FO Friday 168: Ultraviolet

                                                      

Phantomwise Tarot

                

I kind of feel like Hippomenes, but instead of golden apples, I am casting previously made but undisplayed FOs at you instead: can you believe I have been paralyzed all week ? I have been unable to progress with the Summer Garden Granny Square Blankey as I have been sitting gazing it at contemplating the Color Conundrum.

But I am unaccustomedly merciful, and shall not make you suffer my agonies. Rather, you may gaze in admiration at the completed Forest Pansy Shawl:

The pattern is by Linda Choo, and the yarn is Jamieson & Smith 2ply Laceweight in the exciting colors of 'L20' and 'L49', or 'purple' and 'lilac'. My MIL had sent me 3 balls of each color from Shetland, and I have a little less than a ball left of each - and the shawl has turned out a goodly size. Yes, you'll gave to take my word for it, as I forgot to measure it again, and can't be bothered to move right now.

This yarn come in a great palette of colors and is easy to work with, if perhaps a tad ... harsh ... for us poor sensitive wussy southerners - but it is much softer after a gentle wash and lots of fabric conditioner.

 While I unresistingly sink back into the mental lethargy induced by too much pondering, you could pop over to Tami's Amis to see everything else that has been finished this week .....

FO Friday 160: Moving Right Along

The FO this week is me: I am exhausted ! I have been sadly absent this week as it has been half-term, and I have actually been out Doing Things with the kids. Nobody is more surprised about that than me. They have been swimming a few times, saw an uncle and the middle cousin, eaten large, fancy and expensive ice cream sundaes at Ra-Ra's, had a couple of play dates, carved pumpkins, gone trick or treating, and there have been a couple of parties. Here is their Hallowe'en swag:

 

Appropriate buckets, aren't they ? Skulls for the evilness of sugar, and bloodshot eyeballs for the effects of evil sugar. Yes, I have pinched some of their sweeties, yanno, just to check they're OK.

 I have a few hours to myself right now as Mini Diva and Destructo Boy are headed to Auntie Fashion's with Belo, and Titch is not yet home; so I will tell you that the Forest Pansy shawl is in a Time Out right now. I found a minor error, a difference between the chart and the written instructions, which meant tinking back 1 row. But, 2 rows from the end, I found a repeated error I had made back in chart 2, which I cannot ignore, however hard I try - and believe me, I have tried. All the large lilac section will have to be ripped back to the end of the dark violet section.

 

 So, it is in the Seriously Naughty Corner, because I had been hoping to complete it this week, in time to start NaKniSweMo today.

 

I am starting NaKniSweMo anyway. I just need to either find an app for my Nokia Lumia that will do stitch counting, learn how to use Excel in a millisecond, or - most likely - record how many stitches I knit each day using good old pencil and paper.

Blackberry Cabled Cardigan, made in Strawberry

And seeing as how the stitch count that needs to be knitted each day to complete a 50,000 stitch cardigan in 30 days is phenomenal (apparently, I have been told, I haven't done any math myself) I really must get going and make a start. You, however, can pop over to Tami's Amis and see some real FOs .....

WIP Wednesday 167: Clearing the Decks

Halloween Tarot

Wow, the week is rolling by fast, isn't it ? The day after tomorrow is the start of half-term, when I can wake in the early hours, hear the roaring wind and staccato stampede of rain, and simply roll over for more sleep. Yes, I am rather looking forward to it.

My major WIP this week is actually Titch aka DH. I finished his Old Man Cardigan ages ago, but he will not put it on for me to take a photo. I have promised to cut off his head - after all, no-one is interested in him, just the cardigan - but no joy so far. I can't use a hanger as I don't have one big enough, and it looks all wrong and ooky, like a 2D chess board on the Enterprise.

how it should be

As ever, I am focussed on the positive, and that is the progress on the Forest Pansy Shawl:

The yarn is definitely not soft. I would not like to say scratchy, exactly. I shall think of an appropriate description, and will hope that fabric conditioner will make it touch-the-skin wearable. Of course, the yarn is from Shetland, and the Scots are a hardy, dour people who wear barbed wire undervests for fun and amusement, and no doubt this yarn would feel as wussy as angora to them. I love angora even though I have none, but I am a gin-swilling shandy-drinking Southern jessie.

 And I have completed Clue 4 in the SusannaIC Autumn Mystery Shawl KAL:

I have no idea how long the KAL is supposed to take, but as long as I finish the Forest Pansy Shawl, I think I will be ready and able to start NaKniSweMo (National Knit a Sweater Month, 1 sweater or cardigan, 50,000 stitches, 30 days) next week while my authorly friends take part in NaNoWriMo. 

Look at my lovely custom-made badge, with a martini and color co-ordinated to my blog and everything ! How cool is that ?

Thank you to Ana, who made this.

And now I am off to Tami's Amis to see what everybody else is up to ....

WIP Wednesday 166: Juggling

Halloween Tarot

Yes, you are totally correct - I have been unusually quiet: I'm sorry. Last week was mainly taken up with the hassles  grief  excitement of making sure the house was presentable for Destructo Boy's 8th birthday and sorting out the bits and bobs that surround such a celebration. 

You'd be surprised how judgmental a group of 8 year old kids can be - and what they tell their parents. I remember Mini Diva telling me about a particular child, that she thought his mother was either drunk or dead as he was always grubby and never seemed to have a coat or sweater (yes, I did stick my nose in and speak to the school when I saw him arrive like this on a wet, cold November morning). Which is why there was a panicked cleaning frenzy so we might appear as superficially normal as everyone else.

On Sunday, we actually took them ie. a group of 6 boys, 1 girl swimming for about 2 hours, then brought them back and fed them lots of sugary-additive type foods before handing them back. I did indeed put my bathing costume on and joined in the watery high jinks, while Titch aka DH bailed to the accompaniment of clucking chicken sounds .... quite frankly, I am amazed they I survived the whole experience. Destructo Boy tells me it was the best birthday party ever.

But back to the important stuff ! Clue 3 for the SusannaIC Autumn MKAL was released, and I had it done by Sunday evening:

I switched back to using straight needles, as although the Addi tips are lovely and sharp, they are quite slippery for laceweight yarn with no counter-balancing weight of work. Now the project is reaching a stage where it will have enough 'body' to resume using the Addis.

As you know, I am not one to sit idly. Well, I am ... but not with empty hands. So I have started a Romanesque Shawl - my choice of pattern kindly gifted to me by Emily Ross as a thank you for test-knitting her Arlington Shawl:

I am using a yarn from a Spanish company new to me, Lanas Stop Baby Wool, which is 25g/140m/153yds of lovely squooshy 100% extrafine merino superwash, competitively priced at £2.71/$4.33 a ball in my local posh LYS. Why yes, those are rather gorgeous Knitpicks Symfonie (Harmony in the USA) circulars that I am using. I found those old things at the bottom of the wardrobe, Titch. No, I don't promise, don't you know lying is a mortal sin ?

I had bought 3 balls, and of course found myself needing a fourth. So while waiting for Monday to pass and the LYS to open, I started Linda Choo's  Forest Pansy Shawl, using the Jamiseon & Smith lace 2ply that my MIL sent me from Shetland:

I have not been able to capture the true vibrancy of the color, more's the pity.

Well, yes, of course I have talked too much now, the pendulum swinging away from silence, and so must run to catch up with all these projects. After I have been over to Tami's Amis for tea and to see what everyone else is up to .....

WIP Wednesday 164: A Golden Moustache

Fantastic Menagerie Tarot

At last ! We seem to have forward motion - not only is the Infidelity project blocked and done, but a hat destined for my MIL only took me a day or so.

And that was just to occupy me until the new SusannaIC Mystery Knit-A-Long (MKAL) started on the weekend, the spontaneous addition to the head of my queue:

Yes, it looks astonishingly like a moustache right now, after the completion of Clue 1; but I am sure it will not stay that way for long; the shaping is done through wrap&turns - I was glad to be using my Addi Turbos with the lovely sharp points, I can tell you.

The gorgeous lace-weight yarn is hand-dyed BFL from Kirsty over at Wharfedale Woolworks; the colorway is 'Caramello', a perfect name for all the rich golden yellow, amber and brown shades. She definitely has a gift for color.

But what to do now ? The next clue is released at the weekend, and I surely can't sit doing nothing til then. I could get on with the sleeves for Titch's Old Man Cardigan, but the siren call of Linda Choo's Forest Pansy Shawl combined with a new set of KnitPro Symfonie fixed circulars AND the Jamieson&Smith lace yarn my MIL sent me ....  well, it is deafeningly irresistible.

There are people with way more WIPs than me over at Tami's Amis .....