I tried to keep this a secret...

...but I can't.

Okay.

Big news.

DUN DUN DUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUN

-I am getting a spinning wheel!!!!!!- My friend Erica is selling her used Babe to me! I absolutely cannot wait. She told me that she'd hand it over at our weekly Knit Night, but it's taking every fiber of my self control not to just drive over to her house and stalk her until then. I am so excited about this! I absolutely cannot wait. I have a bit of fiber to spin, which is good because I can't buy any more until I have a permanent address anyway (going back to college in a week).

A SPINNING WHEEL!

Finished! FINISHED!

I have finally finished...

wait for it...

THIS:


According to Ravelry, I started this scarf in June. Of 2006. AND IT IS DOOOOOONE!

And an update on the Wallis Cardigan - the back (finished) and the side (halfway)

What I Did on My Summer Vacation

I went to Colorado this week with my mom and some of her friends. And let me just say...Colorado has some of the most unfairly beautiful scenery in the world.

Anyway, while I was vay-caying, I pushed on with the Wallis Cardigan and finished up the whole back with only a few mishaps*.



I don't have a picture of the whole back, but what I do have is - YARN!

*decreases really suck, especially when you realize you've done them wrong 7" of stockinette later. Especially if you don't fix them. I expect seaming problems may come up later. C'est la vie.

YARRRRRRN.




For Heliotrope from this summer's Knitters.

Which I also do not have a picture of.

Knitting Love

I am in love.

I have two projects on the needles right now that I just absolutely, unreservedly and unabashedly, love. (The other three projects on the needles mean nothing to me, I swear!).

These projects?
Tasha:


And the Wallis Cardigan:
(this is where a picture would go if I had one. But I don't, so I'll just link you: linky mclinkerson)

Tasha is just a beautiful cable pattern. It's been awhile since I've done something with cables, and it's easy to see why because I tend to knit tightly, which makes the cable rows really annoying. But this cable is just stunning. Everytime I look at it, I giggle a little bit to myself. I am a little worried about running out of yarn with this one, but I have a backup plan: black yarn. I will finish off the strap and the sides, then if need be, knit the top edge cables in black yarn. In order to integrate it a bit, I'll add on some super cool embroidery*. It works in my head, okay?

*I don't know how to embroider, which may be a difficulty in the execution of this brilliant plan, but I shall overcome!

Now, the Wallis Cardigan. The Wallis Cardigan is...cute. Very, very cute. Did I mention it was cute? And it's an interesting knit, as well - those nubbly bands you see at the bottom of the cardigan are actually rows of double knitting divided by rows of stockinette. Cool. Unfortunately, I didn't read the directions and do that bit on smaller needles than on the rest of the project. Also, apparently the yarn called for is a DK weight, and mine is worsted weight (Berroco Comfort, you nosey Nancys).

Surely it will all pan out. I have faith.

But wait! These two projects are not the only things I am currently in love with! Let me introduce my newest love affair:



Panda Cotton.

Oh dear sweet baby pandas.

The Woolie Ewe, on my latest "I will not buy, only pet" excursion, had some. I bought six skeins. I am broke as hell and happy as a clam.

Panda Cotton!!!!

Finally, a new post!

First of all, apologies for the hiatus. There was a four-week period in there where I was absolutely swamped with stage managing the most dreadful show ever in my entire life (omg, guys, I seriously loathed every second I worked on that show. Why did I have to volunteer for the most self-indulgent, annoying, pretensious idiots around? It was actually pretty good until the director came onto the scene...urgh. Okay, enough ranting).
Anyway, between a full load of classes and rehearsal until midnight or later every day, I completely lost any will to knit. Lost it. And it didn't come back until last week - funnily enough, just in time for me to start procrastinating on my final exams!*

Anyway, I have finally finished something. Actually, the something that has been finished hasn't actually been finished, sort of. It's the melon shawl from VLT, and instead of knitting 62 repeats and a border, I decided I wanted to be done with it, and bound off after 51 repeats, with no border. It works.




Part of the reason I cast off the melon shawl so quickly was because I needed the needles to knit this:

It's Kaleidoscope, from Parallax Knitting. And I. LOVE. It.
It is working out perfectly. It's the beautiful yarn Miss Knotty gave me for my graduation, and it just...works. Gah. Love it.

Of course, just in time for summer, I cast on for these:

Leg warmers. Of course. Perfect for a July in Texas.

*just kidding, the only final exam I had was a paper that has been written for two weeks already. natch. **

**actually, I was procrastinating on packing. Guys, I'm shipping a lot of stuff halfway across the country, and...I haven't started. I leave in two days. Deary me.

Swallowtail

After a full weekend of knitting on my Swallowtail, it is finally done! And it is biiiig. It's about as long as my armspan (5 feet?) across, and if I wear it like, um, a shawl, the point goes past my butt. Amazing what using a needle twice as large as recommended can do :)

So, details:
Pattern: Swallowtail Shawl, Interweave Knits some date I don't remember
Yarn: Jaggerspun Zephyr, 2 oz, "Lady Slipper" - about .5 oz left over
Needles: US 6
Time it took: Two months
Beads: 8/0 pink
Crochet hook to put beads on: size 13
How many beads: lots. One little tube thing.
What else: my dorm room is a really bad place to take pictures of lace work. Just sayin'.

Pictures!
Fresh off the needles:


Blocking on my bed:

(this should give you an idea of how effing huge this thing turned out!)

Side-by-side comparison:

Pre blocking:


Post blocking:


Artsy-fartsy shot where I didn't realize I hung the shawl up backwards:

New Notes

Last month, I went on a total spinning binge (I tend to post to my blog waaay after events have occurred. I figure I'll catch up to myself, one day. Maybe. Perhaps.) Here is one of the results:

This is about 255 yards of laceweight (cobweb weight, maybe?) spun out of some gorgeous roving given to me by Miss Knotty. This is probably only a third of the roving; I spun a bunch up in the summer, then put it down until January. I tend to move in stages :) I've also spun up a bit of cotton on my Takhli spindle, but no picture.

I've been working on my Percy a lot recently, as well:

It's so tight! Worsted cotton! Size threes! What was that you did thar!

Other news:
I have made a buttload of washcloths. Butt. Load.
It was in the 50s yesterday! 50 degrees! New York! March!
I have been sitting in front of a computer screen for far too long.
I turn 19 next week :)
The Swallowtail Shawl is one chart away from being done. Pictures will be posted, I promise. Hopefully this month.
It is no longer 50 degrees, but...I have hope

Okay, good night.

Oh! And I decided last week that I would teach myself Russian. I'm not taking a class or anything, just self-teaching. So in that spirit, До свидания.

(dasvedanya - good bye)