rope. tree. fan. spear. snake. wall.

Monday, October 15, 2012

Namarië


Right, so I said I'd post Namarië pics when I got some light, and day did eventually arrive, but of course I haven't made a whole lot of progress because this is really a stitch-by-stitch pattern. Essentially, I'm trying to combine this:

... with this.







... only I have slightly different yarn, more green and blue, no yellow and orange. As you can imagine, it's very time- and attention-consuming, but so far I'm liking the way it looks.

I have no idea how long it will take me to get this done. Here's my progress so far. I haven't decided what I'm going to put on the sleeves yet, but at this point I'm thinking not of poetry, but of something decorative, simple, and very, very repetitive.

Meanwhile I'm working on the Flinders Sweater Vest in parallel, to satisfy my occasional (TV, public transit, stitch n bitch) need for miles of plain stockinette.

There. I've posted about Namarië. Now I'm committed.

Saturday, October 13, 2012

various and sundry

Wow, I didn't realize it'd been so long since I'd written anything! I didn't have anything to blog about for what seemed like ages, and now I find myself up to my ears in FOs!

Here's one of the things I made - Adriprints's Orange Blossom Camisole, which in my size uses exactly one skein of Fyberspates 4-ply, and when I say exactly I mean I had to cannibalize the swatch. I loved the yarn, loved the pattern - I followed the instructions to the letter (erm, except for the provisional cast-on and knitting the waist ribbing downward, because I was (rightly) worried about having enough yarn) because it was a test-knit, but for myself I think I'd've made wider straps.

Another test-knit, also for Adriprints, was this Amaranth Shawl, written as a two-color shawl but she did ask for one tester to do it in one color with beads and I jumped. The yarn is Wollmeise Twin, and I actually had beads of the right size in exactly this color, but they disappeared right into the yarn, so I decided to use the blue-lined clear beads, hoping they'd look like water droplets. I think they do.


Aaaand while I was finishing up Amaranth, a friend had a baby girl! And I have this project I've been sitting on while my friends kept having boys, so I threw that together over my trip to Bavaria last weekend. This is Violet Green Socrates, which I understand is discontinued, and the pattern is actually a Yarnissima sock pattern called Kiila. I applied the cable to a 5-hour baby sweater. I blocked it yesterday and dried it overnight.

While I was in Bavaria, I made it over to the Wollmeise store in Pfaffenhofen, which was a nice way to spend a nice day. She has a new DK weight, which makes me happy happy joy joy! because I really do prefer heavier yarn so I can finish a project in, oh, less than a year, but my favorite dyers seem to favor finer weights. So I bought a skein of DK in the Nautilus colorway and swatched it today. It's superbouncyfun to work with, but I'm not sure what to make with it - okay, actually I am pretty sure I want to knit Anney, but that needs two skeins and I only have one and I'm not sure I want it in Nautilus anyway so I have to go back for more yarn. Oh, the hardship...

So, ergo and therefore! All these done projects, plus this not-yet project, have freed me up to work on Namarië, which I have finally picked up again. Stranded knitting has always been a challenge for me, and my first attempt (in 2008) was altogether too tight and rumpled-looking because I couldn't keep my floats loose enough. I think I've gotten better at that. The color progression in the first draft looked FAB, at least the ribbing and the first few rows, but when I dug the project out I found a HOLE in it! No idea why, but that (and the fact that I re-did the numbers and re-jigged the pattern) meant I needed to start over.

That's where I am right now. It's raining today, but I'll post Namarië pictures when the light's better - so, you know, April or so.