Fair Isle/Stranded Knitting

I've never been much for colorwork beyond basic intarsia and some duplicate stitch, I think just because of my personal style. So I've never done proper Fair Isle or stranded knitting. Well, now I have a very good reason to learn! I received my swap package yesterday for the Ravelry Odd Ducks Harry Potter Spells & Potions swap (Odd Ducks is the name of the Rav group), and let me tell you, it is amazing! Here's an overview of everything:
Each individual gift had a character card with a quote that tied to the present--how perfect!

 One of the more impressive gifts, based on amount of work as well as sheer awesomeness, is this scarf:
It's a perfect replica of the one Hermione wears in the later films, and I love it so much! What's extra cool is that my spoiler sent along the ball bands from the yarn that she used to knit it, which means that I can match the colors exactly and make the matching mittens--awesome! But since I want them to look as great as the scarf, I feel like I ought to practice stranded knitting first on some easier projects. Any suggestions?

Wordless WIP Wednesday

(On top of a big FO!)

FO: Weasley Ribbon

Remember the Lace Ribbon Scarf that I wasn't enjoying knitting? I will say that it got somewhat better after I memorized the pattern, but it was still never a thoroughly enjoyable knit. Now that it is finished, however, it is a thoroughly enjoyable FO!



I love it so much!


Rav Project Page

The colors are All Wrong For Spring, but I've been wearing it anyways. It's so nice when something turns out exactly as desired, isn't it?

In other news, I joined my first Odd Ducks Swap on Ravelry, themed around my latest obsession, Doctor Who. Expect some Who Knits in the next month or so, after I finish them and mail 'em off to my spoilee!

Process vs. Product

Normally, I would classify myself as a Process Knitter, i.e. someone who knits for the sake of knitting, because it's an enjoyable thing to do, not necessarily because I end up with beautiful things at the end. (Heh, sometimes I end up with really ugly things at the end, actually.) I've been known to knit something longer than it needs to be (or even should be) because I enjoy the yarn and/or pattern. Rarely do I continue knitting on something that I don't enjoy. Either it gets ripped immediately or tossed into the closet to languish as a UFO. However, I've found a project that is knitting up so wonderfully, even though I don't particularly like working on it, that I plan to persevere because darnit I want the scarf.


(Rav Project Page)

The colors are doing exactly what I wanted them to do. The yarn (Sunshine Classic Superwash Sock) is great to work with. The only problem is the pattern. It's really quite annoying to knit. It's grown on me a little bit just over the last repeat, but I don't love it. But I want the scarf so badly that I am going to stick it out. Hopefully I can finish it sometime this winter!

It Figures.

I just got some really fabulous new fingering-weight yarn. Two October VSC2 yarns, both from the Sookie/True Blood series:

(Alcide Herveaux -- Mmm pretty greens!)


(Amelia Broadway -- Sparkly! And so many great colors mixed together!)

And two beautiful birthday presents, both part of Sunshine's Harry Potter series:

(Another Weasley -- I love the Weasley's, and it's perfect fall colors!)


(Yule Ball -- I almost bought this from a destashing friend a few months ago. Perfect!)

So what did I have a craving to cast on? A worsted weight scarf on big needles! *rolls eyes at self* I think my hands needed a break from tiny yarn and needles for a bit, plus I wanted something super easy. I chose the Ginger Rib Scarf, a free pattern I found on Rav. What's interesting about it is that each side is completely different, and yet I love it. The "ideal" scarf is reversible, i.e. it looks the same on both sides, so that when it's wrapped around your neck it doesn't matter if the right or wrong side is out. But this one is radically different. Even more interesting is which side is designated "right" and "wrong"...it's the opposite of what I would think.

Right side:


Wrong side:


Normally, I like my scarves to be reversible, too. (It's part of why I've made 8000 -- okay, only five, maybe six -- of the Yarn Harlot's One Row Handspun Scarf.) But I'm totally enchanted with how this one's working up. With a lot of non-reversible scarves, it's very obvious which is the public side (e.g. with traditional cables), but on this one, because both sides look like they could be "right", I'm so happy with it. Odd, but nice! =)

A Bad (for Blogging) Cycle

Lately, I've been stuck in a cycle: knit something as a semi-surprise gift for someone, take pictures, wait to post pictures to avoid ruining the surprise, finally get to the post office, mail it off, get excited when they receive it, forget to post those pictures. Oops!

Here's one of those, a Pinwheel blanket for my cousin's new baby:


Spiral close-up:


I really liked this pattern! It's quick and easy, and looks pretty sharp. More details on the Ravelry page.

I also finished a second Clap for me, using FFtC's New Moon colorway.


I actually comissioned Jen to custom dye the colorway and she did an amazing job. I wanted something that was sort of a mottled black/navy on her silver sock base and she came up with the idea of doing indigo with a black overdye. It's gorgeous! It turned out so nicely that she decided to offer it as a regular colorway...yay! It's fun to see what other people are knitting with it.



My pictures don't even begin to do the yarn justice. It's just stunning in person, and the wrap is great. Perfect for spring cold fronts and over-air-conditioned offices! As always, details on Rav.

Now, I'm working on some more semi-secret projects. I think the people know I am knitting something for them (hint: if you are having a baby and I asked for your mailing address) but they don't know the colors or pattern! Hopefully I won't forget to post those pictures after they are received. =)

Finished!

I pinned out my scarf during the closing ceremony. Success!

It's over eight feet long. It's crazy! I kept knitting and knitting, thinking I'd knit to the end of the yarn, but it was just getting ridiculous. I stopped when it was just over six feet, unblocked. I used about 85g of yarn, and still have about 20g left. I can't imagine how long it would have been if I'd knit the whole skein!

I really like it, though. It's light and airy and perfect for Louisiana.

And I got a lot of medals!







I wavered for a bit on whether I could count it for the Ravelympics and the Knitting Olympics, but in the end I decided that the actual project was for the Ravelympics, but the 2+ weeks of monogamous knitting would be my Knitting Olympics challenge. I was tempted to stray, but didn't, which is amazing, because I was so very close to finishing my Parallel Lines Scarf...

But I waited, and finished Parallel Love a few days ago:



I've officially declared Aztec Turquoise an evil color to photograph, so please don't judge the color by that photo, because it's not accurate. But it's the closest I can do without spending far too much time on it! And it's a fabulous scarf, regardless of how weird it looks in photos.

Frogging Complete!

Huzzah! Last week at Knit Night the aforementioned projects-gone-wrong were successfully frogged!

Calorimetry:


Tidal Wave Socks:


The lovely Leah even got a frogging-in-progress shot of the socks:

(Leah is graduating soon and currently doing the whole Academia Interview thing...send some good wishes her way if you get a chance!)

I even got my medals:


Yay!

The Love Bites scarf is coming along nicely. It's certainly scarf length by now, though there is still a bit of yarn left. I'm going to try to knit as much as I can and then block it tomorrow night. I've not knit on a single other project since the opening ceremonies. This is the longest I've ever been a monogamous knitter, which is a big part of the challenge. I'm itching to get back to some of my other projects, especially 'cause a few of them are almost finished. Soon!

Smitten With Scarves

I wish I had exciting things to blog about, y'all. Really, I do. But I'm still on my Sock & Scarf kick, leaning heavily toward scarves. And shawlettes, which are basically scarves...and my current favorite way to use some of my FFtC yarn, which I've lately been completely unable to stop purchasing. I made a Lacy Baktus and a Multnomah. I don't like the LB pictures, but here's the Multnomah back when it was still in progress:


(Sporting awesome True Blood stitch markers by Knit Girl in Idaho)

I've currently got three scarves in progress, and once again, no pictures of them, or none that I really like. (Seeing a trend? Now you understand the lack of blogging...)


Parellel Lines, by the lovely Threadpanda (Mine)


Another Clapotis (Mine)


Flame Chevron Scarf in Leah's amazing handspun (Mine)

Now that it's 2010, I'm supposed to be working on a sweater, but...


This yarn is crying out to be my fourth scarf-in-progress...

I apologize in advance...

...because I am about to sound like a huge snob. Why? Because I totally cleaned up knitting-wise for Christmas! Family has learned that buying me yarn is not a great idea because I'm picky, but they feed the knitting addiction in other ways. Let me demonstrate.


The greatest sock blockers ever. I've been wanting some sock blockers for a long time just 'cause they are nifty, and found these shooting star ones sold by an eBay seller used by a lady I knit with. Love at first sight! And what's peeking out from the bottom of the picture? Oh that's right, I finally have FO pictures of my Pacific Sunrise Socks. They've been done for weeks (months?) but I never got around to taking pictures. Now, they are officially photographed!



This is the last FO from 2008 (dude, I swear it was just 2007, and now it's 2009?) and so I'm hoping to do a collage of all my projects from last year. Thank you Ravelry for making that possible!



I love what the colors of Dez's yarn do, especially on the foot.




What else did I get for Christmas? Knit Picks Options Needles!!!



I've wanted a set of these for a long time now, and finally asked for (and got!) them - hooray! Unfortunately, the zipper on the case has already broken, but I'm going to email them tomorrow and see if I can get a replacement - it should last longer than a few weeks! On those needles is the beginning of a new scarf (swoon...I love scarfs...)


It's a replica of the scarf Rosalie Hale/Cullen wears in the first cafeteria scene of the Twilight movie. (Ravel it. * See the original.) The story is set in cold, rainy Forks, WA, so there is knitwear galore in the movie, and some really talented knitters and crocheters have been reverse engineering the knits and sharing their patterns, and for that I'm grateful, because it means I don't have to do it. (Although, if I can get a good picture of the blue scarf Alice wears in the field trip scene, I'm all over that. If you've seen one, please let me know!) I've been wanting a neutral-colored scarf for a while now ("How long have you been seventeen?" "A while.") and this one came along. Excellent. I think I'll be able to get the yarn for Bella's Mittens soon (tomorrow, hopefully!) so I can make those, too. Double excellent.

And with that, I think I'm out. It's bedtime! I hope you got some wonderful knitting stuff over the holidays as well. =)

Oh Hai!

So is everyone having a lovely holiday season? Good! I am - Santa was generous, I get a few weeks off* to hang with the family, and get some knitting done! Woo! I've been better about updating my Rav than my Xanga; in fact, I've been on Ravelry a whole, whole lot lately. Partly because of the free time, partly because of my latest obsession: the Twilight Saga! Even though I'm about ten years older than the target audience, I saw the movie on a whim with some friends and was instantly hooked! I got the books asap and locked myself away to enter the sparkleverse. If you haven't heard of Twilight, it's basically a series of four books (there may be a fifth someday) about vampires and werewolves and teen angst. Here's one of my fave descriptions:

Emo teenage girl moves to new town, meets mysterious boy, realizes he's a sparkling vampire; Greatest Love of All Time Omg ensues. In later books, a love triangle forms with the addition of a werewolf. Babies are of tantamount importance; going to college is not. Some readers rank the series up there with Pride and Prejudice and the works of Shakespeare; some readers... beg to differ. Severely.

Love it. Neither the books nor the movie are great literature/cinema, but they are fun and engaging, and the books are full of suspense, leading to some seriously late nights of "just one more chapter" until I couldn't keep my eyes open any longer. So anyways, point of the story is that there are a lot of great knitted and crocheted pieces in the movie, and as soon as I can get the yarn, I will be making Bella's Mittens (Rav Link) and the Rosalie Hale Scarf (Rav Link). Yay!

Some other stuff I've been working on:



One BBR Sock is done! Hoping to cast on for the second sock within the next few days...I just need to sit down and do it.




The first of the Oak Ribbed Socks is coming along well. Heel is turned (woo!), working on the gusset decreases.




I made a Bainbridge Scarf in Mmmmalabrigo Silky Merino for the Boston trip. It is utterly delightful. So soft, and my very favorite color!




A Sinful Ribbed Scarf in Dez's amazing hand-spun, hand-dyed wool.

I'm on the home stretch of my Clapotis, and am really hoping to finish it for New Year's Eve. Since it's purple, I can wear it as I root for my Tigers in the Peach Bowl! =)

On that note, I'm going to call it a night. Hope y'all have had a great weekend, and Happy Early New Year! =)



*And by "off" I mean I still have to work on research and some homework assignments from my advisor, but all of them can be done in my PJs at home, yay!