Too Much Yarn

Yippee! A new Shawl!

[Yvonne - you may want to close the window if you don't want to know what the final shawl looks like!]

I knitted until 11 pm last night.  Soak the shawl for a little bit and then, before I went to bed, I realized that the shawl was waiting to be blocked!  Luckily, this was an easiy block.  I don't know what I was thinking - I had wanted a rounded/scalloped edging but ended up with points!! Anyway, I like it and it will stay this way until the next blocking.

Oh, this is the Kirsten Kapur (Through The Loops) 2012 Mystery Shawl.  I used Skinny Bugga and used it all up except for 1.1 gram.  The blocked shawl measures 53" wide and 20" deep.

I like that it sits nicely on my shoulders.  I couldn't get Emily to pose for me; said she has to do homework! (she is taking some online summer classes!)

So, what shawl should I start next?  I'll think about it while I finish the second clue of the Wendy Johnson's Solstice Mystery Shawl.  Stay tuned...

Designers: Please stop writing shawl patterns!! Please!

I'm actively knitting 3 shawls.  Two of them are mystery shawls so I get a break and am able to work on the third shawl when I'm caught up with the clues.  But I keep finding new shawl patterns I want to knit!  At this time, I'm very close to casting on on ALL of these patterns!

I'm copying the designers' photos without their permission, but I'm providing links back to the pattern pages on Ravelry in case I successfully enabled you!

1.  Suki

2.  Cameo 

You need to see all the color combos on the pattern page.

3.  Lyrica Euterpe

4.  Honey Bunches

5.  I want to use variegated yarn on Middle Beach Shawlette

6. Quite Continental

I think that''s enough for now.. I hope the Designers get the point.

YAY! Another pair of socks!

I could have finished this earlier, but knitting shawls have been distracting!  This is one of the socks I brought to China to knit.  This is a pattern by Carrie Sullivan (irishgirlieknits).  Pattern is Blackberry Brambles.  I'm using a Hazel Knits Club yarn, Pick Me in Artisan base.  Knitting the small at 60 stitches, using 2.5mm (US #1.5) needles.

That's pair #7 this year.  I have the Golf socks that I can work on next... or cast on sock #2 for Dusty Corners.  But of course, I have plenty of shawl projects to keep me occupied.  This is the first Mystery Shawl I'm working on. This pattern is my Kisten Kapur:

Clue 4 has been released - I haven't started on it yet, but it's more "leaves" and I wish I had use a green yarn!  But I am not about to frog 3 weeks' of knitting.

This is the Wendy Johnson's Summer Solstice Mystery Shawl.  Part A of the clues were released on Wednesday.  It was only 6 rows worth of knitting, but we start with 295 stitches on the needles!

We had a choice of using beads or knitting nupps or just plain knits. I'm not a nupp person so I'm using beads instead. Let's hope I keep this up!

Progress and Combo's

Wanted to share some photos of Emily at the golf course.  She did very well on the second day. Her front 9 caused a dent in her score, but she improved by 14 strokes on the second day, including an eagle - her first.  Dad was proud.  You can see photos on my other blog at Too Much Energy.

I finished the leg of the Haystacks Socks, but made a mistake in the gusset so I'll have to frog a few rows and I might as well shorten the heel flap.  I wasn't paying attention and I ended up picking up 19 stitches. My normal is 16!

I'm progressing on my Mystery Shawl -nothing really nice to show you at the moment other than a pile of goop - this is one of those shawls where it will look really nice blocked. 

Another Mystery Sock will start on June 20 - this is the Wendy Knits Summer Equinox shawl.  I've picked my yarn - freshly arrived from The Loopy Ewe yesterday.  I ordered 3 skeins of Three Irish Girls Glenhaven Cashmerino in exclusive colors:  2 skeins of Curiouser and Curiouser and 1 of A Very Merry Unbirthday.  I had forgotten that I have a balance in my account from gift certificates from my sister and Christy for my birthday so these were a good deal!

The Curiouser and Curiouser broke my record of staying in my stash unwound - which is zero minutes.  After the photo shoot, it went to be wound up into cakes.  And then, it was swatched!

As I'm knitting this, I was wondering why am I bothering with other yarn.  I need to just knit MCN for the rest of my life!  It's so soft and luxurious. I so enjoy knitting with MCN!

Oh!  I found my Socktopus Sock Club yarn!  Apparently, it has been sitting in my pile of mail for the last week.  It's a beauty!  The blue is quite accurate in this photo.

And now, I want to show you the possibilities I came up with for the Suki Shawl... (close your eyes, Pinky! I'm mixing bases!!!) The Bugga Sandworm with Hazel Knits Artisan in Arroyo:

In case you've forgotten what the Suki Shawl is:

So I'll be using the Turquoise as it looks best next to my face!  The brown will be the stripes.  But then, I think the Arroyo is too pretty to be used up like that.. I managed to dig up a brown Bugga - Bess Beetle, I believe:

The other sets I was thinking of were these 2 - Buggas:  Blue Karner and Red-White Beetle:

or Sundowner Moth and Red-White Beetle

They were very close:

After considering what other shawls I have on the needles now, I decided to go with Sundowner Moth - which will be the main color with the red strips.

Thank you all for your suggestions.  Stay tuned as I get in trouble with more cast-ons than I have time for!

Knitting on the Golf Course

As I mentioned earlier during the day, I cast on a new sock - Hayrick by Lisa Stitchwech.  I had originally cast on this sock last month:

Brought it with me to China, never touched it.  But I really like the colors and decided I want to use it for a shawl.  But I really wanted to knit this pattern and it so happens I need an easy pattern while knitting at the golf course - I was seriously knitting and walking.  Emily saw me knitting and I also found another use for my Stitchcounter app on my iPhone.  I used it to keep scores of everyone's stroke.  1 touch for 1 stroke!  It was really spiffy.  And so, here is the new sock.  I've completed 3 full repeats of the lace. I expect I may need 7 or 8 repeats so if the weather holds up, I'll walk another 18 holes and may finish the leg!

This is also being knitting in Hazel Knits Artisan in Cascade Canopy, a club color from a few years back.  I named it Golf for the green and I was knitting it on the golf course!

In other knitting news, I have finished the leg for the second sock in my Blackberry Brambles.  But this new sock and the mystery shawl are distracting me from finishing it.  I am all caught up with the Mystery Shawl until Friday, when clue 3 is revealed.  Ouch!  I just checked - Clue 3 will be released on Wednesday!  Clue 3 is going to be the meat of the shawl so I may not as much spare time for the other projects!  Which means I'd better not cast on another shawl for now!  Anyway, here is the progress on the Mystery Shawl - this is knitted in Skinny Bugga in Blue Metalmark.  It will be a semi-circle shawl.

In order not to start another I ♥ Yarn post, I'm going to sneak in some new club  yarns I'd received yesterday.  This is from Cookie A - Primo Fingering from Plucky Knitter.

Of course I love the color and if I run out of Ramalaba from Socks That Rock on my Dusty Corners socks, I can get some from this skein!

I also bought this kit from Wild Fibers in Seattle.  They carry this exclusive Hazel Knits Artisan in Atmosphere.  It's a gorgeous blue that I just had to have.  I'm just OK with the project bag.

It also includes a Cowl pattern from Melissa Goodale.  Close up shot of the yarn:

And finally, I would like an opinion of yarn choices for my next shawl!  This is Suki from the recently-published Sock Report.  It requires 2 skeins of sock yarn. 

I was going to use this combination:  Hazel Knits in Splish Splash as the primary.

and Hazel Knuts as the stripes:

Or... I was inspired by this photo taken by Brenda of Molecular Knitting.

I have this skein of  Red-White Beetle (copied from BellyLaughter/The other Christine's stash - for some reason, I don't have a photo of my skein!  But I have it!)

that I thought would look great with Blue Copper Butterfly

or Karner Blue

Or Sundowner Moth

So, what do you think?  Should I ditch the idea?

The Dedicated Knitter

Or the addicted knitter? My daughter qualified in the Minnesota State School Tournament. Waiting for her to tee off at hole #2. Casting on a new green sock.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

I ❤ Yarn

 

Yes, you are reading the same blog title from 9 days ago.  I've decided that from now on, if I have no knitting progress to show you (I have been knitting, mind you... - just no photos!), then, I must show you how much I ❤ yarn. 

After no yarn acquisition for 3 weeks in May, I just had the urge to get more yarn.  My first attempt was to stop at my LYS, but I was disappointed at the amount of fingering yarn they're carrying.  It would not be a lie to say that I have more fingering yarn than the store has!  Then, there were some online accidents, one at Verdant Gryphon (I did miss some pretty ones when I was in China), and one at Cephalopods (which I've shown you).  Then, I went to StevenBe in Minneapolis.  The rest is history.

And so, it's time for photos.  Package from Verdant consists of 3 skeins of Bugga:  2 of The Caterpillar,

and  1 Elegant Sphinx Moth:

I came home from StevenBe with Three Irish Girls yarn (cos he posted on Facebook that he received 3 boxes of yarn from Sharon - how could I resist).  2 skeins of Glenhaven Cashmerino in Elowen.

1 in Bryn.  I have loved these colors, but know they would make one messy-pooly pair of socks but then, one day, I saw someone with a shawl in that color and I thought that is rather pretty.  So I'm excited about using this for a shawl.  If I run out, I can use Elowen for the edge!

Then, this Malabrigo Arroyo in Arco Iris (sound like a Harry Potter spell!)

And finally, this exclusive color, Peacock, in also Glenhaven Cashmerino Fingering.  I was thinking, "I wish they have this in Adorn Sock, which is 430 yards, instead of 370 (ugh!  Glenhaven used to be 380 yards.  The price has gone up, the yardage has gone down.  I need to just stick with Bugga for my MCN needs!)".  Well, I like the color so I bought a skein.

Then, I took photos of the yarn, uploaded them to Flickr, and added them to my stash in Ravelry.  I looked at all my Three Irish Girls yarn as a whole and I saw this yarn

Hmmm... this colorway looks familiar... what is it? Doggone it!  It's Peacock in ADORN SOCK!!  According to Flickr, this photo was taken on April 10, 2012!!  That was 2 months ago.  This is when I tell myself, you have "Too Much Yarn".

Slacking off

There have been thoughts of new shawl cast on's (well, I did cast on a new Mystery Shawl by Kirsten Kapur.  I uploaded the photo from my phone to Ravelry and I can't get it on my computer!  I will take a photo after I chug along Clue 2).  I'm getting distracted... I have 3 shawls on the needles, two of which I'm ready to frog.  Wait!  Four on the needles (how could I forgot the one I just cast on!)  and I'm thinking of casting another one!  I MUST NOT!  I'm barely 1/2 way with my Meadowgold.  OK - I'll be like most of you and finish this before casting on another!  Whew, that was easy talking myself out of casting on!

Anyway, I was thinking that it's time to check on my accomplishments against the my goals set.  Number in parenthese is the number that I should be at after 5 months.

1. SOCKS:

• 15 pairs of socks (6.3) ACTUAL: 6
• 6 from the 3 Sock clubs I belong to in 2012 (2.5) ACTUAL: 2
• At least 7 variegated (2.91) ACTUAL: 3
• At least 4 from the Socktopus Book (1.6) ACTUAL: .5

 

2. 12 shawls (5) ACTUAL: 3

3. 12 projects using yarn from SG and/or new companies, Cephalopod Yarns or Verdant Gryphon (5) ACTUAL: 3

4. Try at least 5 new fingering weight yarns for shawls/socks (2) ACTUAL: 3 - Hazel Knits Entice, Plucky Knitter Primo, and Dream in Color Smooshy

5. 6 knitted items that will be gifted (2.5) ACTUAL: 2 (gifted 2 pairs of mittens)

6. 125 mitered squares for my mitered squares sock yarn blanket (52) ACTUAL: 85

7. 60 hexiflats for Bee Keeper’s Quilt (25) ACTUAL: ZERO

Yep!  I'm slacking off! 

Sorry, no pics today.  I'm also knitting the leg of the second sock for my Blackberry  Brambles.  I'm knitting the 3rd repeat before the heel flap.  As I knit the sock, I'm remembering where I was when I was knitting the same place on the first sock...  It's nice to think back, riding on the bus...

I ❤ Yarn

Let me tell you a secret!  I ❤ yarn!  So much that I have too much of it and yet, not enough of it!  How can that be?  Well, for example, I'm going to through my stash of over 500 skeins of fingering weight yarn, but I can't find that perfect yarn for the Mystery Shawl.  I've spent over 2 hours agonizing what to use - I suspect I need another 1/2 hour after I finish blogging heer.  Otherwise, I'm afraid I may go to a yarn shop tomorrow - which I don't need to!  (psst!  I did stop by the one by my house to make sure that it is still there - after not being in it for 3 weeks! - I did not buy anything - just wanted to make sure it was still there when I need a yarn fix).  Anyway, I arrived home late last Thursday night.  It's been a week!  Today, I received my first order after my return!  I love it!  This is what I received today!  I was using auto settings so the photos with the white label seem to be more accurate with the colors.  I'm in love with the colors so I'm showing you both sides of the skeins.  These are Cephalopod Yarns in Bugga - Golden Tortoise Beetle

and Splendour Beetle.

Jennifer reminded me that I didn't show you my Sokkusu Originals from the last post.  She's right!  Here they are:  Triton

and Lorelai

OK - that's all I will say about yarn.  I want to show you the project bags I brought back.  There are more than I need so I'll be saving them for swaps, gifts, or prizes.  First off, I only bought one of these - they were 70 RMB = US$11.  I have my Blackberry Bramble socks in there now.

Then, there are these.  These were 70 RMB, but I bargained it down to 45 RMB each = US$7.

They look like this upright

It is almost identical to the one from Hiya Hiya (also a company from China)

Except my Hiya Hiya one is taller.  But the design and fabric is almost identical.  Anyway, this is almost $20 more than the smaller oner. Then, there are these silk ones.  The bigger ones were supposed to be shoe bags.  I thought they would make good shawl project bags.  These were US$10.

Then, I found these by a vendor.  They were 10 RMB, which is US$1.59.  They're smaller, but I think perfect for a sock project.

And finally, from the same shop, there were these pouches for 10RMB (US$1.59) for a set of 5.  The Turqoise was of a better quality which I had bought from a slike shop for $60.  But I guess you pay for what you get!

So - what do you think of the yarn and project bags?