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CRAFTING 2012

Even though I've been a remiss blogger this year, I did a lot of stuff – made a lot of jewelry and knit a few things. This year was not a big year for knitting. I had hoped to reach at least the same amount of items as last year (a whopping six) and I didn't, alas. I made four hats and one shawl. Two hats were great, two were kind of duds. The shawl was fabulous.

2012-12-28

Clockwise from top left Topiary Beanie (Weekend Hats by Cecily MacDonald& Melissa LaBarre), Ruche (Weekend Hats), Daybreak Shawl (Stephen West), Fern Glade Hat (Megan Marshall via Knitty), and Long Leaves Beanie (Weekend Hats).

At some point earlier this year I was on a hat kick and I went with it. The Weekend Hats book is pretty great and I started knitting through all the patterns I liked. There's still three or four that I wouldn't mind knitting. I don't feel like knitting hats much anymore (compared to when I first started knitting, that's all I ever knit) so when the urge strikes I just go go go until I'm tired of it. Of the above four hats, two are iffy in their success and the other two turned out fabulous.

Topiary and Ruche didn't turn out the way I hoped. Topiary is much (much!!) too long, but circumference-wise fits fine and it pretty cute even if I have to roll the back so it fits better. I knit it out of Madelinetosh Vintage which is soooo nice! Ruche – I think something might have been wrong with the pattern because I wound up with far too many stitches after the foldover row so I wound up doing five foldovers instead of three. Now it fits weird. Probably because my head is big. I will probably try to find somebody it fits and give it to them. I also didn't care for the yarn much (one of the Vickie Howell yarns – color's great but it was hard to work with).

The other hats, Long Leaves and Fern Glade turned out great. Long Leaves is one of my favorite hats ever, knit out of Lorna's Laces Shephard Worsted in Ysolda Red (I don't know if it's called that still, the website calls a similar color Bold Red). What a treat to knit with! It's a great color and pattern. It's also the perfect beanie length – it covers my ears perfectly! Fern Glade I actually did futz around with – it's not written for heavy worsted yarn, it's written for DK weight and I was using Madelinetosh Chunky so I adjusted the pattern accordingly. It didn't turn out quite as beret-ish as I wanted but I think a more severe blocking over a plate would help that. Also my mom wears her hats farther back on her head than I do, so her bangs show (I can't seem to do this without the hat falling off) so it may be baggier on her than me. At any rate, great pattern, great yarn!

Some jewelry highlights:

Hey, look at me, inserting a gallery into a post! Go me! I wish I'd taken a picture of the awesome Southwestern-style turquoise necklace I made my mom for Christmas, it turned out really nice.

This year I went to a lot of bead shows – both of the big ones at the Oakland Marriott, and at least two up in Sacramento. I believe I even popped over to the one they started having at the Hilton in Concord. I only consciously skipped one of them – at a certain point in October I was just plain exhausted and didn't want to drive up to Sacramento again so I bailed on that one, but it was like three weeks before the huge Bay Area Bead Extravaganza (BABE!) so I wasn't too bummed about it. I got pretty tired of driving around everywhere and being busy every weekend, so I can't say that I regret missing a Gem Faire, especially when I have a room full of awesome bead stash.

So what's on the agenda for next year? Well, more resin – I didn't do too much this year, but I bought a bunch of new molds in Texas that I haven't tried out yet (bracelet molds and other shapes) and my Michael's finally started carrying the new Jewelry Resin I've been wanting to try. At BABE! I got some of the Vintaj patinas and I did patina a bunch of my filigrees, though I haven't done much with them yet.

I don't have anything planned knitting-wise. Even though I finished a hat in December I'm just not in the mood right now. Maybe it will come back – I have to repair my King George Mitts which have some inexplicable holes in them, and I would like to knit a pair of gloves at some point, but I really have to be in the mood. Maybe going to Stitches in February will jumpstart it! Or not, hah.

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2012 Knitting Update

So in January/February, I knit a Daybreak shawl to wear for Stitches West. (I wound up wearing the Eiki shawl.) This shawl really kind of knit itself – so awesome! I think because of the striping. I may make another one sometime. It would look great with black and a blending stripe yarn (like Knitpicks Chroma or similar).

It was knit out of Sanguine Gryphon Skinny Bugga (love that stuff!). I forget what colors, alas. The brown is a rich, dark copper, and the blue is more of a turquoise, of course – turquoise being my most favorite color of all time. While the Sanguine Gryphon is no more, the two studios are still producing the various iterations of Bugga, and I picked up some from Cephalopod Yarns at Stitches in a rich royal purple blend. Not sure what I will make out of it, but I just purchased two fabulous shawl patterns from the new issue of Twist Collective. 

First up is Stellarina. This is a crescent shaped shawl with a beautiful lace edging by Susanna IC. I have knit her pattern Annis and really enjoyed it, so I'm looking forward to this one. It will probably be blue, but I had a hard time making a decision last night. I have yet to make a blue shawl (despite my rainbow of shawls!) so I have been considering some yarns in my blue cubby in the Expedit Of Yarn*.

I also got Elysium by Janel Laidman. This will be out of Fleece Artist 2/6 in their pale grey "Smoke" colorway. I have been wanting to make something with my two skeins of that yarn for a long time. I previously had started a Laminaria shawl with it, but didn't like knitting the pattern (which is a shame because it's a beautiful shawl). I want that yarn to be involved in an heirloom piece, and I think I've found it in Elysium.  I really like Janel Laidman's patterns – the Eiki shawl I knit last year is one of my most favorite pieces I've ever knit. 

I have also completed two hats from the Weekend Hats book. Pics at some point. 

2012 project completions: 3 (half of last year's! Doing okay.)

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*Lo, the Expedit of Yarn (uh, much more full since this picture was taken in January 2009… and the room itself is crammed full of other stuff too. Oh dear.):

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Knitting Review 2011

So! 2011! Let's review the notable knitting projects from last year (about 2/3 – 3/4 less than the year before! oops):

  • The mustard yellow Brandywine shawl! All that garter stitch – heaven. Also notable for being the first project I ever made out of Sanguine Gryphon Sknny Bugga! – a major new favorite.
  • The magenta Bellingrath shawl! This too was a darned pleasure to knit with. This was knit with Madelinetosh sock yarn.
  • EZ's Katmandhu bonnet, knit in Dream in Color Classy. I can't remember if I ever told this story, but I spied the book (Knit One Knit All) at the local Beverley's and had to have it. I assumed it was about $30 or so, but there was no price. I figured they would scan it at the register and the price would pop up. Except – it wouldn't scan! The number wouldn't load either! So the teenager behind the counter sold me EZ's new book for $11.99. SCORE, Y'ALL! Poor Beverley's. I never did look up what it really cost. Anyway, this hat was really fun to make and I will likely make more. There is another version with a different back design. 
  • Started a pair of Hedera socks (Cookie A) from the Knit. Sock. Love. book, which I have a digital copy of. These are knit out of the Loopy Ewe Solid Series sock yarn that is on the Dream in Color smooshy base (if I recall correctly). While these are taking forever, they will be a worthy addition to my sock collection once I complete them.
  • Janel Laidman's Eiki shawl – this is truly a beautiful design and my very favorite thing I knit last year. Because it's knit out of regular Bugga!, it's soft and squishy and gorgeous. And one of the few things I managed to knit with my Stitches West haul the very same year I purchased it! hahaha
  • Boutique Stripey Socks – knit from Knit Picks Felici Sport, my new favorite striping sock yarn – I like regular Felici a lot, but Felici Sport knits up super fast! One other thing about Felici – it wears like iron.
  • Peeps socks – I finished these in the summer, but forgot to take an FO picture. And right now they need to be washed, so it may be awhile (if ever)
  • Bas-Relief socks in the Emerald Isle (?) colorway from Three Irish Girls. I need to finish these but they are further along the second sock now. I really like this sock yarn.

So, I didn't get a whole lot of things completed last year, but the shawls definitely make up for lack of quanitity with their amazing quality! I hope this year I feel more like knitting – I lost my mojo over the summer and it hasn't really returned. I do feel like making a couple of new winter hats so we'll see where that takes me. Whatever I do knit this year it will ALL BE FOR ME. And maybe try to finish those rainbow socks for Abby. 

I do currently have some things still on the needles from last year that I need to decide whether to FINISH or FROG. A couple of shawls, several socks, etc. etc. So, we'll see. 

I kind of feel like knitting a sweater this year, so maybe that will happen too! MAYBE. No promises.

At any rate, I don't have to work too hard to beat the actual number of FOs from last year (six).