Long post is LONG! I've just been on vacation which means that I have had a LOT of knitting time these past few weeks and thus have a bunch of finished items to show off, as well as SEVERAL works in progress! Apparently finishing stuff always makes me want to cast on three new projects for every one I cast off ;-)
Finished Objects
Most importantly, I've finished both my test-knits! The deadline isn't until August 1st, so I'm happy to have those done in plenty of time. Actually, I'd been knitting pretty much exclusively on the Tolovana Tee for the first week of my vacation. I love everything about it, and can't wait until it's cooled down enough to wear wool again.
With that out of the way I figured it was about time to pick up Midnight Sun again and finished that the very next day (including adding a bit of extra length to the first sleeve, as I'd measured it wrong). I'm not
quite as happy with the fit of this one (particularly the sleeves, as they are a bit tight), but I'm hoping it'll stretch the right places with wear.
And then, just as I was about to try to figure out what on EARTH to cast on next, Nina texted me that she was looking for some knitted/crocheted wash- and dishcloths - if I knew where she could buy some. Sheesh! As IF I'd let her buy something I could make so easily! I hunted through my cotton scraps and 2 days later I'd finished five :-D I've got plenty of scraps left, but figured I'd leave it at this until I see how she likes them :-)
On the Needles
Thanks to the vacation, I currently have 5 new WIPs! (And haven't touched the 5 older ones at all... go figure :-P ) After all, I needed something suitable to bring along with me on my trip, right? Of course right ;-) So it ended up being 2 pairs of socks, 2 shawls and 1 mermaids tail! The latter didn't get cast on until day before yesterday though ;-)
When reading through a recent edition of "The Knitter" magazine I found a pattern for some awesome fair isle cat socks! (As in - socks with cats on them - not socks for cats!). I couldn't resist them, and as I was looking for a gift for Liz' birthday anyway, I decided to cast them on! As always, fair isle is amazingly potato-chippy, and knitting the Favourite Things cowl has definitely helped in making my floats better. It's still uneven as anything, but oh well... I guess that's just the nature of the beast.
I've finished the first one (although I decided to change the pattern on the foot to a simple Fibonacci stripe sequence instead), but though I cast on the second one right away, I'm still just on the ribbing. That's okay - I have until the end of October to finish it.
They were much too complex to bring along with me on vacation though, so I cast on a simple vanilla sock, as I had some left overs for my "Fading Point" shawl that I wanted to play around with. Perfect car knitting... except for the fact that I couldn't try them on, so just guesstimated where the heel should go and made them about 1cm too small! Of course I
could just have continued with them like that, and passed them on to a niece or sister... but I kinda really wanted to keep these for myself :-p so I ripped back a few hours of knitting and am now back on track again - but only just past the heel instead of almost done.
One new cast on isn't enough for a vacation though, so I also cast on for the Turtles Trail shawl. I have some gorgeously soft mystery yarn that Liz gave me which I wanted to use. As far as I can make out, I have about 800m of a lace weight, but I couldn't find a suitable lace shawl I felt like knitting, so I decided to hold it double and use it for this instead! It's so soft that I couldn't see myself using it for anything other than a shawl, so it was just a matter of finding the right pattern for it. I'm
really picky when it comes to one-skein shawl patterns, but I do love an applied edging, so this seemed like a good fit.
Can't wait to finish this. It's so soft you guys... SO soft! I can't even... just wish I knew what was in it. My guess (knowing that it's a New Zealand yarn) is that it's probably a merino-possum blend of some sort, but it might have some other fibers thrown in there as well.
While away on vacation I (of course) visited a yarn store and got some gorgeous new yarn for myself. However, the VERY first skein I spotted was one that immediately called out to me that it HAD to be bought and knit up for Nina. I did NOT have a say - it had to happen! I actually even considered purchasing a new set of needles and getting it wound up right then and there to cast on the very same day.... but realized that was just a
tiiiiny bit silly :-P So I waited the two days until I got back home again... and then immediately sat down to find a suitable pattern. I knew I wanted something asymmetric and quirky like Martina Behm (in fact, I originally thought it should be another Hitchhiker, but then realized that not only had I already knit 3 of those - I'd knit one of those for Nina! Time for something else) and ended up with Margrathea - another Douglas Adams inspired pattern of hers.
And finally my newest cast on. Last Sunday Michala told me that Nora really wanted a mermaid tail and had gone right on to say that "auntie can make one!". Of course I always want to encourage my nieblings in their belief that "auntie can knit/crochet anything", and as this is the first time Nora has ever actually asked me to make her something, obviously I had to comply. As she wants to be able to wear it in her bathtub (as any self-respecting mermaid would, of course! ;-) ) I had no suitable yarn in my stash so went yarn shopping the very next day and cast on the same evening. Not much progress yet, but as it's DK yarn held double on 7mm needles it should take me no time at all to finish :-)
