End Of Year Round-Up

The tally of FO’s broken down into catagories for the year** is:

16 Work
5 Others
10 Me, Me , Me which leads to SUCCESS! Woo Hoo I hadn’t realized I knit so many small thingies for me. Forget that the two lacies [Siberian and Doily] were actually done and only needed a few ends woven in or blocking and forget that I plan on tinking the tank *someday* Still its @1/3rd of my knitting being for moi which was a goal for the year and purpose of blogging~to keep track. I am totally pleased. The do a sweater for myself and knit 7 pairs of socks goals didn’t fare as well but eh. Oh not pictured in the It’s all about ME ME ME gallery are my half finger mitts which I have officially completed but not photographed yet. And no I am not running upstairs to snap a quickie either.

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This is the Tee I finished for Unique Kolours a few weeks ago. Giotto Yarn color 160 “RIO” very pretty.

OK done for obligatory end of year blog report cyas on Monday. Til then HNY filled with many yarny days and knitterly evenings :^>

** Since I started the blog in Feb. We do have other work FO’s before then ~trade show is in late Jan~ but still close enough to 1/3rd to make me happy

Finally FO And One Knitter’s Prayer

Let us begin with a couple of FOs. First we have the ex-filthy socks: Image298.jpg
followed by the finally blocked shawl: Image297.jpg
See I really do know how to knit.

The socks are Toe Up~my first and come from a kit put out by Bonkers. The colorway is Plum. The yarn has that plasticy feel some machine washable wools get but there is no notation that the wool is machine washable. The shawl comes from some wool/silk blend found in my stash. Actually spun by the now defunct Lumb mill{the same mill that did a lot of stuff for Rowan yarns} and feels kinda dry even post washing. Like paper almost. It was very rough to knit with and is now softer but is relegated to summer time wear. If anybody has the desire to knit a shawl out of it I do have one more hank of the yarn…. I used less than one hank for this shawl.

This is the time of year when many knitters discuss how much knitting they have to do and send out little prayers that the gifties will be well received. We also get notes about ungrateful relatives who have no appreciation for the time and skill that went into making said gift. I don’t knit holiday gifts for my family although I am considering breaking that rule. I do give handknit gifts year round however. Anyway I decided to add my own little prayer to the long list of poems/prayers out at this time of the year.

Oh Thomas, EZ, Walker, McGregor, Swansen, PGR and other knitting goddesses in addition to Fietelson, Szabo, Starmore, Thompson, Bush and other knitting high priestesses PLUS all knitters who have toiled in the name of their craft puhlease grant me the strength to not start another project. I am overwhelmed by the variety of stitches and yarns that tempt me daily.

There is the loverly top down ala Walker:Image299.jpg,

the shetland shawl ala EZ:

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We also have the fingerless mitts needing only a dozen yarn ends woven:Image307.jpg

and another shawl “Shetland Tea shawl”: Image300.jpg

with its loverly first out of three lace patterns already complete:Image301.jpg.

Of course I do realize work must come in the way of pleasure and there is the pullover for Unique Kolours:

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and the just arrived today Beach Bag for K1C2:Image306.jpg. Should I falter in my resolve could you please assist me from picking a small project such as one of these that have been set aside to be done asap: Ribble socks, Peticoat socks and Shadow Hat:Image302.jpg I shall not mention la Princessa which only has 1.5 of the 60ish starting edge points done.

Humbly your faithful servant, Elka

Finally!!

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Whew…finally done with the poncho. It took way longer than a few hours to do the edges. I like this one more than the bunting. Something to do with being olive toned and all those mossy and yellow greens in the bunting vs the hot pink, purple and spicy red in the poncho. Does the whew and finally sound like the knitting was a chore? It wasn’t. A very simple and enjoyable knit. BUT hello I wanna knit the Alchemy Yarns project soooooooooooo bad.  I get to start on that tonight. I did swatch it this weekend. Its Synchronicity a merino/silk blend and yummy to the max. The colors are the semi-solids and I hope its not rude to say this but upscale luxe luxe luxe Manos. Ok not manos but the same kinda color variation. I am sure I am missing some subtle accent colors since the site says its painted instead of done in a single dye bath. Please go check them out. They have several one skein projects that come gratis with a hank of yarn and the owners are extreemly nice. The yarn is ahem yum yum yum. You will get to see some knitted up wonderfulness tomorrow.

Tagliatelli Dreams

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A little trunk show for my readers. I have been working for Unique Kolours lately and just finished 3 items. I figured I might as well show them off before sending them back to company. The kimono, one of my WIPs from last week, is made from Tagliattelli and I am in love. Yes love. I have a love/hate relationship with handpainted yarns. I admire them in the hanks and in other people’s FO’s but I have problems working with them. Its all about how the colors pool. On 100 ish sts[a back say for a WW 40″ sweater] the colors fall differently t han they do on 40 ish sts[ a sleeve cuff] and this annoys me. NOT in other people’s knitting but in *mine* Like a split st that nobody else would ever notice it stands out as a flaw cause I notice it while knitting. Tagliatelli has overcome this irk. I love all of it. I see myself wearing a nice close fitting pullover with a high neck in it looking inexplicably thin. Thin with fuller non graying hair, clear skin being charming and witty and a deadly beauty. I do not have a youth worship since I have never been charming or witty or thin. I have had fuller non graying hair and clear skin. But I wouldn’t live through the insecurities of youth or give up my children for anything. However my children would allow this one garment to survive unscathed by prodding fingers or bodily fluids. Thats the most polite way I could think about putting it. But babies sux for nice garments. BTW very sorry for fuzzy picture– I used this as the backdrop for several other pics so you can see the loveliness from those.

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Next we have a point sweater in Giotto. Its an odd shape. Worked in one piece to armholes with decreases along front edges. When worn the fronts hang way down and the back hitches up. But I enjoy working with Giotto and I like the crispity fabric it produces.

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Lastly we have some baby stuff for Mission Falls cotton yarn. I enjoyed working with the yarn more than I expected. Generally I don’t enjoy cotton but this one zipped along. Really it has some zippity feeling as it flows through fingers. The bunting is missing a zipper. Do you notice the increases along the bottom? This shape is caused by Casting On 2 sts at beginning of several rows. When it got time to mattress st my garment together I had holes where I had increased the sts. Too much of a gap[almost half an inch] from end of last row to beginning of new row I guess. I turned to crocheting my seams together. A big first for me and I rather like it. Will be spending more time exploring it as an option. The bonus was that the stripes matched up perfectly. Sometimes when mattress stitching, even if you match up row per row, the stripes end up half a stitch off. Like the dreaded jog I think this is caused by pulling up on the working thread. Anyway next to it is yet another odd color combo[ I think the bunting has a slightly discordant color combo] for a poncho. Same yarn, same stripe pattern, same designer with same color sense. It might float other people’s boat.

OK thats it for today. Tomorrow look for my very knitterly weekend report. Yes it will be tuesday but darnit its a long weekend.