Whew--I am totally tired today after an epic hike yesterday. It was embarrassingly short in terms of distance (only a bit over 3 miles, round trip), but it went straight up a mountain on a rarely-used trail that took a lot of effort to follow, for a total hike time of almost 4 hours (!). We even lost the trail a few times and ended up having some fun bushwhacking. Let's just say that I do NOT seem to have buns (or calves) of steel. I did get some good scenic photos but I think I better wait to post them, since it has been awhile since I've done a knitting update.

Last Sunday, I spent a couple hours starting, ripping, and re-starting the edging on the Victoria Shawl. It took me awhile to figure out how it all worked and how to attach it neatly to the edges. Now that I've got it straightened out, I am loving the way it looks:I'm totally fascinated by the tidy look of the knitted-on edging, plus it is addictive to do section after section (although it still seems like it's going to take forever). Don't you just love that totally satisfied feeling that certain projects give you? This is definitely one of them.

Also on the needles is the new project I mentioned last time:You may recall the Trellis cardigan I made last year for the child of some friends. He's pretty much grown out of Trellis, so I decided to make him another sweater--this time an Aran-style pullover called "Aaron's Aran" from ByMelissa.net (scroll down to the second row of patterns), knit in Cascade 220. Besides being super-cute it is also super-easy, perfect for TV knitting. I probably would be almost done by now were it not for that captivating lacy edging!

Finally, believe it or not tomorrow is October 1st which means today is the last day of Project Spectrum! Here are my final photos, this time of orange, brown, and purple stuff:See Flickr for all of my Project Spectrum photos.

Unfortunately I don't feel like I really got to do any experimentation with colors as far as knitting goes, although I did make a number of things using the "assigned" colors. If nothing else it was a fun way to organize the order in which I was going to knit a bunch of already-planned projects. I also had a great time keeping my eyes peeled for certain colors so that I could take photos. It really made me pay more attention to my surroundings and look at things more closely.

That's about it for now...hope your Monday is good (and flies by, if your wish is anything like mine!).

After a two-day frenzy of seed stitch and seaming (hee hee, just the two side seams, that is), Nerissa is done and looks OK both coming:
And going:
I love the interplay of the three different textures: stockinette, seed stitch, and a simple lacy pattern:And finally, I seem to have captured the true color of the yarn!

All in all, no major complaints, although I wish I had made it the teeniest bit longer (seems to be a frequent problem for me). Definitely not a huge deal. We shall see if I get to wear it before next summer...it's been quite cool so it's not looking likely for the immediate future.

Pattern Notes:
"Nerissa" from Rowan 41
Knit in Rowan Handknit DK Cotton in color #334 "Delphinium", on US size 6 needles

Pattern was very easy, although the lace pattern kept things somewhat interesting. A couple of things I would've done differently in retrospect: 1) On armhole shaping, I always make decreases one stitch in from the selvedge. I think in this case I might of tried doing decreases right at the selvedge, because you later have to pick up stitches for the seed st edging without having the decrease stitches visible. Because my decreases were 1 st in, it was a bit of a pain to pick up neatly and it left a kinda thick "seam" behind the picked up stitches. Or maybe there's another clever solution for this that I don't know of? 2) The pattern has you pick up 103 sts around the armhole, I probably would've reduced this a little bit because the edging doesn't have much snugness to it...it kind of flares out a little bit (but not too dramatically). I also thought it was interesting that my lace section looked way more texture-y than the pattern photo. Maybe I didn't block it as agressively as they did.

Yarn was basic...not particularly exciting but good quality and no complaints.

Now, full speed ahead on the Victoria Shawl, and I'm already halfway through the center section:Tons and tons of diamonds!

And here is something funny too--our computer keyboard died last week (hmm, may have had something to do with that glass of water I spilled into it, but let's not jump to any conclusions, K?). I ordered a new, fancy wireless one that came today, and it rules. Especially compared to what we had been using in the interim. That is a true classic, found in the depths of a closet at work. It makes the most extremely loud "clickety clickety" sound as you type. I also particularly love the purple function keys, what a great '90s look, huh? And the ergonomic setup, holy crap what a pain in the bum. I just could not get used to typing on it. Does anyone actually use those anymore?

Where the heck have I been the last three weeks? Just too busy with other stuff (and apologies for not keeping up with my blog reading/commenting as well). Here is a synopsis of what's been going on:

August 1: I post on my blog, intending to post again early the following week.
August 4-6: Annual girl's weekend camping trip to Sebago Lake.
August 6-7: Horribly busy at work; work late and collapse into relaxation mode at home.
August 8: Spend night doing laundry and drinking wine with a friend who is going through a emotionally trying period.
August 9: Intended to blog before leaving for our vacation. Wait for three hours for neighbor/alleged cat-sitter to show up so I can show her around house. She never shows up and then hides when I go knocking on her door. Finally give up and make dinner and go to bed.
August 10: Find a friend who agrees to take the cat while we're on vacation. Bowling league night. Get home at 10 PM and start packing for...
August 11-15: Vacation in Cape Cod! Woo hoo!
August 16-17: Crazy days catching up on work. Friday is bowling night again.
August 18: Drove down to the "big city" to get my haircut and do some shopping. End up watching a movie instead of blogging.

So after all that, here I am, finally! And still with not much knitting to show, unfortunately. As you will see, I've been stuck in SWATCHING HELL (said in a dramatic voice) for the last two weeks!

Shortly after my last post, my fears about the Classic Elite Waterlily were confirmed--the pattern called for DK weight yarn and the yarn shop owner steered me towards worsted weight instead! Talk about frustrating! I really wish I had just looked at the gauge myself, I wouldn't have made that mistake. Now I'm not sure what I will do with the yarn, which I still love. I'm toying with the idea of designing something myself, although I didn't really buy any extra yarn to make swatches with, so we'll see.

After that fiasco, I decided to instead start a lace project (with thanks to Jeanne for the yarn gift...more on that in a future post). I started swatching but soon discovered that none of the needles I own were going to work (not pointy enough). I ordered some better needles which showed up quickly but still not enough time to get a swatch finished and blocked before vacation.

Well, I knew that I had to bring something with me to knit on our trip (and not the baby wrap and booties I was working on. I really didn't want to spend my vacation doing finishing work, yuck!). Finally I decided that I would use some purple Rowan Handknit Cotton and make Arial, a lacy pullover from White Lies Designs. Once again, trouble struck when I discovered that even though Handknit Cotton is a DK weight yarn, it is a slightly heavier DK than what was used in the pattern. I swatched and swatched but couldn't make the proper gauge and hand. This was especially sad because I so wanted to make Arial in the purple color.

Lacking other options and in a desperate bid to have some project, any project to take on vacation, I finally settled on using the Handknit Cotton to make Nerissa from Rowan 41. Finally, so far so good (although I would have preferred making it in a different color):The color in this photo is completely off, it is really a medium heather-y purple.

Hopefully I can get back into my lace project shortly and not have to SWATCH anything for a long, long time!

I guess I should shut up now, and post a few pictures from Cape Cod, which I totally fell in love with. Here is a photo of this awesome, deserted beach where we saw a ton of seals in the water. They kept popping their heads up and looking at us!Another really nice beach, but no one was swimming due to reports of a shark in the area:We were cracking up because there were two news teams there filming reports for the local news on the "shark scare"...must've been a really slow news day.
And in honor of Project Spectrum, a shot of a pretty purple hydrangea which grow everywhere on the cape!More photos on Flickr!

Nothing left to do now but eat our salt-water taffy and wish we were back at the beach!

I'm a day late, but I wanted to wrap up the red/metallic/black portion of Project Spectrum with another dorky mosaic of the photos I took for this color scheme:Go to Flickr for larger views.

I have to say last month's color triad was not my fave. I wear a lot of red and black but somehow just wasn't all that inspired to knit much in those colors.

I'm much more enthusiastic about the next two months, with a focus on orange, brown, and purple! Purple is probably my absolutely favorite color, and I have a deep appreciation for brown as well. I've never been a huge orange person, but I'm hoping to use the following yarn for my next project:This is one of those difficult-to-photograph yarns. It looks rather red in this picture but I would really describe it as a deep terra-cotta or orange-y rust color. It actually has subtle variation to it. This was the Classic Elite Waterlily yarn that my aunt bought me for my birthday last year, and I hope it works well for the intended sweater pattern. I'm a little concerned that the yarn shop owner led me astray in saying that this was a good substitute for Filatura Di Crosa Zara. The recommended needle size is 2 or 3 sizes different (!), but all I can do is try swatching and hope for the best!

In a serendipitous turn of events (given this month's PS colors), I saw the following parked along the road on my walk home from work:Purple! Sparkly! I'm not a motorcycle person but if I were, I would totally want this one!

Thanks everyone for your awesome comments on Caister--it definitely boosted my spirits quite a bit. I probably shouldn't have complained so much, it really did come out beautifully. Just all those nagging details, argh! Also thanks for suggestions on how to fix the problems--I definitely will try a few things and let you know if any of them work ;)

Boy we are in the middle of some sticky-icky weather! Makes me want to stick my head in the freezer, lol!Anyone else up for a fudgesicle?

It is actually funny how cranky and whiny a lot of people up here (myself included) get when the weather hits 85 plus humidity. I know all you folks further south are slapping your knees and laughing at this! But hey, we're not used to it and it's not like anyone actually has air conditioning in these parts! I am just hiding out in here, shades down, fan blowing at me. Even poor Quincy it too lethargic to move much or cuddle (he tries but gets hot and has to move on). I'm sure we'll survive, somehow ;)

For knitting, I finally finished up the "Stinky Sox", almost a year after I started them! Good time to finish too, for the tail end of this month's Project Spectrum color of red.Just an easy-peasy, toe-up stockinette sock in Cascade Fixation. I stopped working on them last year after the Sox went into a nasty late-season tumble. I secretly feared that the socks were a bad-luck charm (strange how non-superstitious me gets all silly when the Sox are involved). They also had a few bad games while I was finishing them, but they've been on the rebound since, so maybe it was just the act of knitting the socks that was a problem, not the socks themselves?

Pattern Notes:
"Stinky Sox" made using Wendy's Toe-up Sock Pattern
Knit in Cascade Fixation, colors #3628 "Ruby" and #8001 "Bleach" on U.S. size 3 needles.
Except for the game losses (he he), these were simple and easy to make, and as most of you know by now, the toe-up sock pattern is a good one. This was my first time using Fixation, and I thought it seemed a bit strange at first (elasticity is weird). But I ended up liking it just fine, although the socks are definitely on the cushy/thick side, so be forewarned if you don't like that kind of thing.

I had to model them myself since G was gone, so they look a bit baggy on me. (Psst...notice the yellow afghan on the couch that my Grandma knitted for me when I was 5 yrs old?)And what is that other thing in front of my feet? New project, yay!This is the "Ballerina Wrap" from The Little Sublime Handknit Book, which has some easy, basic, cute baby patterns. Being made for a friend who is due in September; the baby's a girl but I thought I'd do it in blue with white edging just to give her a break from what will surely be a landslide of pink garments! The yarn is Rowan RYC Cashsoft Baby DK, a perfectly serviceable and soft yarn though perhaps a bit overpriced given the amount of synthetic fiber in it. I am also worried it will pill easily due to its softness, but I guess that remains to be seen. Anyway, I think it will only be another week or so before it's done, cuz it's sooo tiny!
Happy knitting, and stay cool (if you're in the northern hemisphere, anyway!)

I made something silly!It's a mankei neko or "fortune cat", or at least my interpretation of one. This was based on the pattern from Just Jussi, although I did make mine quite a bit bigger than the pattern--I think he's just under a foot tall (I cast on double the number of stitches to start). It's made from TLC Cotton Plus yarn and I found it surprisingly nice to work with. Since this yarn doesn't felt (which is what the pattern recommends), I knit it on US size 4 needles, which is a size or two smaller than the recommended size.

Besides being black for Project Spectrum, I also tried to incorporate metallic accents in the embroidery. It's a little hard to see, but there is sparkly blue blending filament in there:I also made a cool rose that I was going to have the cat hold instead of the traditional coin, but I think I like him better without it. The rose was made using a pattern entitled "Rosa d'Amore" from the 2006 Knitting Pattern-a-Day calendar (May 18th). I used Rowan 4-ply cotton, of which I am starting to gather quite a large collection of leftovers, as was the cat's collar. I love the way it turned out, but it just seemed like too much on the cat, so I guess I'll have to save it for something else.

Next up, I finally dragged the Stinky Sox out of hiding (just in time for the Sox to start going downhill again, ha ha). I figured now would be the perfect time to finish them, considering they are red and all. It took me about three tries to remember which size needle I had been using (turns out it was a US 3), but now that's sorted out I should hopefully be done with them in a jiffy!

All aboard for a tour of a Fourth of July parade in Maine!There was lots of Project Spectrum red to be seen:(and metallic chrome too!)
Kids were running around scooping up all the candy being tossed from the floats:I was tossed a few pieces as well, out of pity no doubt!
These guys were having a grand time squirting everyone with an old-fashioned hand-pumped fire hose:If you've ever wondered what Santa Claus does during the summer months, he made an appearance on his own personal party barge:Happy Fourth of July!

It certainly does not feel like the first day of July up here--can you believe it only got up to 60 degrees today? Yikes! Not that I'm complaining, I can't stand that hot, muggy crap we were having earlier in the week--but I wouldn't mind being able to open the windows without freezing, LOL!

The cool weather on Saturday provided a perfect excuse to take advantage of the first weekend of strawberry picking. There were still quite a few berries that hadn't fully ripened, but we managed to scrounge up eight quarts. Perfect for this month's Project Spectrum red color, no? I used half of them to make my first-ever batch of strawberry jam:Based on my sneaky taste-tests from the bottom of the pot, it tastes pretty good! Although, I must say that the strawberry shortcake I made tastes even better:Mmm...I love summer fruit (and veggie) season...you just can't beat it!
Just so you don't think I've gone completely strawberry-mad, here is a picture of the cute little family that lives around our office building:Gives me something fun to look at during the work day!

A week and a half of knitting...And here's all I had to show for it! You can all just start calling me speed-needles, LOL. This is one of the sleeve-bands. I've finished cranking out the second one tonight, so hopefully I'm a bit back on track with this project.

Unfortunately my cold turned out to be one of those nasty ones, all stuffy and coughy and yuck, but I managed to have a pretty fun weekend nonetheless. The nice weather we had went a long way towards making me feel better. The bugs even stayed away for the most part, which is truly a minor miracle. We had a nice walk up to a neat waterfall:And also took the obligatory moose sight-seeing drive and saw five of the goofy critters. Most of the rest of the weekend was taken up with eating, strolling around town, and general relaxing. Oh, and we also took my parents to the first dance of the season over at the Finnish Farmers Club and had a hilariously good time. I must say, my dad was the hit of the dance and took three or four turns around the floor learning to schottische (aka Jenkka in Finnish). My mom and I were quite amused by this!

Before we move on to the next color phase of Project Spectrum starting in June, I put together a green, yellow, and pink photo mosaic for April/May:See the Flickr photoset for full-size images.

I was having a hard time finding pink objects to photograph but managed to find a few. I also captured a photo of my favorite pink thing of all time:Cute little Quincy nose!

I'm going to have to post my "Seven Random Facts" next post as I need to go to bed and get rid of this darn cold...toodles for now!

Lots of happy stripes and happy cats (sometimes) in my corner of the world:This project seems to have 8 million little pieces though...above you see the front and back, two sleeves, and the cute lil' collar (at the bottom). I still need to make the bands for the sleeve bottoms and the shirt bottom (which looks to be rather interminably boring), and pick up and knit the button band at the neck. Still need buttons too, which are impossible to buy in town unless I want real cheapies. Well, I should have some time to knit some of the remaining parts this weekend when I watch G play with his band at a local bluegrass festival. Should be pretty neat!

In other excitement, I received this handspun laceweight in the mail from Rebekah, as a prize from the Blanket of Hope project:I love the crazy colors, but I have been racking my brain trying to think of lace patterns that would work with such strong variegation. I guess it would have to be something very simple. Any suggestions are appreciated; feel free to leave one in the comments!

On a tragic note, one of G's Russian Boots has already sprung a leak in the bottom:Gah! I thought they would last a bit longer as they were made from a rough yarn, but alas I was wrong. I'm sure I can patch this up and make it last a bit longer, but clearly I need to make some felted slippers at some point. I imagine those wouldn't get holes nearly as easily. I do wonder though, is it just me or do guys seem to wear out their clothes so much more quickly? It doesn't seem like G and I live very different lifestyles or anything that would account for this. Perhaps it is just one of those mysteries of the universe?

Finally, a nice daffodil...they've been sprouting all over town despite the raw weather we've been having (I even saw a...gasp...flurry of snow and sleet yesterday morning. Luckily it didn't last long!).Perfect for Project Spectrum this month! Enjoy your weekend!

It's a bit late for the Feb/March Project Spectrum party, but it's finished and whew, I'm relieved! This thing was becoming a wintry weight around my neck, and with all the finishing details required (zippers, cuffs, bottom band, etc.) I was seriously procrastinating.

I don't think this is my best sweater but I don't dislike it either. Substituting a different yarn (and a rather rustic hand-spun one at that!) required a lot of calculations. Despite all my work to convert the pattern, the pieces still didn't have the exact shape required. After decreasing the raglan portions to the proper length, I ended up with much wider tops than there was supposed to be, resulting in a too-large neck opening. I made the collar band as short as I dared and probably eased in a good 7 or 8 inches (!) of neck opening while attaching the collar. Still, the collar seems a bit gaping to me but I think I can live with it. I also couldn't find cute toggles like the ones in the pattern photo but I can easily replace those if I find better ones.

The ever-fascinating "wrong side" shot:
I had a lot of yarn left over. I'm not sure what I'll do with it...
Pattern Notes:
"Maine Fair-Isle Cardigan", AKA Pattern #28 from Vogue Knitting Winter 2004/2005. Knit in 100% wool yarn purchased from a local hobby farm.

I didn't have any problems with the pattern. I do think there are some small errors near the beginning of the pattern in terms of how many stitches you should have on the needle. Since I was calculating my own numbers anyway, I didn't get too involved in trying to figure out if there really was a problem, but I wrote a bit about it here.

Overall I am fairly pleased with the final product. However this thing is heavy and I don't think there will be many days that it will be comfortable to wear it, even up here!

Even if it doesn't look like spring here, I'm ready to start some spring knitting. I've gathered the yarn for Caister, from the newest Rowan #41 and it looks so cheerful and bright:I was totally boring and bought the "suggested" colors, but with only internet purchasing available to me I didn't dare try to substitute! That usually results in disaster for me. And, it so happens that two of the three Project Spectrum colors for April/May are represented here: Pink and Green! Whee!