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17 Months

Berry Nice Socks

After a healthy 17 months on the needles, I finally finished ye olde Berry Nice Socks.

I used Knitpicks Felici in the Mixed Berries colorway on size US 1 DPNs. For my sizing, it was 80 stitches on US 1 needles with a 3×1 rib over the whole thing. Easy peasy but I guess I was bored by them. At any rate, they are finally done!

I like the yarn a lot, so the fact that these took so long is stupid.

Speaking of Felici, I cranked out a quickie stockinette scarf on the knitting machine on Friday.

Felici Scarf

It’s also out of Felici, and knit at a loose gauge. It’s an experiment that worked out all right, though I’m not in lurve with it or anything. I will have to tighten up the gauge a bit for future experiments.

But all things considered, I made a six foot scarf in a half hour, so whatever.  I blocked a little bit and it curls less.  I’ll probably block it a bit more another time to see if I can kill the curl some more.  Hopefully that will work. I just pinned it this time; I didn’t use the blocking wires.

It’s a good way to use up that self-striping yarn, because despite its flaws, it turned out fine, so more will probably be on the way.

I also finished a scarf I knit the summer of 2004 while I was staying in Leon Springs, TX – house-sitting in BFE, basically.  I’ll post pictures of that another time. I found the scarf when I moved again in January, and I finally wove in the ends and blocked it this weekend, so technically speaking it is a 2009 FO. Heh.

Right now I’m working on some socks and also thinking about a sweater with all this dark grey Wool-Ease I got on sale awhile ago. We’ll see.  I’d knit the front and then machine knit the rest because I am super lazy and product oriented when it comes to sweaters.

I also got a bee in my bonnet about hats, so next time: a finished Norah Gaughan hat from the latest Vogue Knitting, and maybe, if I crack the whip, a Koolhaas, which is a hat I’ve wanted to make since its debut in the 2007 Interweave Knits holiday issue, and finally found the perfect yarn for it – the blue lagoon Dream in Color Classy I got for my birthday.  The Norah hat is also knit with Classy, in Spring Tickle. It’s been a busy week, and I haven’t really been home when there’s been good light, so no pics just yet.

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Ishbel the Second

I made something this week.

Ishbel

Another Ishbel, from the lovely Ysolda Teague pattern.  I knit an orange one in June, and this is its royal purple counterpart.  I used some of the Miss Babs sock yarn I purchased at Stitches this year, and it was wonderful to work with.  This is the colorway Clematis, which is a bit more purple than appears here, though still in the blue-purple category of which I am so fond. The yarn itself was springy with a nice feel, and it blocked out very nicely.

Here you can see the size difference between the two different Ishbels I’ve made:

Ishbel

The orange one is the small version as written in the pattern – small stockinette section, small lace pattern. The purple one is the large stockinette version with the small lace pattern. I’d seen this version on Ravelry quite a bit, and it used up the yarn nicely; there is only a little bit left of the 400 yd skein. Eventually I would like to make a large version as written in the pattern, but that will be later. Another small awaits me in the near future.

This pattern pretty much knits itself, and everyone should download a copy. I must confess I watched the dollar and nabbed the pattern for fairly cheap. So if you care about that sort of thing, buy it when the dollar is up and the pound is down. What, I am a capitalist, watching my bucks.

Speaking of bucks, I am fully committed to not spending money right now, so hopefully I will have saved some up by the end of the year. I don’t have too much going on the rest of the year, save a trip down to LA to visit Sarah.

I am also going to get back on the Wii Fit. There, I said it. Now I have to DO IT.

Ishbel

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I Am Amused.

twilight-dolls-500x375

Coming November 1, 2009: Twilight Barbies.

I’m sort of a fringe Barbie collector. I haven’t gotten one in years, but I do look at them occasionally.

I’m a little surprised (and a little disappointed, actually) that Edward doesn’t sparkle. Or at least… shimmer.

On the other hand, that would be disturbing.

At least he’s appropriately pale.

Heh.