will comfort him or her in my stead.

I knit the blanket super fast because I did want to finish it before she left. Since they have decided to keep the baby's sex a surprise, I used a pastel yellow shade, acrylic for ease of washing and larger needles because it doesn't get very cold in Bangalore, where she's headed.

The ribbon finishes the whole thing off nicely. I was hoping the hearts were brown when I bought it, but oh well.

And my label, to remind her of me.

The pattern, as written, has no real edging. I added a crocheted scallop trim to make it prettier.

Finished dimensions are about 30"x 30".

I gave it to her on her farewell a few days ago. She liked it!

Pattern: diagonal tweed baby blanket
Yarn: Lion Brand Pound of Love, pastel yellow colorway
Needles: 6.00 mm (US 10)
Hook: 6 mm

Linknig up with FO Friday, Fiber Arts Friday and Creative Friday. 

happy new year!

New year, new resolutions? Nah. I'm one of the many who don't bother, my reason being that I probably won't keep them anyway. However, the only real one I can think of actually fulfilling is to finish at least SOME of the wips and ufos languishing in my house, frog those three sweaters which I will probably never wear AND use up at least 50% of my yarn stash. Okay so now that does sound like a resolution. Hm.

I finished the test knit I was working on for a fellow Ravelry member, but since the pattern is not out yet, can't really blog about it. Bummer. Except to say it is gorgeous, and I love the magenta like shade of merino I made it in, which is now, sadly, discontinued. Also, since the good folks at knitpicks have raised their prices, I hope my yarn splurges will stop, temporally at least. I bought enough wool of the andes worsted to make three sweaters last year, but other projects got in the way....which hopefully will be off the needles by January. It's SO cold, I wish I had finished some :(
K's due date is tomorrow, and her baby blanket is coming along nicely- I'm on block 10 of the length (had CO for 11 blocks width wise), but I think I may need to add a couple more blocks to make it look more square.

What have you been working on?

Baby blankie redux

I don't know why I find making anything with purling so boring. I'd rather work in the round all the time, even while working lace (which is why I love circular shawls!). However, a baby blanket made in the round is probably beyond my patience due to large numbers of stitches. Or is it just that they look doily like to me?

I offered to make my friend K one. She's expecting her 2nd baby, a boy, in early Jan. I went to the Lion Brand outlet in Carlstadt, NJ with her (she crochets) and we picked out the yarn. Pure wool in worsted weight, red in color. Now pure wool would probably not be my first choice for a baby, given all the hand washing and TLC it would require, but hey, it's her kid right? So I CO with 5.5 mm needles, worked 20 odd rows and decided the resultant fabric was too drapey and not stiff enough for a blanket. I ripped it all out (sigh, yes) and restarted on 5mm needles. Not too much better but it will have more structure I imagine. The yarn feels funny, honestly, it just does not feel worsted to me. Is it just a bum lot? I have worked with lion wool before with amazing results, but I honestly cannot remember how it felt, especially since I used it to make a shawl :D! Rav comments are mostly on how scratchy the yarn is, K will probably want to line it with fabric, which will help with re blocking afterwards I suppose, hope the red will not bleed too much. Anyway she has used this yarn loads of times, so i suppose she knows what she's in for.

I cast on for 11 blocks of 10 st each, and added 5 edge st on both sides. The other time I made this blanket (for yet another friend), I had used thicker yarn, 6mm needles and CO for 12 blocks. It was huge. My lil niece will probably use it for many years. This time though, I was aiming to size down a bit.

I'm so sleepy now, and it's only 10.16. How boring my life is.