Wednesday, November 29, 2006

New Yarn!

I've been waiting and waiting and it's finally here!
I ordered this back in August after agonizing over yarn type and color choice for ages, then patiently waited. I eagerly rushed home to the mailbox each day, checking (fruitlessly) for the squishy shipment. After two weeks, I called the distributor, only to find out that the color I wanted was backordered. Did I want to switch?
It had taken so long to choose the color in the first place, there was no way I was going back, I would wait for it to come in.
Flash forward to November, after making countless progress calls and waiting for weeks, the miraculous happened, the shipper had been restocked! My order was on its way!
And on one faithful trip to the mailbox, shortly before Thanksgiving break (and my birthday!) the package appeared. I rushed inside and carefully opened the envelope, gently removing the tissue-paper (aided by the not-so-gentle Berkley), and found inside that which I had been waiting for so long...


It is everything I had hoped for; soft, smooth, with just enough sheen. The color is the perfect shade of peacock, not too green but more than blue. It's stronger than Kidsilk Haze, though lacking the fuzzy halo. It is destined to become the luminous Butterfly; my first real lace project.


The yarn is 1890 yards of laceweight JaggerSpun Zephry, a 50% merino 50% Chinese tussah silk blend in Peacock. I ordered from theknitter.com, and aside from the delay, I am very happy with them - they were extremely helpful, I talked to one of two people each time and they always remembered my order and always gave me status reports, offering to exchange it in order for me to choose something that was already in stock.

I am so excited! I've already started on the frill, and though it is extremely time and attention consuming, it's very rewarding. I'll update on that soon.

I'm headed into finals, it's a little scary when I look over the amount of stuff I have to do in the next two weeks. I'm going to have to lock myself into a room/cafe for days in order to make a dent. But on the bright side - after the 13th, pathophysiology is out of my life forever! (or at least for the rest of my masters program)

Tuesday, November 14, 2006

Berkley's Bed

Continuing in the vein of catching up with old FO's, I present you with Berkley's Bed!

Berkley's Bed

Pattern: Princess Snowball Cat Bed from Stitch and Bitch
Yarn: Whatever the pattern called for, I forget now, in yellow and red
Needles: Again, I followed the pattern, bamboo circulars
Comments: I made this right after getting Berkley (sometime this August). He was so in love with my fuzzy blanket that I figured he'd like a fuzzy bed of his own. It was very easy to make, especially after coming off a bout with the terrible lace/cabled poncho (the same yarn later became Sophie). The only thing I did differently is stuff the sides instead of just folding them over. I then sewed the bottom together with some extra yarn to keep the stuffing from seeping. It gives the sides a stability that they lack on their own. Unfortunately, the most action the bed saw was during this original photo shoot. Since then, it was briefly a thing to bite, and now is pretty much ignored. This is partially my fault as I moved it to a space he doesn't go to often. I should probably move it somewhere else, though it tends to get in the way.

Berkley shows his appreciation

At least I got a couple of pictures out of it

Sunday, November 12, 2006

Sophie

Pattern: Sophie

Yarn: Cascade 220, slightly over 1 skein (Originally intended for a poncho, then the SKB, now multiple Sophies)

Needles: Size 10.5 24" bamboo circulars, Size 10(?) bamboo dpns

Comments: This bag was super-easy to make. I think I may have done too many repeats, as mine used more than the recommended amount of yarn and is a little taller than the one in the picture. I still need to shave off the fuzzies and I'm thinking of adding some sort of flower or pin for decoration. This marks the beginning of Christmas present knitting, though I'm not sure to whom it is going.

Process Photos:

Before felting

Getting wet

No wonder my needles turned red...

Catching up, or: I suck

So I am aparently not so good at keeping up with the blog. This probably isn't a huge problem at this point, because as far as I know, I'm the only one who looks at my blog anyway. But I am going to try to be better, especially right now as I am avoiding studying for my biostats exam.
In order to catch up, I'm going to try and add all of my (photographed) fo's now.
Maybe one of these days I'll actually have a blog worth visiting on a regular basis, until then bear with me!
Lelah

Pattern: Lelah

Yarn: Knitpicks Andean Treasure, in Embers, 5 skeins

Needles: Size 5 (?) bamboo circulars

Detail:

Comments: I loved this pattern. It's the first non-flat thing I've made, as well as my first attempt at lace. It was relatively easy to adjust the pattern to match the gauge of my yarn, though at this point I'm not sure how many stitches I ended up casting on. I think I'll make this one again, potentially in a cotton for the summertime.

Lelah in action: