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

Friday: An FO and some freaky weather

Taken by the Hudson, with the WTC tower in the background

We haven't seen the sun for almost a week here, instead we have fogs and 96-99% humidity levels. Ugh weather. It was so sunny on Sunday too! Sigh.

There are very few times when I stop knitting altogether. That's kind of what happened with this pullover. Unfortunately, it was a test knit, so I do feel bad that I took so long to finish it, but luckily I made the deadline and I wasn't the last to finish, so that sort of consoles me. It was a project that was interesting at first, but got a bit boring too once the lace part was over and there were miles of stockinette to do.

Its a tad loose- an issue most testers have reported to the designer. I had trouble starting the yoke too, but once Nell, the designer, clarified the positioning of the marker it went very well. The lace was actually pretty interesting to do.

I skipped the waist shaping with Nell's permission.

Other than that my only mod was to do a k2p2 rib at the hem instead of k1p1.

I love the color and the yarn. I might have mentioned how much I love the Dolce Merino yarn in my last post...well I can't say enough nice things about it.

Pattern: Daisy
Yarn: Dolce Merino (DK weight) in the Sassafras colorway
Needles: 4.5 mm (US 7) and 5.00 mm (US 8)

Sharing with FO Friday, Fiber Arts Friday and Creative Friday. This is FO #11 of 2014.

P.S- Thanks to all the readers who commiserated with my meltdown post last Wednesday. It's nothing I've (or the DH) has done, just circumstances that are frustrating for us and over which we have no control. Your sympathy is deeply appreciated. Shukriya! 

WIP Wednesday: knitting through a meltdown

When I have a lifarmageddon, I stop knitting and curl up into a (metaphorical) ball. When its just your normal, average meltdown, I knit lace.

The more complicated, the better.

I actually won the pattern for the Mehndi stole on Ravelry. Well, I won a pattern of my choice (the sponsor paid for the pattern) and I chose this. The lattice like cables, the sprawling vines, the smell of henna (ok so that's a memory!), I knew I had to knit this pattern.

Pic taken after 1.5 repeats of chart A

The complicated twisted stitches, the need to read the chart for almost every stitch is exactly what I need right now. It calms me and I can't stop to think! 

Even the reverse looks gorge!

I'm using a yummy, yummy yarn. Its Universal's Dolce merino, a merino and microfiber blend and it is soft! I just knit a pullover with it and it was a dream to work with, no splitting, no fuzz and frogs wonderfully. My swatches didn't grow or shrink either. It's going to be a cuddly wrap.

If the p2together tbls don't kill me first.

Sharing with WIP Wednesday 

Flowers for Friday and every day

Flowers may fade but these pretty little crocheted ones are forever.

I might have mentioned that things were a little tough the last few months. One thing that cheered me up was working on these sunny little flowers for an everlasting bouquet. i enjoyed every part of the process, from crocheting the flowers and leaves, making up my own pattern as I went to gluing yarn to the 'stems' and fitting them all into a mason jar only to discover it wasn't the right height. I'm using an old pasta sauce jar at the moment, till I find something prettier to use.

The flowers were all made from leftover yarn, from worsted to super bulky weight. The leaves and stems are again from stash yarn, but wrapping the stems did use up a fair amount of yarn. While I did use a lion Brand flower pattern for 4 or 5 flowers the rest are my own creation.

I used pipe cleaners for the stems, gluing the yarn and flowers and leaves on with craft glue. It was a messy process!

Overall, quite pleased.

Ravelry entry
Link up to FO Friday, Fiber Arts Friday and Creative Friday.

Wip???

After endless swatching and two false starts all I have left is this:

What does one call a disaster of such epic proportions?! Lol. This just proves I am math impaired. And I can't read directions either. 

Oh- the blue box is where I store my stitch markers. I have quite a few of them it seems. 

Gah! 

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. 

The great switcheroo and hey its Friday too

Hello everyone. Firstly, please excuse any untidiness and missing links etc from the page, which unlike today's project, is still very much a work in progress. I've had a lot of fun with the header, but I'm still behind on updating my blogroll and linking my Google+ account so that anyone who wants can follow this blog.

As I mentioned in my last post on my previous blog, I have decided to focus my blog posts solely on my crafting endeavors as of now. Things at home are in flux and I just don't have the mental bandwidth to deal with anything else right now--except for knitting!

Why the name?

I used to store my yarn stash in my oven when it was small enough to not have taken over the house. I live close to New York city, where women have been known to store shoes, clothes and handbags in their ovens, so I figured an ovenful of yarn isn't really that much of a leap from there. My stash has long outgrown my oven though!

I still love the name.

And now, on to the show and tell.

Today, after many weeks, I'm actually showing a finished object made for me :) I started this beret during the first polar vortex in January, finished it by the second and have been wearing it incessantly ever since. The problem is, I never got around to taking pictures till like yesterday!

The angora merino keeps me cozy even with the lace pattern.

I love the cables!

Pattern: Rose red by Ysolda Teague
Yarn: Cascade yarns Cloud 9
Needles: US 6 & 4

Linking up with FO Friday, Fiber Arts Friday and Creative Friday. I apologize for not having put up your images yet, but will do so very soon.