There are no words!
This fabulously 80′s colorway is 107B, dye lot 6, and I cannot wait to knit it up into a new pair of elbow-length armwarmers. I initially planned to knit up the same pattern from The Purl Stitch to replace my previous set, but now I’m planning to design something incorporating slipped stitched to play up the colors in handpainted yarns. While I think the original gauntlets are quite gorgeous, I think the shape of armwarmers is perfect for a little stitchwork to better show off the yarn! And with yarn this gorgeous, showing it off is all I really care about . . .
And speaking of Koigu, my solid colored Cecil socks are progressing nicely. Here’s how the first foot looked a few days ago:
I’ve since finished it and am about half-way done with its mate, just picked up stitches for the gusset and am about to start the foot. I just noticed that this semi-solid Koigu KPM color (color 2171, dye lot 113) looks a lot like stonewashed jeans! Kind of funny to think about knitting with washed out jeans . . .
Design-wise, I am finalizing a submission to IK and hope to have it in the mail by Wednesday this week. I intended to submit to Twist (btw, have you seen the new issue? It’s pretty awesome!) but the design I had in mind just didn’t work out when I started to swatch it, it got way too complicated way too quickly. It seems to be the case with many of my ideas, either it’s a simple, straightforward idea that works right away, or it’s a complicated design with too much going on at once. I wish there were more ideas that fell into a happy medium between the extremes!
It’s a scorcher of a day today in NYC so we’re staying indoors with the A/C on and a puppy between us on the couch. Bodes well for knitting productivity!
One of my latest acquisitions is 2 skeins of the new Spud & Chloe Fine, which is sort of like sock yarn but is an 80/20 blend of wool/silk, so to me seems destined for shawldom. The color palette in all their yarns is quite beautiful, full of bright clear colors that would make great kid’s items . . . but for my taste the color palette is a bit boring. I wish there were more “off” colors, and if the people at the LYS are right, more colors are coming in shortly. I can’t wait to see them!
The yarn itself is quite nice, I started swatching with it already and it’s got a great hand and incredible stitch definition. I think this one’s going to be a quick favorite!
I took Thursday & Friday off last week so I could hang with my sister and dad who were in town . . . after they’d both left on Friday I took the opportunity to go back to my old store, String! I pretty much never get to go there because it’s in a neighborhood I’m almost never in, so it was nice to be able to make a dedicated trip to the East Side to catch up a bit and check out the new yarns. Of course I couldn’t leave empty-handed now, could I??
[click to continue…]
That’s right, I do sometimes knit other things! Really!
I’ve been meaning to knit up my Cecil sock pattern in a solid color for, like, a year. I was even pretty sure that I wanted to use this grayish-blue color of Koigu for them, but somehow they never rose to the top of the to-do list. Now that my knitting mojo seems to be back in full force (finally!) and I’ve knit more over the last few weeks than I have in the previous few months, I thought it would be good to start a portable project to knit on my commute or in stolen moments waiting in lines. As I look through my Ravelry notebook, I see I haven’t finished a pair of socks since February . . . gotta change that, stat!
I cast on for this sock on Saturday morning and worked on it while catching up on my DVR. A few hours later I’d turned the heel! I sometimes forget how quickly sock knitting goes when you work on a sock for long stretches at a time! Usually my socks only get knit on the subway or in the line at the bank, so they seem to take forever to get done . . .
These probably won’t get done that quickly, though, because I already started something else and brought that project to work on during my commute today. I’m using this cheerful yarn:
Isn’t it so sunny and happy? I’m making a quick present for my sister with this gorgeous Artyarns Supermerino 6 in color 2278, and I need to have it done by next week when she’ll be on the East Coast for a quick visit . . . I’m already more than half-way done after just one day, so I should be able to meet my deadline!
Folks, I think my Koigu problem is only getting worse, not better. Here’s the batch I couldn’t say no to yesterday, and I’m almost 100% sure that one of these colors is already in my stash. And I thought of that before I bought it, and bought it anyway. They’re just so pretty!
I’m definitely making a shawlette for me out of the 410 (the purplish red color on the bottom left), maybe my next design will use this color. It’s a perfect blend for me, dark enough to not wash me out and colorful enough to not be boring to knit with! And as a bonus, it seems to photograph well, which is something I so struggle with when it comes to knitting designs in colors I want to wear. Seems like a winner all around! And yes, that’s the one I’m pretty sure I already own . . .
I’m going to a wedding in Vermont this weekend so that’ll be like 10 hours of car knitting roundtrip, most of it with daylight . . . gotta plan what I’m bringing to knit so I don’t end up bored and/or running out! That would be just awful.
I just stumbled across this Babette Blanket yarn pack from Yarnzilla and the above photo is so gorgeous, I am seriously considering ordering it! I’ve never bought anything from Yarnzilla before but I see they offer discounts based on price (the way WEBS does), so assuming you’d get the 25% discount, you could buy this pack for only $222.75! That’s a really great price, and just look at those colors! But I can’t tell from the website description whether the discount applies to yarn packs . . . although you would think it does, after all what’s the difference between ordering 22 skeins of koigu or ordering this yarn pack, right?
This is crazy, I do not need another 22 skeins of Koigu! Must. Resist.
They only have 2 kits in stock — can someone else please go buy them before I lose my mind?
Bad cold plus grumpy mood = need for retail therapy! This color of Koigu KPM had to come home with me . . . such a gorgeous shade of orange sherbert! If only I knew someone having a little girl, I would definitely use this for a baby gift! Oh well, guess I’ll have to knit something for myself then . . .
(color is 1113, btw)
This is the 2nd of 4 purple projects I’m “actively” working on right now! I do seem to go in spurts when it comes to color, don’t I?
I posted when I started this sock (on November 10th!!) but haven’t mentioned it since . . . notice I’m saying “sock” not “socks”? Yeah this is the only one I have right now, although the second one is already to the heel.
It would have been done by now had I not managed to break two DPNs during my commute last month and then been unable to replace the needles for almost a week. Now, if you’re thinking “But Ivete, don’t you have multiple sets of size 1 dpns by now?” you are, of course, correct. However, I couldn’t find even ONE SINGLE size 1 double point when I went digging, and I even went so far as unearthing the DPN case I haven’t seen since the move . . . and in it I found probably 15 sets of dpns, but no size 1′s. If I weren’t so compulsive I could have used on size 2 and probably been fine in the end, but I don’t like to do that . . . although I can’t give you a reasonable reason why it would be a problem. It just bothers me.
Hum. Seems like even 2 months later I’m still annoyed about breaking those needles!
In any case, I bought a replacement set of needles from Purl a few days later and went back to knitting, the second sock even went with me to several movies over the Christmas holiday (aside: If you’re that last person who hasn’t seen Slumdog Millionaire, GO SEE IT! Trust me!). If only I could learn to turn a heel in the dark, that second sock might be done right now . . .
By the way, I am still in total love with this color. Is it weird that part of me wishes I had “saved it” so that it wouldn’t be getting “used up” by this project? Yeah, I know it’s weird. It does kind of explain some things, though . . . namely the number of skeins of Koigu in my bedroom at the moment. But you all knew that about me already, right?
I am about to say something I haven’t been able to say in over 4 years:
Until this week, I had not bought yarn in over a month and half.
I know, shocking. You can pick yourself up of the floor now.
It’s not that I was consciously not-buying, it’s that I was busy doing other things. And I obviously have plenty of yarn already. And not having a discount anymore makes me think a little harder about buying stuff I don’t need and won’t be able to knit for a while . . .
Although that only goes so far. I can’t resist brand new yarns!
That’s 3 skeins of Koigu Mori, the new 50/50 Merino/silk blend that Koigu just released. It’s really, really gorgeous! Very soft with a wonderful sheen. This is color M223, bought at Purl, and it will become a lacy scarf. Eventually.
Underneath is a new novelty sock yarn called Flat Feet. This, my friends, is one of those products that I really wish I had invented! Not because it’s groundbreaking or anything, but because it’s perfect enticement for sock knitters — we always want the latest and greatest sock yarn, and changing it’s physical put up? So simple! So brilliant! I had to have it! Here’s the link to the manufacturer’s website if you’ve never heard of this. I’m not sure I’ll be able to knit with the kinky yarn without driving myself crazy though, so I may hank it up, prewash, and then knit. But hey, I’m crazy like that.
BTW, I’m doing some blog redesigning, so please let me know if something looks wacky! The picture on the upper right won’t always be of the shawl, I just have to resize a bunch of other pictures to fit so I can rotate through them . . .
I did promise FOs upon my return from Dallas, and here’s the first one! Forgive the awful picture, my sister does not like having her picture taken so I kind of stealthily sole this shot at dinner. . .
I knit this for my Adriana’s birthday present, this is my 3rd Halfobi and I wouldn’t be surprised if I make more of them in the future. It’s so easy and quick, and it goes with everything!
This one used Koigu in color P432 held together with Karabella Lace Cashmere in color 88. Here’s a much better shot of the true color:
Sis loved it and I’m sure she’ll get tons of wear out of it!
I also finished something else . . . .
This is the big one, folks. I ended up using 10.5 skeins of yarn and I’m hoping it blocks out to 6 feet square (it might be a little less but that should be fine) . . . the blocking won’t happen for a while, but I sure am relieved to know the chuppah will be done before July!!
As for the resurrected project, I wonder if anyone will recognize this:
That’s right, I picked Katherine Hepburn back up and almost finished the 2nd sleeve. Amazing how much I got done, actually, makes me wonder why I let it sit for so long . . . oh yeah, cuz it got really BORING after not much time! Hopefully, since there’s only one front and the rest of this sleeve to do, I’ll manage to get this one off the WIP list in no time . . . we’ll see.
I’m going to try to post more frequently again — I haven’t been feeling well lately and even though it hasn’t affected my knitting output, it makes me want to zone out on the couch which doesn’t lend itself to blogging . . . hopefully this will clear up and I’ll be back to my old won’t-shut-up self.
