Reyna

Finally shaking off the flu/cold that would not go away...seriously, this what H and I have been dealing with since January among other things.

I can breathe thru my nose and not have a coughing fit every 30 seconds now so that makes me pretty happy. Also, the kids managed to avoid both rounds of icky illness for which I am extremely grateful since this virus is super nasty.


I finished a project !!! I am doing my best to knit from my stash and even though I may not have as much as some stashes flashed on Ravelry, I do have plenty. My goal is to let some yarn go and be knitted up. Pretty obvious but for me it can be harder said than done. 

I get sidetracked rather easily and I am an expert at starting projects. Thus, my goal of completing projects goes hand in hand with my stashdown.

This skein of sock yarn has been in my possession for 5+ years. I tried a couple of patterns and it just wouldn't cooperate. That's a whole other issue of "yarn" and the perfect pattern. Luckily, third time (or more) is the charm and I found a lovely one skein project pattern.

Behold, the Reyna Shawl!! 




A beautiful variegated yarn of MCN (merino, cashmere, nylon) that will be soft and cuddly against the skin. Magenta, pale green and light brown colorway.  I had to cut the pattern about 6 rows short in the mesh section otherwise I'd run out of yarn. Towards the end, I would weigh the remaining yarn after each row to get a sense of much I used up in each row. The bind off ate up a lot of yarn but I made it and had 4 grams leftover. Go me!

It can be worn as a shawl or as a reverse bandanna/scarf (as I like to wear these). The only issue I had is that the magenta color ran a lot when I soaked it before blocking. I don't think the color will run during wear since it didn't bleed on my fingers when it was knit up. The water turned a nice cranberry shade. Derp.

Still, that's the only issue and I love how it came out. Enough chatter and more photos.

Ashburn

Ack, it's already December! I've done some shopping and we're still decorating the house/tree. After taking a break, this year the Christmas cards and photo calendars are back so that took up a good portion of my time. I guess it seems really hectic in addition to being my mom's assistant and driver. 

I used my anniversary  Amazon gift card to buy an Instant Pot. So far I used it to make mashed potatoes (success) and pinto beans (success). I make beans often and used the stove top method. I would just boil/simmer the heck out of them but using the Instant Pot was like night and day. WOW! I know it's just beans but married to a Hispanic can put some bit of pressure on a girl. ;)  Heh, see what I did  there unknowingly? Pressure ===> Instant Pot = electric pressure cooker. 

Okay, these beans came out really good. I'm no bean expert but after 18 years of marriage and beans, these are GOOD. And it only took about 35 minutes of cooking in the Instant Pot. I didn't have to stir every so often, check the water level or worry about burning the beans. So I'm making more today. No more fuss...I can't wait to make stew and soups.
Mmmm...

So on to the real topic, my Ashburn which is not technically correct since I knit it for someone else. It was a real labor of love and it came out just beautiful. I only had about 12 hours to enjoy it and try to take proper pictures of it before I handed it off. I hope hope hope that the recipient LOVES this to death forever and forever. It was a lot of work for someone I don't even know and I won't do that again. Too much for me.

I plan on knitting myself one next year and picking out the colors will be the most difficult part. :) This ranks right up to Color Affection in use of colors and coziness. 





Here it is laid out on the floor which you can't tell how large it is. It measures over 70 inches along the top edge so it can be a lovely shawl or as I model in the following photos a cozy scarf/bandanna.




The cool feature of this pattern is the texture created in the middle portion. It took the longest but the end result is well worth it. 




A new technique I used on this is the picot bind off. I can't recall doing this on any other project but I may be wrong. I think it adds a nice feminine touch to this. 

The weather is even cooperating so I wasn't sweltering during the photoshoot. Although now I see some strange white flecks in my hair!  Blergh..




And now for my artsy look...It's going to rain a lot tonight so since the Ashburn is gone, I will have to find my Color Affection to cozy up with during the hockey game. :)

August

Summer is flying by much to the kids' dismay but we are enjoying every moment of it. The days seem warmer than usual due to increased humidity so we stay cool inside and then go for nice long walks in the evening. Did you see the supermoon? That was really cool and neat to see at midnight with the kids. We pulled out the binoculars and could see pretty good details. 

I've been knitting too, Christmas is around the corner. I have  several new things to show off.


First up is a nice crescent shaped shawlette/scarf that uses fingering weight yarn. It's called 504 King West and it's free on Ravelry. I am always attempting to use stash yarn which made a little dent. I really like this but these colors are not my taste so I will gift this one.





I found another stashbuster called Bandanna Cowl from Purl SoHo in NYC where I just was a couple of weeks ago. I like how this looks although it may not be used that much here in LA, I think my snowboarder friends will like it's usefulness while boarding on gusty days.


Boot cuffs! A cute accessory that looks like tall thick socks but no! It's an illusion. Girls get it and believe me, actual socks would be too warm. My calves are big so I would use these, I can barely find boots to fit over the calf so sadly these will be gifted to my family/friends with smaller calves. 

To complete my headband theme, I found a cute headband pattern called It's a Cinch. Also free and a quick gift.  This is the first headband which is knit as pattern states. It's pretty wide so I also knit a narrower version. 




I knit these socks last month but had to rip out the toes again because they were too short. I really wanted to keep them. I don't remember if I posted pics of them but here they are. Show-off Stranded Socks. I love the shades of purple. 



Wow, that was a lot more than I realized. I have some WIPs to get to like socks, a shawl, 2 scarves and always, my hexipuff project.

See you next time....

Wedding Annis

In an earlier post, I mentioned that my cousin Hannah got married and here is her knitted wedding gift. An Annis that so versatile as a shawlette or scarf.

So pretty and feminine.

I originally began this project with a really pretty soft green lace yarn but somewhere along the line, I messed up and couldn't fix it. I had to scrap it and choose another yarn that wasn't so fine.

I got this oatmeal colored  mohair yarn with a metallic gold thread on sale and think it will be a nice complement to Hannah. There are only a few patterns that I will knit more than once and this one of them. I think this is my 4th Annis and it is really great.

So I'm sure you will eventually see more of these from me...

Close up of edge.

Annis.

Color Affection Complete

Yes!! Finally finished this beautiful shawl aptly named Color Affection and it's wonderful. Sure it was a sometimes tedious and boring knit but the stripes kept me going. There are so many fantastic color combos out there on Ravelry so I can see why this pattern can be addictive.

I used yarn from my stash and although it didn't look like the colors would work, I think it did. I hope to use it a lot this fall/winter and generally snuggling in the house.

Hangs nicely.

I think I will knit this again but probably not till next year or when I need a mindless knit but boy are the results fabulous!!

I attempted some photos with my remote  which can be difficult but ignore me and concentrate on the finished object of my affection!! :)

I swear I brushed my hair, darn humidity.

Hopefully that hump in the pale blue section will block out.

Yay, it's done!!

Now to turn on the A/C for a bit then head to Costco for some supplies!!

Shades of Purple

Not much to report but I'm almost done with a laceweight shawlette that range in colors in today's post. I have about 5 more rows, then bind off and blocking.

pre-blocking and not very impressive.

Pinned into a crescent shape.

I know you're sitting on the edge of your seat in anticipation.

Transformation complete!

Close-up of nupps (the ball-like things).

There will be plenty of yarn for another Annis shawl too maybe with beads nex time. :)

Stay tuned for photos later....

Now for the hard part...modelling it! Not easy, holding my DSLR at me but the photos turned out fine.

Side shot.

Pretty colors! :)

Work in progress...

or WIP as we knitters call it. As usual I have several WIPs going but no worries. A pair of possum socks for Buddy, a beaded silk scarf, colorwork socks for Tyler, a couple of scarves that are hibernating and Madli's shawl that I want to finish for our upcoming Mexican cruise.

Today I focus on Madli's Shawl that I started last week and wasn't quite sure if it was the One (or the right one). I also started another shawl but wasn't feeling the love for it so I frogged it....rrrrrriiiiiiiiiiiiiipppppppppppppppppp. :)

So I finished the edging and started the main pattern that will repeat 31 times (phew) so I still need to complete the first set then knit it 30 more times. I have a month, we shall see how that goes.




To get a better idea of how the yarn will work with the pattern, I decided to lightly block what I had and then go from there.

Here is is pinned out on my fancy garage mat/blocking mat that H bought for $20.

I do like it and I'm plunging ahead full steam. :)

I'm trying to stay focused but I can't help admiring it!

Annis v2.0

Alpaca Cloud Annis is my latest shawlette, in honor of the recent rainy weather. Super light and soft alpaca laceweight yarn which is lovely against the skin but so difficult to knit with thin, thread-like yarn.

Here is the shawlette completed. It doesn't look like much right now with no shape or definition. But that's where blocking comes in...

A nice soak in cold water and Soak wash for about 20 minutes. Gently squeeze and blot with towel.

A very damp blob ready to pin out on my foam garage mat that my sweetie picked up at Pep Boys for me. :)

Excuse the blurry photo but here is the shawlette all pinned out. I pinned the points out into a crescent shape and it's not perfectly symmetrical but I can live with that. The great thing about lace is that it dries really fast.

And here is the finished item, all dry and blocked. The miracle of blocking!!



The pattern calls for nupps where I put 7 stitches into 1 stitch then knit them together to gather them up. It was my first time and I hear a lot of complaints about nupps but I knit loosely then use a crochet hook to gather them up so it's a but fiddly but doable.

I really like this pattern and shawls in general so maybe I will make 2011 a year to work on them.

Annis Shawl

Our long weekend is coming to an end and the kids go back to school in the morning. I had a rare morning where I got to sleep in until 10am  and might have slept longer if the phone hadn't woken us up.

I added clear beads which might be hard to see.

I finished my Annis shawl and it is gorgeous. I think I want to knit this up again in a laceweight. Even though the color is spectacular, it isn't really me so I will be gifting this to a lucky person on my Christmas list but the question is who? The coral color is not everyone's cup of tea but I'm thinking someone with dark hair and/or complexion? The item is a shawlette (as in not full sized) and would be nice as a scarf too.


I'll have to give it some thought. Meanwhile, the shawl is blocking nicely into a crescent shape with pretty points. It will look stunning and I will take more photos later when it dries.

10:50pm It's later now. The great thing about shawls/lace is that they dry really fast. :) T was a willing model to show off the prettiness.

Travelling Woman 2.0

Started 9-19-10 and completed  9-30-10. Noro Kuryeon sock yarn.


The shawl is bunchy and the pattern is hard to see.

After a good soak and pinning the shawl to dry flat really opens up the pattern and also increases the size.


This is really a great, fun knit. I never would have thought I'd like knitting lace and shawls but I have to admit, it's growing on me. I think I could get really into this. :) I'm already planning for another lacy shawl/scarf but I need to finish up some socks and another scarf before I start another project.

Traveling Woman

No, I'm not going anywhere. Traveling Woman is the name of my latest FO (finished object). A real honest to goodness shawl knit with thread-like laceweight yarn. Really fine yarn. Very pretty knit up into something lush but kind of awful to knit with. I can barely grab hold of it to knit and it clumps together so the stitches will get knit together if I'm not careful. I love the finished project and this is the first so maybe I will soon love the process.

The shawl is on the small size but will work as a lightweight scarf. Lovely pattern too and I'm already knitting another one but in fingering weight (sock yarn) which will make the shawl bigger with more heft to it.
This shawl/scarf will do some traveling like its name as I plan to loan it out to Carol as she heads off on her 29 day cruise from Australia to LA. My traveling woman will rack up some serious miles! :)