Podcasts & Knit-letes

I'm leaving for Houston tomorrow evening and I'm trying to figure out what I'm going to take with me. I think I'm going to try my hand at making another sock. The purse I'm working on has gotten too big for me to drag along. I do have a new guilty pleasure while flying. I've really gotten into a knitting podcast called Cast-On. It is fantastic - like NPR meets Debbie Bliss. She uploads each Friday and I have a new edition in my ipod to enjoy each week. You can download on your computer as well if you want to listen to them while you work. Check it out. She's really great.

I read the Yarn Harlot's blog pretty regularly - not just for the great knitting, but for her fantastic sense of humor. We heard her speak at Stitches and she's written a couple of books. For the 2006 Winter Olympics, she is organizing the Knitting Olympics.

I've toyed with the idea of joining in to participate, just to challenge myself. All of the rules are listed on the site, but the gist is to begin knitting something on Feb 10 and have it finished when the Olympics conclude 16 days later on Feb 26. It might be a good way to force myself to finish a sweater. I've started at least three and have finished none.

So, I've had my eye on this sweater from last summer's Family Circle Easy Knits. I thought it would be cute for spring and I can use it while I'm in MA boating this summer. I have no idea what color I will do it in, but it's easy enough to complete while sitting in front of the TV at night and if I'm traveling it may not be too big to tag along in my bag.

I'm going to make my decision on whether or not I'm a worthy Knit-lete this week.

Latest projects

I've been working on the Concha Vest from the book Dazzling Knits by Patricia Werner. This is the most fun project I've had in a long time. Knitting a "shell" goes very fast and you can't wait to see what another shell will add to the look. I find myself knitting longer than I plan every time I pick it up. I'm using Debbie Bliss Cotton and Angora that I got on sale. What do you think? Looks good, huh? I've never been a big vest person, but I think this will look good with black pants and turtle neck.

 


I'm also knitting on the Body Wrap from Catherine Lowe that we saw at Stitches East. The yarn came a couple of weeks ago. It's a lace weight, so progress is slow. Nevertheless, I'm about done with one triangle. It will make a great road trip knitting project so it will go with me to Texas this week and to Newark the following week. It feels great to have another road trip project! I traveled to Texas, Seattle and Newark the first 3 weeks of January and didn't have any projects. I worked too many Sudoku puzzles instead of being productive with work or knitting.

Hope your week is a good one. Where are you off to this week? 

Another Week, Another City

I'm on the road again this week. This time it is the great state of Texas. I will be doing this commute regularly now. On the plane I finished the long, emerald green scarf I started on my trip to NYC in early December. I'll take a photo once I take care of the loose ends. I'm looking for ideas to finish the fringe. I'm thinking about spiral fringe, but we'll see if I can come up with any other options. I don't know that this trim is the best option, but it does need something.

I also started a felted purse tonight. I've got the base completed and I'll cast on three times the amount of stitches I started with and join in the round to complete the sides. I'm not using a pattern, just experimenting as I go along. I'm using the bright yarn that I used to make the fingerless mittens. I'm curious to see what it will look like felted. I hope pretty neat.

I was making great progress on my Einstein Coat until I found that there's a hole in my knitting a pretty good ways into the panel. I guess I split the yarn and it pulled loose to make that darn hole. I'm going to sit down and figure out exactly which stitch the problem child is located in and rip that stitch all the way down and fix it with a crochet hook. I was shown how to do this in my cable class at Stitches and I've used it a few times, but just for a few stitches - not 75! I'll let you know how it goes. Fingers and toes crossed.

Amazing

The Wright Wrap is AMAZING! Both beautiful in design and detail. It lays beautifully when worn. I hope you wear it out. It's just beautiful. I'm sure the pattern is way out of my league, but it is something to aspire to. I wonder what it would look like in a different color pallet. I'm sure Interweave will love it. Who wouldn't? I love that it is knit in Cascade 220. What wonderful colors they have and such a range to choose from. I wonder what it would look like in brown/earth tones? Maybe more pastel for spring.

I've been knitting a lot this week. I'm almost done with my first sock. I have to admit that I don't think I'm a sock person. Maybe the second pair will be better. I'm considering frogging this one and starting over, but I'm almost ready to start the decrease rows for the toe. Here's a photo of the top portion that I took earlier this morning. I turned the heel and knit the instep this evening. I'll just finish it off and consider it practice, then rip it out. While I love this yarn, it's the same I used for Mandy, I don't like the way it looks for socks. I have a few balls of Sock Garden from KnitPicks that I may dig into for my next practice sock. I don't have enough of one color to make a pair, but I have enough to practice with. I'm back on the road week after next, so I may just have to get good at socks so I have something to do while I'm gone since my Einstein Coat is too enormous to manage on a plane.

I'm almost done with the bottom portion of the Einstein coat. I've completed 115 rows of 160. I took a photo for proof. Maybe by tomorrow evening I'll have it done and be ready to pick up stitches to start the front. I've got a really busy week ahead of me next week, so I've got to get my knitting in this weekend.

Ophelia!

I think she is just beautiful and the mittenettes are great. I am still working with the yarn that I got at Stitches, plus the other yarns. I did an afghan for Lisa for Christmas and finished the sweater I was working on at Disneyworld. I'm also re-working my master's level submission. I had to re-do a lot of the swatches, mainly because I didn't use a good quality wool so the swatches didn't turn out with consistent gauge. Perhaps I'll be able to get the re-worked submission in the mail soon. I wanted to finish before I had to return to work, but that isn't happening. I leave tomorrow but I'm not looking forward to it. I've been at home for 3 weeks, so going back to work is really difficult. I would rather stay home and knit. At least I'm not going North at this time of year, but am going to Texas for the week, back to Seattle next week.
I'm glad to see you knitting continental style. It really does build up speed and allow you to finish projects faster, which means you can get on to the next one! Somehow, we never run out of projects.
See you soon in the blog.

Inspiration Frank Lloyd Wright stained glass window

Inspiration window 

This is where it all started. I bought this faux stained glass window in 1998 and knew for several years that I wanted to knit something from it. Now I have the wrap!

Front view

Wright Wrap front view 

And this is the way the front looks.

Wright wrap wrapped

Wright Wrap wrapped 

This is the way the wrap looks when wrapped across the front.

Wright Wrap Finhished!!!

Wight Wrap back view 

Well, I'm sorry to do 4 separate blogs here. I can publish more than one picture, but didn't take the time to review how to do it.
I wanted to share my masterpiece! It turned out even better than I expected. In this view you can see the back. It is knit with Cascade 220 in stockinette stitch with duplicate stitch to create the "lead" lines from the inspiration stained glass window.

I've emailed the pics to Interweave knits for consideration for publication. Problem is that I don't intend to ever knit it again, and magazines usually expect the designer to knit it in the colors they want. We'll see.
Hope you like it.