WIP Wednesday #5

Wow, this is only the 5th time I have played along this year? I need to pick up the pace. Anyhoo, This past week has seen knitting on all kinds of things.

First off: The progress made on Plum is starting to show some meat. I have both fronts and the back done. I have started a sleeve. Ugh! I was supposed to knit 13″ of ribbing and then 9″ of cabled ribbing. Since I did not care for the huge roll up cuff I cut it down to about 8″-9″ of ribbing and then the 9″ of cabled ribbing to finish it out. I am maybe a third of the way through the cable ribbing of the 1st sleeve. Hopefully this will make the sleeves go quicker. I dread the over sized collar, but that is what makes the piece.

Still loving this! The yarn is soft, Paton’s Classic Wool, and the knitting does keep me engaged, even if I am soooo tired of the cabled ribbing. But I want to see this to fruition, so I will not let myself leave off. The right front hasn’t been blocked yet, so don’t worry about the shrunken look to it. The sleeve is on top of the left front in case you were wondering. Sorry for the night time flash photos, they are the best I got right now.

And just because I don’t have enough monotony going on right now I started a new project. Baby Schessellee will make an appearance sometime in March, so I must make him a vest. Hey, Big Sis got a bolero so it wouldn’t be fair to not gift him something too. I love this Drops pattern, so it only took finding a yarn to work. I settled on some Zara I had on hand. Hoping the two balls get me through the pattern. I am making size 1-3 month and using a size 4 needle. I am just over gauge, but figure the washing will bloom the piece so it should be big enough. He might be a big boy, considering Dad is a big guy, tall and thick.

132 sts in St st! For 5″!!Hopefully I can make it to the Double Seed Stitch soon.

For those who didn’t catch yesterday’s Truth on Tuesday post, another project jumped on the needles. TGV (High Speed Knitting) has been started using Misti Alpaca Worsted Handpaint. I love this yarn. This is my third shawl using MAWH. Oh so soft!!! I haven’t made much progress on this, of course it goes very quick at the beginning, especially with 3 increase EACH row. Yes, EACH row. Front and back. I am trying to decided at what point I stop the garter and go on to the ribbing. The pattern says halfway through the yarn, but I have too much yarn to work it that way. I guess I will just keep an eye on it’s size as it grows.

Due to the color on this I have renamed it Fiesta!

Now mosey on over to Tami’s and see what other lovelies are being created this week. And check back here Friday for another FO that was part of my knitting this past week.

Truth on Tuesday #6

Finishing a shawl since last week helped to use up some yarn, plus starting a new project that seems to be a quick knit added to my totals this week.

Again, Yarn added this week is:

• 0 yards added this week!!!!!

Yarn Knit this Week:

• 98 yards of Misti Alpaca Worsted Handpaint knit into Fiesta (aka TGV) as of Feb 20th
• 140 yards of Cascade Heritage knit into Mattson as of Feb 16th
• 30 yards of Valley Yarns Superwash DK knit into Baby Moc-a-Soc as of Feb 19th
• 11 yards of Dale Baby Ull knit into Baby Moc-a-Soc as of Feb 20th
• 207 yards of Classic Wool knit into Plum as of Feb 20th
• 57 yards of Filatura Zara knit into Schesselle as of Feb 20th
• Total yards knit this week is 543

Weekly Total:

• 543 – 0 = +543

YTD Total:

• 2471 – 3671 = -1290 yards

Still have quite a lot of purchases to make up for and continue to try to avoid more purchases. And it’s been hard this week, as I have found all sorts of reasons to buy more yarn! When I started TGV I thought to use some Aran weight Mochi on hand. I only have 2 striped balls and 2 solid balls to use and couldn’t decide if I would like that plan, so I scraped it.

Then I decided I really should buy some striping fingering or sport weight. But I rethought that and pulled out some Misti Alpaca Worsted Handpaint I had in stash. It’s a light worsted. Nice thing about the TGV shawl (sorry non-Rav users, this was the only link I could find. But I think you are able to see patterns now without being a member) is you can use it with any weight with little worry.

The pattern advises to knit half of your yarn into the garter section and then proceed to the ribbing. I know I have more yardage than needed, so I am not sure how far I will go with it. I don’t want it to be huge, so I doubt I will go to half of 654 yards. This pattern has been renamed Fiesta cause this colorway is festive! Whoa, is it bright. They will see me coming!

FO Friday #6

I decided to do 12 shawls in 2012 and I am liking the success so far. Shawl #2 was finished this week so I am 2 for 2. Now, I also plan to make Half of 12 Sweaters, no I don’t mean 12 half sweaters, LOL, in 2012 too. There I am 0 for 1 and the end of February is fast approaching. Eek!

Here is the latest installment of 12 in 12.

Mattson, renamed for the school admin I made it for, Mrs. Mattingly, and the pattern it’s from, Ashton.

The yarn used is Heritage Handpaint, oh and a little bit of Miss Babbs, solid navy, to finish off the bind off. What’s that? Did I run out of yarn AGAIN on the bind off? Of course, don’t you expect it from me at this point?

Here’s how close I got:

That is the 2nd time I have used the Miss Babbs to help bind off. I just might use it up helping to bind off!

Now that I have finished the shawl I will get back to the 2nd pair of Baby Moc-a-Socs and the current sweater project. I will have to knit lots to get that sweater done by end of Feb. Two huge sleeves and lots of ribbed collar to go! I know I won’t make it, but willing to try. Oh, and I just found out I need to do another baby item!!!! Hubster’s cousin is expecting!!! This is awesome news since they have not been able to conceive and now they have their 2nd miracle. The first miracle was the beautiful baby boy they have through adoption. So, waiting to hear what this baby will be so I can knit accordingly. Hey, maybe I can use the baby sweater as one of my half of 12 sweaters? LOL!

OK, time to send you forth to view more FO’s. Stop by Tami’s to get the list. And happy knitting this weekend.

WIPs on Wednesday #4

Wow, seems like I should have more than 4, but in review, I haven’t always posted on Wednesday. Just not willing to work it that hard I guess, LOL. This week I am close to finishing something, so I thought I would at least post how tenuous this finish just might be. I offer this evidence:

There is very little yarn left on that skein. I still have 5 more rows and a bind off row to go! Eek! Will I have enough? Check back on Friday to see. Now, if I don’t, which is actually the norm for me, I will just use some leftover fingering weight yarn to complete the project. I have some navy I could use. But hopefully, I won’t have to resort to that.

The last few evenings the dogs and I have been watching the dog show. Well, Cooper and I have been watching it. He is too funny!! He was licking my TV screen all night long! iNDy doesn’t seem to notice. Cooper has done this on commercials with dogs, on America’s Funniest Videos, even on a show where they were showing a donkey. He barked and charged the TV on that one. Most of the time he has lain on the ottoman and just watched the dogs. So cute.

Now that the 2nd shawl for 2012 is nearly done, I need to focus on the current sweater so I can at least get it close to done in the 2 month time span I was allotting. But I fear it might spill over into March. Considering the huge collars it has, I very sure it will take up most of March! I will have to find a quick sweater to make in April to keep up with my goals. 12 shawls and half of 12 sweaters in 2012. Plus little things I feel like making here and there.

And also, plan on which pattern to use for shawl #3. I am leaning towards TGV. I have two skeins of Mochi Plus in a stripe and two in a solid to compliment. The pattern says you can use whatever weight, just be mindful of starting the border when you use up half your yarn. That would be easy to determine. But, which way to use the yarn. Two skeins of stripe in the garter portion or the ribbed border? kOr, alternate the two colors every other row? I may have to swatch it to see what I like best.

OK, enough of my rambling. Check out Tami’s for those stalwart bloggers who are faithful on Wednesday.