Tuesday, March 07, 2006

I'm back again!

Wow! I don't know what came over me. I haven't posted since OCTOBER! I guess it was a slippery slope. Something or another distracted me from my blog and then the longer I went without posting the easier it was to put it off.

I suffered a serious knitting slump in the fall. I finally got over that and got back to my knitting. I even took pictures along the way with every good intention of posting them to my blog. I composed several entries in my head while I was busy with other things too. Alas, I never actually got them up and published. I won't bore you with all the details. I'll just post a couple of pictures to break the ice (and remind myself how to get this all up and formatted!) I fully intend to start posting more regularly again!

Back in September, after I finished my Sockapal2za socks I struggled with a plan for what to knit next. I just went back to read a todo list in one of my previous posts and I'm a little surprised at what I've accomplished since then. I knit 5 lace scarves for holiday gifts for the kids' teachers. Four of them are pictured here. Clockwise from the top they are

  1. garnet merino lace weight yarn in arches and columns stitch pattern.
  2. autumn Knitpicks Alpaca Cloud yarn in falling leaves stitch pattern.
  3. black merino lace weight yarn in broken acres stitch pattern.
  4. moss Knitpicks Alpaca Cloud yarn in fir cone stitch pattern.


The 5th one is pictured at the left. It is mist Knitpicks Alpaca Cloud in the lace pattern that I used for the lattice lace wrap. I didn't use any beads on the scarf.

I also completed the ballet shrug for K. I'm still looking for a worthy recipient for the shrug. K quit ballet before the 10 week class was finished. She never wore the shrug because the sleeves were close fitting (as a ballet shrug should be) and K doesn't wear close fitting things. She makes me stretch the sleeves of her long sleeve T shirts before she puts them on. She does a funny little dance and a not so funny shriek when she puts on anything with clingy sleeves or legs. Leggings and tights are absolutely out of the question!

In addition to the scarves, I knit two pair of mittens over the holiday school break. I don't have pictures of them yet. The first pair was for J. I asked him to pick his favorite colors of Knitpicks Merino Style yarn. He choose Frost (aqua), Storm (dark blue), Asparagus (light green) and Maple Leaf (red). It took me a long time of fiddling to figure out a way to combine all the colors without making the mittens look "girly". After several swatches J and I agreed on a very simple design. I'll post pictures soon.

The second pair of mittens was for K. I'll post pictures of them later too. I thought that mittens for her tiny little hands would go quickly. I don't know why I thought that because I had her pick her favorite colors of Knitpicks Palette yarn. This is tiny yarn. I used tiny (size 0) needles. There were more stitches in her mittens that in J's mittens! Guess what colors she picked...Surprise! She chose petal and lilac. I added lemon and grass. (These are the same colors that are in her Heart Flowers Cardigan)

I started working on K's Hear Flowers Cardigan in May! I'm currently hoping to complete it for K to wear for Easter. It's a good thing I made it big. At some point since my last post I had a burst of activity on her sweater so it's almost done. I'll have no trouble finishing it for Easter. She's the only kid who's getting new knitting for Easter this year.

I'm currently working on my Braids cardigan. It's knit from the bottom up in one piece and then divided at the armhole. I'm a few inches above the armhole. It's fun to knit and I really hope I can finish this for myself by next fall.

Okay, I don't want to overdo it on my first post back. I have a bunch of pictures to take for next time. It's time I get back to blog surfing too. So, I'll see you in the blogsphere!

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Oh it's great to see you back!!!! You certainly were very productive.

AmyP said...

Lou! Welcome back! And I can't wait to see all the knitting you haven't shared with us!

Anonymous said...

Welcome back! I've really enjoyed the Sockapal-2-za socks you made.

What beauteous scarves! I can't wait to see what else you've been up to.

Jan said...

So glad to see you back, Lou!! The scarves are just wonderful, you did beautiful work.