Weekend Plans for 10 in 2010.... FOILED!

So, I set out to have a calm, relaxing weekend at home.  I though that I would get a lot of knitting done.  My intent was to work on my Through the Loops Mystery Sock while I was traveling home from work on Friday, finish the earflaps of my Chullo hat on Saturday, and perform the surgery required to complete the hat.  I also wanted to work on my Interlocking Cables sweater on Sunday, and just see how far I could get (no pressure).  All of these projects are 10 in 2010 projects.

Currently, the sock is at the heel flap stage.  The last clue for the toe was distributed on Friday.  I don't have a serious problem with the sock.  It's just that row 11 of the pattern is a cable row, and I hate cabling socks because the yarn and needles are so tiny.  So, I would get into a good groove on my travels to and from work, and then reach the cable row. Ugh!  It's really hard to do that on a moving bus.  I am also afraid that I will drop my cable needle and lose it forever on the bus. 

My Chullo hat is at a stage where the crown decreases have started.  It has gotten to the point where I need to switch to double pointed needles. 

However, those DPN's are being used to recreate the ear flaps, because I don't like the ones that I have attached.  So, I forsee an earflap surgery in the near future.  I will remove the existing earflaps, leave live stitches on the hat, and kitchener the new earflaps to the hat.  But first, the new earflaps have to be made.  I decided to double knit them, and use an alternate pattern so that my hat isn't too much of an alpaca parade.  Here is a picture of the beginning of my double knitting work. 

The most troubling/annoying thing about the earflaps was that I needed to do increases in the double knit project.  I have yet to find a youtube video that explains how to do this effectively.  I have found pictures, but they just confuse me.  Somehow it all managed to click when I realized that you have to increase on both the main side and reverse side.  After that discovery, the knitting part was a piece of cake...until I got sleepy.

My Interlocking Cables Sweater is at the point where I am increasing for the chest/bust area.  This sweater is full of exquisite cables, and just CANNOT be done on the bus/train because it has gotten to a point where it is just too big to carry.  I'm not afraid to lose my cable needle, because it is a size 7 DPN, and I have made it thus far without a problem.  I was hoping to have at least separated the front from the back. 
Here is a picture of the sweater before I go to the bust increase section.

My 10 in 2010 knitting "flow" had gotten interrupted by a special request for a baby sweater/hat set for the neighbor's soon-to-be-here child.  The baby shower is this coming Saturday, so I have to move fast.  I don't know the gender of the baby, so that made it a bit difficult in choosing the right colors from my stash.  Then a lightbulb went on.  I realized that the mother-to-be's favorite color is orange.  So, I pulled out some Berroco Comfort that I received in a swap and casted on.  Here is the sweater. 

So, what really happened this weekend was.... I got invited to an awesome Halloween party.  I went shopping for a costume on Friday (after working 2 hours extra), and was just too tired to knit on the bus ride home.  Saturday, I spent the day with my grandfather, then went to Target for some last minute make-up to start getting ready for my halloween party.  The makeup took forever to do, but in the end it was totally awesome.  I got to the party just before the bewitching hour of 1AM when they started charging an entrance fee.  I saw a lot of old friends and made some new ones that I would love to party with again. 

Here is my costume. 

Sunday, like a true Vampire, I slept through most of the sunlight hours.  I woke up in time to cook dinner for my mom, then flat ironed my hair because the HOT party made it curl up after it was so nicely done.  After the hair fiasco I decided to write a blog post.  Too tired to knit, so I will be working on that baby sweater on the bus tomorrow.  I hope everyone had a happy, safe, and enjoyable Halloween. I'm excited to buy 50% off candy tomorrow. 

7 months later... The New York City Yarn Crawl

I have been away for 7 months, and I am soooo sorry I kept you waiting for so long.  I have run into a slew of things that I can use as excuses (summertime fun, birthday fun, working too hard, computer issues, internet issues) However, I dont want to dwell on the negative.  Let's look to the future of happy knitting time.  I have so much to get you up to speed on.  So let's start with my most recent knitting adventure, and take it from there.

On October 9th and 10th, New York City Hosted a Yarn Crawl.  I had an absloute fun time galavanting around the city, and entering myself into raffles for a huge yarn basket. 

Saturday I made it to Knitty City, Yarntopia, and The Yarn Co. This was my first time visiting Both Yarntopia and The Yarn Co.  I bought the Stitchionary 5 Book at the Yarn Co, and received a book that they wrote called "Knits for All Seasons" as a free gift for spending over $25.  That was so nice of them. Honestly, I didn't look at any yarn, because I already have waaaaaay to much of a stash.  My friend threatened to cut my hair if I bought a skein.  So, I restrained myself.  LOL!  I am glad that I have books with patterns to help me knit with the yarn that I already have.



On Sunday, I made a plan, and headed to 6 stores in Brooklyn, and Manhattan.  My list of intended stores was Knit-A-Way, Brooklyn General, Lion Brand, Purl Soho, Downtown Yarns, and La Casita.  I made it to every store except Downtown Yarns, because time was just running out, and so was my energy.  Here are some pictures that highlighted my trip.

Brooklyn General

This store was so warm and friendly.  Part of the NYC Yarn Crawl was a Scavenger Hunt for knitted apples.  As soon as I walked in there it was right there.  Isn't this tree awesome? I want one in my house.  LOL!  So, each apple had a tag with info on the knitter who made it.  I had to send it to one of the yarn crawl organizers via an email.  I was intent on finding the apples in every store that I went to.

Another sweet treat that Brooklyn General had to offer was an apple pie/cobbler contest.  I had a sliver of both pies, and they were equally delicious, but I chose the one that had a slight sweet and tart flavor.  Flavor complexity is a winner in my book.  I perused around the store for a bit, and found some really nice magazines, but since I didn't want to get caught up on falling in love with a project when I put myself on a yarn diet, I declined to purchase them and torture myself.  I will be back to the store though.  I love the fact that they have plenty of yarns that are not your usual run of the mill yarns.



So, my next step of the journey was to go to the Manhattan to 14th Street, so that I can go to the Lion Brand Store.  These 8 stops seemed to have taken forever.  When I got to Lion Brand it was busy and bustling.  I signed up for the raffle, and found the apple in a basket of project bags. 

And speaking of apple, with New York being the Big Apple, I found the store's front showcase to be very fitting to the NYC persona.

Lion Brand


My Next Stop was Purl Soho.  I admired the fabric display in the front of the store.  I love the fact that this store is a home to knittiers, quilters, cross-stitchers, and embroiderers alike.
Purl Soho

However, this store was SUPER CROWDED. I had to run out of there to catch my breath.  I took a quick stop at Starbucks for a refreshing Iced White Mocha.  But, not before I got a picture of the Purl Apple.


After this, I realized that making it to Downtown Yarns before they closed was impossible.  I am very unfamiliar with the streets in the Lower East Side, and didn't want to get out of the train, and waste time walking in the wrong direction.  So, I just went straight to La Casita.
La Casita


I was greeted by the ever-so-lovely-and-knowledgeable Hannah.  She offered me a glass of Cava as I walked into the store. I love knitting stores that double as coffee shops and wine bars. 



So I settled into my favorite knitting shop for the rest of the night.  I ate some Empanadas and salad that were finger lickin' good. 


I marveled at the raffle prize, hoping that I could be one of the lucky winners.

'

 I found the apple for the Scavenger Hunt



I decided to actually knit for the rest of the evening.  I knit this baby hat for my nephew.


Once the ensemble was finished, he tried it on a week later.  Doesn't he look so cute?  The color looks a little "froggy" to me, but it's a welcomed deviation from Baby Blue.  The pattern for the Jumper is called Pepita, and the hat is the Sockyarn Baby Hat.  I used 2 skeins of Wool Candy Meringue Sock yarn in the Fresh Herb Colorway. I made the socks using the same instructions that were in the Pepita pattern for the attached feet. I figured that babies grow really fast, so he would outgrow a footed jumper very quickly.  I added some length to the foot part of the sock as well as the cuff.  In this picture he is 2 months old.  He is growing so fast. 


This encompases 2 of the projects on my 10 in 2010 list.  Whew!
Coming up next.... More knitted updates on the status of the rest of my 10 in 2010 projects.

February Fitted Pullover in March

Finally, I finished my February Fitted Pullover.  I started this back in November for NaKniSweMo, and when I realized that I wouldn't finish in November, I just got really lax with it.  Lax to the point where it sat dormant for a while.  All I had left to do was seam the sleeves to the body, and finish the collar. Sheesh! 

So, I decided to finish it and actually wear it, before it got too hot outside to wear it.  Spring seems to have finally sprung.... at least this past week.  So, I grabbed on to the fear of not being able to wear it, and conquered it.

Here I am, clipping the pieces together, and seaming the sleeves.

Here is the completed sweater that I wore to work on Friday.

The Yarn is Malabrigo Silky Merino in "Amoroso", size 7 needles.

I didn't hesitate to cast on something new once the needle was free.  I went to La Casita on Friday evening with some really great knitting friends of mine.  I casted on yet another Sexy Vesty. We had such a blast.  La Casita has quickly become my favorite yarn shop.

The Beginning of Effie

I got a chance to dig into my Kim Hargreaves Precious magazine on Friday night. 

I was so excited, that I casted on immediately.

This is 1 pattern repeat.

This is about 10 more.

All in all, I have to do about 18 repeats for the edging of the back of the sweater, and repeat the same thing for the front of the sweater.  However, I noticed that I don't really like purling with this yarn, so I will be tweaking the pattern a bit, and making this in the round instead of pieces. So this means that I have to do 18 more pattern repeats, seam it all together, then pick up the stitches on the edge for the body of the sweater.  Wish me luck!

This yarn is very delicate, but once you get the hang of it, your knitting speed goes back to normal as if you were knitting a plied yarn that wasn't so fuzzy.  I am more comfortable with it now, and I am not as scared of the project as I was before.

I went to a Knit+Wine event on Sunday, and was only able to make it through 1 pattern repeat.  It turns out that after the delicious Reisling I had, I was forced to squint to see the stitches. LOL!  As if I didn't know what would happen.  No worries, I had another project with me that was easy knitting.  I didn't have to look at what I was knitting at all!

Wanna Be Startin' Sumthin' .... Gotta Be Startin' Sumthin'

I am preparing to take on what I feel is one of the most challenging endeavors in knitting ever.
Drumroll please...........

Knitting Kidsilk Haze on size 3 needles.

I have fallen in love with Effie from the moment I saw her. She is delicate, romantic, girly, and fluttery.  She is akin to a ballerina in my eyes, or a fairy princess from some disney cartoon that has classical music playing in the background.

The yarn is Rowan Kidsilk Haze in Marmalade, that I bought over 2 years ago when Knit New York had a sale.  They have since closed their doors, and the pattern I had originally bought the yarn for was kicked out the door when Effie arrived.  Effie has kicked Sylvi off the list of my 10 in 2010 projects as well. I am waiting 2 more days for my "Precious" by Kim Hargreaves book to arrive.

Why would I say that this is a challenging knit?  Firstly the yarn is very delicate, and frogging is not a possibility, so I have to really pay serious attention when I knit, and have great lighting, and not have my tastebuds divulge on Lambic Frambroise at La Casita yarn shop.  Secondly, this will be my first fine-gauge sweater, and I have been notorious for having chunky sweaters lay around for months, so this will be a great test at keeping focused. I know that this is surely not an instant gratification project, and I am ok with that. Thirdly, I have never done ruffles before, but they look so cute that I want to give them a try.  I can honestly say that I am very comfortable that this is stockinette, and the only real thing I have to worry about is doing my shaping decreases in the right spot.  I am contemplating knitting in the round, because I hate seaming. However, I have to study the pattern before I go converting things.  I hear that British knitting patterns are written very different than American ones.  But, I have no fear.  One of the coolest knitting buddies I have is from Great Britain.

Without further adieu, here is my newly updated pie chart of 10 in 2010 projects.

Malabrigo Sexy Vesty Complete.

Here is the first Sexy Vesty I started making back in December.  I actually put it on hold to complete the Pink Sexy Vesty for Ravelympics.  Today, during my visit to La Casita, I sat by the bar, had a Lambic Framboise to drink, 2 absolutely delicious Beef Empanadas to eat, and weaved in my ends.

Specs: 2 Skeins of Malabrigo Worsted in "Lettuce" purchased from The Fiber Fix, size 5 needles for the body of the sweater. Size 4 needles for the armhole edging and neckband.
This sweater isn't blocked yet.  Hmmmm... maybe it will stretch a little more. I feel like I am wearing a  corset.  Or maybe I just need to do a few more crunches.  Either way, I still love it.

Here is my Sexy Vesty! 

Green is such a fun color!

This is what I have leftover.  It weighs 9 grams, which is approximately 18.9 yards.  I was afraid that I wouldn't have enough yarn, but it worked out.  Whew!  This sweater fits a bit snug, and if I did it over in Malabrigo I would use a size 6 needle for sure. I used a size 6 for my pink sweater, and that was perfect.

I bought more yarn for more Sexy Vesty clones.  They were on sale today at Michaels for 3.99.  I thought I was getting a deal.  Then, I saw that there were certain colors that were 2.99... like Taupe.  Arrrgghh!!!  Why did I wait to the last day of the sale to go to the store?  Duh!  because I work until 8 PM every day, and can never get to Michaels during the week. So, the 2.99 yarn was gone.  But I know how this works.  How much you wanna bet AC Moore has the same yarn on sale before the month is over?  I am yarnstalking for sure!

I would also like to add that I finally received my SweaterCross Medal for the Pink Sexy Vesty.  Here it is!

Newsflash!!!  I just received a Captain's medal for being the Co-Moderator for the Sit N Knit group.  Woohoo!  This totally makes up for not getting at least 1 medal last Olympics.

I did it! I did it!

Here are my medals.

Here is my lovely Sexy Vesty.

Specs: Sexy Vesty made with Lion Brand Cotton-Ease in Azalea (3 skeins).  Needle sizes 5 and 6.

This is my first completed 10in2010 project for the year.
I want to make another one.  What color should I make the next one?

Ooops.... I forgot to post the picture on my ravelry thread for Sweaterboard Cross.  So, I should be expecting another medal soon.