Now it’s really been a while

So, the Blogger app gave me trouble so I put baby in a corner for, um three years. 

Sorry about that.  

In the meantime I’ve joined Instagram so there are are pictures of lots of things there.  I’ll post some some catch up snaps here and next post will be able my latest attempt to get organized in my knitting and design life.  Please note this are in no particular order:

Parragon sweater

I'm nearly done with the body - it's cropped with a deep u neck which will get filled in somewhat with a decorative ribbing. The fabric is really nice, and I thinks it will look nice with a collared shirt underneath. 

I better wear this thing a lot

So, this my third time with this yarn. No joke, I've been nearly done with entire sweaters twice only to realize it's not working.  This last time I didn't like the pattern on the belt or the way I'd done the yarn carries. But I like using all 4 balls interleaved because it cuts out pooling. This picture doesn't do the colorway justice but the effect is sort like dragon scales.  We're driving to Savannah and back today for soccer. Ouch but maybe some good knitting time.  

Other WIPs

I'm not sure if I'm happy with this one http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/moroccan-nights Moroccan Nights.  To be clear, I think the pattern is great but I've started it with some KP Gallelio and I'm not sure I love the two together.  

Then again, I got interrupted on this one so maybe it's just that that's putting me off?  Don't mind those heinous jammy pants ....

Ravello

I really like this pattern.  I stayed conservative on my first take and stayed close to the orginal colors - which I like:

But I think I want to try it in some closer tones - like this:

I love palette. I worried it wouldn't wear well, or be scratchier than I'd like. Nope.  And the colors. So. Many.  Colors.  

Ravello

I feel a bit odd turning 44 and making so many hipster sweaters with horizontal stripes, but ....

Palette on 4’s feels and looks really nice. Great pattern, the short rows for the neck shaping are awesome. I’m excited to see how this one comes out - I think most of my jogless color switches worked on the back yoke. I decided to extended the contrast color stripes down into the darker body portion to try and make the entire peice more intergrated. I think I like it so far. I’m also adding some shaping to the body.  I'm thinking that doing one with greens could be nice too.  

Front

Back

I think I can wiggle and block those out a bit. Right now the unevenness is being exacerbated by tension funk at the color changes. 

Interesting last sentence there.  

If you're interested in jogless stripes, check out the Techknitters blog from 2007 - http://techknitting.blogspot.com/2007/01/jogless-stripes.html?m=1. 

Paulie no stripes

So, my flow for this year is one color or cable project, one straight knitting project and an option to do socks. 

I haven't posted about my straight project - Paulie (http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/paulie). 

It's made from knitpicks stroll heather twead in Autumn (http://www.knitpicks.com/yarns/Stroll_Tweed_Sock_Yarn__D5420150.html) which is lovely for garment knitting-soft with a nice hand. The pattern calls for stripes but with all the slubs, I thought that was too much.  

I like it. Need to see it on. 

My on deck plain sweater is Dinah (http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/dinah). It's a great pattern, but it seems like the execution is tricky. Or yarn choice?

Updates

Well, color is a good thing, but as I was nearing the end of the body on Vitamin D I realized I'd messed up the increases so I needed to pull out all the short rows (and if you've knit this one you know how much knitting that is). But I did it because its lovely and needs to be done right and Galileo is so nice to knit. Here's some progress on Kauni (yes, it's going to be a cardigan) and some mitts I've been doing.

And the Kauni reboot

Starting over

So, the other night I spent the whole evening pulling out my Kauni. I'm stilling going to use the traveling leaves design from the Tailored Jacket pattern but I'm using Ruth Sorensen's cardigan pattern for shaping and gauge. Since it looks pretty sack-y in the pics on Ravelry, I'm adding some waist shaping as well - 3 sets of decreases (at 10, 12 and 14 cm) and 3 increases (at 16, 18 and 20 cm). I've put so much time and thought into this now, the damn thing better fit. Here are some pictures of my progress so far - one with flash and one without. Neither gets the color quite tight, it's somewhere in the middle.

So, it doesn't look like much

And I'm going to put fewer beads on it than the first version (Goddess Nut) but its coming along. For whatever reason all my Christmas knitting this year was in neutrals and I'm dying to rip out my Kauni and redo it in this vest (http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/trellis-waistcoat) maybe or the Kauni sweater (http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/kauni-rainbow-cardigan) which would be simpler but I'd want to fit it a bit. Just anything with color!
I also really love the Veyla mitts and want to try them in Chroma - maybe with a matching hat? I have some leftovers from the second Stained Glass sweater I made for Elaine, maybe she can be my guinea pig.

Soccer and number 5 of 5

Our final soccer tournament of the year. So, I got some work done one the last knitting present. Our parents also got so rowdy that the ref lodged a complaint with the tournament officials. Nice.

Finishing things

Well, I'm down to the last knitted present. Not sure if I want to do a shawl or a sweater. I suspect my issue is I think pearlescent is ugly, and I'd be happy making either with another color. Sigh.

Oh yeah

Here's number 3 - Pipit again in Sugarbunny. It's nice, very soft and works wonderfully for this pattern. I like that our kitty is in this picture because the way you knit the pattern, it makes me think of the Cheshire Cat appearing.

Pipet

So, last night I ripped out the whole body of Pipet. I seem to have mismatched shoulder and torso sizes. So, I'm going to end up reknitting every part of this freakin thing at least twice. I think I'll really like it, and the cotton linen blend will be great for fall down south. I also like being a grown up and learning to just rip when I need to.
I'm also starting to be really annoyed that I'm not using up this lovely old silk I've had for 20 years. I've hauled it out to the living room so ill be annoyed - I mean inspired. I'm thinking maybe a diagonal stripe like this this?

Mmmm

Dinner - http://www.bonappetit.com/recipes/2012/10/pimenton-roast-chickens-with-crispy-potatoes and I'm nearly done with the top of Pipit. Looks like a Thneed.

Back

So, awhile back, my life went nuts. My work life, my real life is fine. Not bad, just busy to the point of not remembering to use the restroom all day. Then my phone went into decline (failing battery) and then died. It was kind of a drag and killed blogging for me.
Any how, new staff, new budget year and new phone.
I've been doing lots of knitting - lots of it kind of dull. I made some mittens for the annual horse barn event:

And I started Pipet - twice. First time was with Galileo which was lovely but the gauge was off and then I pulled out the Green Mtn Spinnery tunic I'd stalled out in Cotlin to use for it. Some I'll learn that stalling out means I hate it
I also made some socks for a coworker who retired, but I have all this awesome yarn I have to use. Thinking of doing Rosa Rugosa in the Galileo with long sleeves. The bamboo makes it wearable next to the skin.

Deer

In our back yard - she had twins but you can only see one very well here.
Spent the day taking the little one to meet the teacher day at middle school (he's starting 6th grade!) and then to Walmart. Walmart sucks. But we're ready. Or we have supplies - I guess that doesn't really equate, does it?
I'm almost done with Vitamin D which I love - the hand dyed is awesome and it's forced me to learn to felt graft as I go because you really have to alternate balls as you go with hand dyed, even from the same pot. But it is a boatload of straight stitch. And I hope to get a snap of Tumbleweed this week at knitting. I could use to go to our knitting group.

Going back to things

Like my cotton tumbleweed. I got to the end of the back and decided I didn't want to deal with shoulder seams so I winged a neck opening. It may be too large, but I can work a band around it with a cable then do a little rib edge. Knitpicks Dishie is really nice, good hand in cables.
Also, I have had the horrible summer cold this week. There's something so pathetic about sneezing and coughing when it's 104 out.

Been a while, sorry

My husband was out of town at a conference. He's really blown away by Salt Lake City. If you as big a fan of hiking and a fan of traffic as he is, you'd get the appeal. His pictures were lovely - he hiked Lake Blanche and saw a Bees game. While he was gone, I didn't do as much knitting as you might expect. Rather I washed the siding (by hand) and stripped and repainted the bathroom ceiling and got some plant issues taken care of. It was a lot of work and I would have posted all kinds of before and after shots, but I was trying to surprise the spouse. As he was not surprised anyway, next time I'll just post. :)
But I'm having all these little knitting project bugs - I really want to try major loop socks and figure 8 casting on and here is my latest "little" thing. It's got baby Amelia, fingering cotton top down Aran.