It's a traaaaaap!

Admiral Ackbar says: It's a traaaaap!



Obey the goldfish.

My very first pattern

So now that my mother's birthday has finally passed and she has gotten her gift, I can publish my chart! I designed this after seeing the fornicating deer chart. I decided Mom needed cows, what with her motorhome being dubbed the COW (cabin on wheels). They both have horns because they are Highland Cattle (a hardy beef cow from Scotland with shaggy red hair) as they are her favorite. She loved it. Yay! I am just glad I can finally share.

Check out the chart pattern here: Fornicating Cows Chart

Vivian done!

Yay! I finished my Vivian the other day. It was very exciting. It fits perfectly (though the arms are a little too long, so I just rolled them into cuffs). I still need to get a zipper for it (I have been wearing it around anyway) and I am having a hell of a time finding one I like. I want a red, 2-way 22" or 24" zipper. I can find 24" 2-ways but not in red or red 2-way zippers that are 26". Ugh. Internet, you are failing me. I really want to avoid cutting down the zipper if I can as I have no idea how and it sounds like a massive pain. But either way, yay for finished sweater.

I have now moved on to Mary's shawl that I am test knitting. I am on the second chart (which makes up the majority of the shawl). So far it has been nice and easy and it turning out quite well. I just hope my second ball of yarn comes in time! I definitely love handmaiden. I can't imagine knitting it on metal needles as it keeps falling off my wooden ones!

Sock Summit

So my Mom and I headed to the Sock Summit this past weekend. We walked into the trade hall and I just had to stop. I had never seen that much fiber in one place in my life. It was hardcore overload. I gotta say, I was much better than I could have been. I only ended up with only 2 skeins of yarn and about 8 fiber tops. The damned fiber was just so pretty! I am going to spinning until the end of time and still won't be done. Worth it though.

I hadn't heard about the Summit until well after signups for classes had closed so we didn't do any of those (they were hella expensive anyway) but we did do a little hour walk in class. It was a stretchy bind off class. I don't knit socks often, partly because I have such a problem with my cuff being too tight. This should fix that! It was kind of odd and difficult to set up but it was worth it! A very nice, loose bind off based on the Kitchner stitch. I wish I could figure out a way to do it on straight patterns too.

It was amazing. I am super glad I went. I really can't wait for the UK ravelry week next summer now! It is practically next door to Edinburgh in Stirling (less than a half hour train ride). Yeee for knitting.

Sweater number two

So after the success of my Leisl I decided to try my hand at another Ysolda design (I really can't wait to meet her once I get back to Edinburgh), the Vivian sweater. Now she didn't publish this herself and boy can you tell. The pattern is a major pain to read. It just isn't well written. One of the charts is less than clear that it is supposed to be repeated. ALL the charts are ALWAYS read right from left, even though every row is shown. It starts on the wrong side (which I just don't like personally). Ugh. Pain in the butt.

Once I got it going it was ok, but it took me a couple of attempts. Once the pattern was established it is quite nice and mindless. It is going to be a very nice sweater when it is done, but the pattern is a pain.

My very first sweater!

I started Liesl, by Ysolda, a couple days ago as it looked like a nice, easy sweater and was small enough for me to use my bemiji homespun on. I sillily only bought 2 skeins. I have officially fallen in love with top down sweaters! I could try it on as I go, which is really helping me with my sizing worries. I even swatched for the first time in my life. I think I did it right...

I also love Ysolda's stuff because they go up to real sizes! I am not huge, but most of the actual cute stuff has patterns that go to size small. Ugh. I am not even the biggest size in Ysolda's patterns. Yay! I think I am going to make Vivian next (I love how her patterns have names, like Ikea furniture!), it is a very cute hoodie and I am ready for the challenge now. I just have to finish getting liesl to length. I think I'll have to bribe one of my knitting friends with a sewing machine to put the zipper in though. Apparently, that isn't the sort of thing that can be done by hand. Oh well.

Cursed Shawl

Take that, shawl!  I finally finished my Nightsong shawl today.  I swear that thing is cursed!  I decided to put a lifeline in before I started my last repeat as I was freaking out that I might be short on yarn (turned out to be sillily untrue).  I am so glad I did as when I was about to put in a lifeline before I started the trim, my needle snapped!  Right in the middle of the project.  After almost having a minor breakdown, I ripped back to the lifeline, thanking Mary for making me worry about my yarn.  I ended up only losing about 15 rows, but when each row takes me almost a half hour, that is a significant amount of time.

I finally got back into it and had only 2 rows left of the trim.  I got up to put my PJs on before I

 finished up, only to come back and find that a certain fuzzy dog had investigated my knitting and snapped my brand new KnitPicks circular!  I didn't lose any work this time but I was super pissed.  As I said, this shawl is cursed.  I had another pair of 3.25mm needles (which I had gotten after the first one broke, only to find that my KnitPicks one had arrived that day) so I was able to finish yesterday.  I cast off today as quickly as possible trying to save my last set of 3.25mm needles. 

So yay!  Three sets of needles later, it is finally done and blocking on my flatmate's bed (she is out of town).  It is so pretty that all the trauma was worth it.  I can't wait until it is dry and I can wear it to my knitting group on Thursday!