Paparazzi

DrStephs-GorgousEarthWrap, originally uploaded by notanartist.

In case you wanted to see me in my Earth Stripe Wrap.

Thanks for making me look so good Michelle.

And for capturing me in a more natural pose.

Earth Stripe Wrap Complete!

DSC00189, originally uploaded by Dr. Steph.

It is:    Beautiful.
It is:    Soft.

I LOVE IT.

Knitting this wasn't so much a technical challenge, as an act of persistence. So many colour changes, so many ends, so long. The fringing, which I love, took two evenings.

It is warm, soft and very elegant. I wore it to work Thursday and got exactly the reaction I wanted from knitters (Hi Erin) and non-knitters alike.

Part of this cold rainy weekend will be spent with this on. Sorry I didn't model, all the photos Emma took were really blurry (note to self: camera phone not good. Buy a battery of real camera.)

And yes, Emma love it (she is my daughter afterall). She's going to have to knit her own.

The beginning of the ends

I know I blogged this yesterday, but I'm so pleased with my pun I needed to write it down.

The easy side ends are all trimmed. Now comes the other side and the crocheted border and the fringe. But I'm in the home stretch.

Socks and Stoles

I finished Emma's Socks a week or so ago and they fit (for now). She loves them. I'm very pleased with them too. I have chosen not to cast on a new pair (as is my custom) and see how life is without socks on the needles. I'm thinking the Ribbon Lace scarf might be a good alternative. Vino is my travel knitting right now (I promise to introduce you to it properly soon), but that will get too big soon.

When I do find time to knit, I'm all about the Earth Stripe Wrap. On the weekend I finished the called-for 148cm and discovered that it's too short to throw over one shoulder in that jaunty way that says I look fantastic . Shit. So, I trudge onwards to do another 20ish cm. I have about 2.5cm to go and that's my plan for tonight--tv, KSH, coca-cola and all dressed chips (or maybe a spicy tuna roll...).

Here it is at the almost completed mark.

Notice those fuzzy things? That'd be the ends. All the ones started on the right side are woven in and just need trimming. But the other side says: "You ain't anywhere near done this puppy yet, bitch."

Sigh. Maybe I can get Craig to take me for a beer on a patio on a not-quite warm enough night and I can do that jaunty thing.

What's in Dr. Steph's knitting bag(s)?

One area where my new MacBook totally delivers is on the photo side of things. My Canon Powershot S230 is five years old and on my PC I needed to download pictures using Canon's cumbersome software; without it, XP couldn't seem to find the camera. With my new 'puter, I plugged in the camera and there were my photos! So I took pictures of all my WIPs.

Earth Stripe wrap is at the 112cm mark (I think it's about 150cm at finished length without fringe). I'm sooooo close. I want to wear this a few times at least before Spring, so this is high on my list. It's too big and there's too many colours to carry around so I need to be home to work on this. Not a problem this week because Craig is off to the Tim Horton's Colts Provincial Championships tomorrow so it's just me, the kids and the tv. Go Beck Rink!

I finished the first Vinterblomster mitten last Tuesday night. Here it is blocked. I love it.

I started the second mitt last night so that there is a chance I'll have a pair to wear this Spring (I think they'll match nicely with Claudia).

Emma's socks are almost done (Oak grove mc and Sheldrige Farms soft touch cc). Her feet have appeared to stop growing (she's just turned 9 and wear's a woman's size 7, so having them slow down for a bit is good for sock knitting and shoe buying).

And this is the thing that is distracting me from all of the above. My first piece of Vino--Laura's awesome sweater coat. The yarn is Dream in Colour Classy in November Muse and I love knitting this and looking at it. The colour is exactly my style and it's fast and fun. I put this into the bottom of my knitting bag and left all the rest out so I don't play with it for a bit.

This also game me the chance to show off my new couch and funky ottoman.  The scary ikea couch is no more and I have place to rest my feet while I knit!

Roam(ing) Around the Earth (Stripe Wrap)

My predictions of having Roam to wear by the weekend went awry.  I love the look of attached i-cord, but I don't seem to be so good at attaching it.  One the first attempt one side was longer than the other, so I tried a new stitch picking up tactic (ie paying more attention to the stitches I pick up) and now they look the same. 

I'm giving them a wet block just to set everything right and then I'll be joining Emily (also making Roam) and Keri (Central Park Hoodie) in a little zipper sewing party later in the week.  Coincidentally, we all used Briar Rose yarns, so we all have very pretty sweaters too.

I believe this is the first time either of them has sewn in a zipper and I surprised myself when I went into the cedar chest and found five sweaters with zippers.  In fact, I don't own a cardigan with buttons.  I've made some, but haven't kept any.  Weird, especially since I hate to sew.

I'm not spending this waiting time idly.  Earth Stripe Wrap is back in production and I'm trapped in that gorgeous halo of Kid Silk Haze again.

Back To Bohus

Our weekend went pretty much as planned.  The kids played a lot of PS2 (no seizures though!) and I got to sit and knit away the weekend save for some snow shovelling (we got a bunch of snow that is now getting rained on, it will be soupy tomorrow ugh) and a fit of organization brought on by our 1 year anniversary of home ownership.

The Earth Stripe Wrap is coming along nicely, I have one of the 184 row repeats done. 

But now I want to work on something different.  I left my poor Bohus in the basket since late last Spring and if I want to wear this sweater this winter I need to get cracking.

It's as lovely as I remember.  But slow.  I have 408 sts on the needles and while I'm enjoying the colourwork I'm ready for the more meditative single colour part, even if it's masses of stockinette.

I can't knit this fast enough

While I'm enjoying knitting with all this kid silk haze. 

I really want this done so I can wear it.  Sigh.  Still a lot of knitting ahead.

This will be addictive

They don't call it Crack Silk Haze for nothing.

Kaffe Fassett is a genius.

Why use one colour of kidsilk haze when you can use 10?  And why use them one at a time when you can hold two strands together and make more colours?

Doing this creates a more subtle and deep colour combination and it is beautiful.  The light tones mute the bright ones and the bright ones add dimension to the subtle ones.   It was impossible to photograph in a way that shows the combinations.  I'll try again when the light is better.

And it is super super soft.

I need a new coat and it must match this scarf since I plan on wearing it a lot.  I'm really liking this one (and it's not black because it'll be covered in ksh).

It does feel dressy, so I plan to try this one too (both are from The Gap).  I love toggle coats.  But stripes and plaid?