Some knits are so fast, you don't even get a WIP shot.

I've had this skein of deep beautiful blue Malabrigo sitting around for a while. I had planned a hat but I was in need of a quick knitting project after the epic Rogue knit. I cast on and--poof!--it was done!

I like it but I think I need one that is a little skinnier--I dont have big hair, so it looks a little funny. I think a more headbandish one would be better. I did modify the pattern a bit--I cast on only 96 instead of the 120 given in the pattern. I did short rows until it looked about right then did the second half. It was super duper easy schmeezy.

Over the Holiday, I finished all the hems and grafting on Rogue. It turned out....okay. It was my first attempt at grafting in a ribbing pattern and I did learn a lot. Somehow I ended a stitch off at the end so it looks a tad funny.

You know what? I dont care a bit. I did a little fudging and I think its fine. Yesterday I tried to install the zipper....it was just too much for my little sewing machine so I went out today to get some handsewing needles. I guess I'll be doing some handsewing tonight!

Posted by fruitychick at 01:08 PM | Permalink

Heck knows I am tired of seeing pictures of an in-progress Rogue.

Thankfully, it is so close to being done this is the last one you will see:

Hood is Done:

Attached I-cord edging is on its way to being done:

I am going to block it before I graft the hood so I can keep things as flat as possible on the blocking board but thats ITS--the LAST STEP. You have no idea how excited I am to be finished with this thing. I've been trying hard to be a monogomous knitter and its so hard to not run off and have a torrid affair with something in my stash.

Of course, I haven't been *completely* faithful to the knitting....

This is my Spunky Eclectic club yarn from a few months ago--a Merino Tencel Blend named Aspen. It is an absolute dream to spin--it just flows onto the wheel. My singles are coming in at around 36-38 WPI--the thinnest I've been able to consistently spin.

I've spun up half of it and just barely started the second half. I can't decide if I'm going to chain ply to maintain the colors or two ply it to get a thinner yarn for a lacy scarf like Yarn Loopie's.

I'll be blocking Rogue tonight! Wish me luck!

Posted by fruitychick at 12:27 PM | Permalink

I am so close to finishing the body of Rogue I couldnt wait any longer to start the blocking. By the time the sleeves are dry, I'll be ready to pin out the body!!

The yarn relaxed and bloomed really nicely--you can already tell a difference in the hand of the fabric. I think there is a big difference between this photo and the photo from yesterday of the hood detail.

This yarn is not easy on the hands to work with but the results are proving worth the effort.

Posted by fruitychick at 01:02 PM | Permalink

The area surrounding Rogue's hood is, apparently, a time warp. You can knit and knit and never feel like you are making progress.

I cross out lines on my chart (with more and more enthusiam) but the hood never looks any bigger. My chart says I have only 40 more rows:

I dont know if I really believe it though. It feels like I'll be knitting it forever.

Can you believe its nearly christmas?

That means its nearly time for New Years when we all make our resolutions. Mr. Fruitychick and I always try to make some kind of meaninful and fun resolution--learn something new, try something new together, etc. This year our "together" resolution is to try to learn some spanish so we can begin teaching the munchkin from an early age.

I have a few resolutions for myself:

1. Knit at least 6 sweaters/tops. Thats one every two months. The rate I'm going, I'll be able to finish Rogue in two months, so I think thats a decent benchmark. In all this time I've been knitting, I just dont have hardly any actual clothing to show for it and I want some, darnit!

2. Improve my spinning. My birthday/christmas present this year from Mr. Fruitychick was a drumcarder--a Strauch Finest. I want to learn how to blend fibers and spin great yarn from batts. My spinning has greatly improved since I started but I feel like I spin a lot of sock weight three ply. Its not a bad thing, but I do want to expand my horizons.

3. Improve my photography. Everyone likes good photos, right? I ordered a light tent the other day (yes, I know you can make one for nearly free but I wanted one that collapses easily so I can store it in a place where I will actually use it) and today I dropped by the hardware store and bought two clamp on lights and some daylight bulbs. I can already tell the difference that good lighting makes:

The colors in this picture are dead on without any retouching at all. I can't wait to see the improvement the tent will make! (Knitting is a Bucket Hat in Malabrigo "lettuce," by the way)

So what about you guys--do you have any knitting/blog resolutions?

Posted by fruitychick at 12:38 PM | Permalink

Well, of COURSE I fell off the ladder while painting. Was there really a possibility that I wouldnt?

I didnt break anything (thank goodness) but I have a distinct limp and a very sore knee that feels like its clicking around whenever I walk up stairs. At this point, no one could possibily be happier to move from our second floor, two story apartment into a one story house.

Movers are here tomorrow morning, bright and early. I have most of the apartment packed up and ready to go, save the computer and the munch's essential toys.

On the knitting-related upside, since I was forced to sit around for the majority of the day while my knee throbbed, I did get some serious knitting done on the Rogue:

I waffled about the pocket but finally decided to leave it off. The body is now well past the lower cable and I feel like I"m in the home stretch!

Posted by fruitychick at 04:20 PM | Permalink

I think I need to institute a Spinning Day--and why not start with today?

I've been trying (unsuccessfully--I wont even show you the horror of my failures) to spin a decent bulky yarn. I just always end up with something around 30 WPI no matter what I do. So, I cranked up the tension and slapped a somewhat larger whorl on the old wheel and tried again.

and...its not so bad.

It isnt the bulky singles I was hoping for but I think its lovely and squishy. I'll ply it together as a simple 2-ply and I think I'll end up with what I was shooting for in the end. There are still a few thing spots in my single but, hey, thats handspun.

(Roving is from etsy...lets see if I can go dig around and find the seller)....

Here we go: The Fiber Den. Its nice stuff-nearly 8 oz of Merino for 21 bucks (at least when I bought it quite a while ago. Its been marinating in the stash for a long time.)

I think Munchkin approves of the Fridays are for spinning concept:

I've been trying to get some knitting done (instead of spending every free minute adding things to my Ravelry queue). I've got another sleeve for Rogue nearly finished:

I'm really loving the Rowan Yorkshire Aran Tweed, despite it being less than soft. Its perfect for the heavy coat like Rogue I was envisioning.

I also happened to be sitting at my computer when I got an email from The Loopy Ewe announcing a sneak up. I had a gift certificate burning a hole in my account and I scored two skeins:

(Apparently I need to get out my camera manual and find out how to adjust the settings--those yarns are on the same backround, yet it looks so different when you see them side by side....)

On the left is Sheepaints in Briar Rose and on the Right is Dream in Color Smooshy in Forest? I think? The Smooshy is destined to be a pair of the ever popular Embossed Leaves Socks from IK. I've tried the socks before but the yarn was just far too busy. Hopefully this yarn will let the pattern shine.

On the house front--we got a counter offer from the sellers and we are accepting it since it was very near what we offered and, frankly, we are up against a wall and need to move in asap so we aren't in much place to negotiate. Inspection is Monday at 1. Hopefully the inspector wont say "run, run away from this house before the roof falls on your head!!"

Posted by fruitychick at 02:30 PM | Permalink

Am I the only person who is getting really tired of Vogue Knitting? Out of the last few issues, I dont think there has been a thing I've been interesting in knitting... It seems like the only things I've stopped flipping for have, sadly, been advertisements.

I think I'm done with Vogue. My subscription is up this issue and I'm not renewing. I'd rather buy a few independent patterns online.

Knitting has been slow around here--a few more rows on the Rogue and the Garter Rib socks are halfway through a heel.

My main distraction:

yummy. Superfine laceweight yarn. Roving is the Maldives colorway from the Hello Yarn Fiber Club. It is absolutely delicious--super soft and is spinning up beautifully.

This is, by far, the thinnest yarn I've spun and I'm surprised at how evenly its turning out. I'm thinking I'll do a simple 2-ply to let the color chunks meld a little so the ultimate lace project doesnt have a pooling/striping problem.

Posted by fruitychick at 06:05 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

I love being surprised. Not that I always should be, sometimes I just forget and then something (perhaps something I even planned) turns out to be a surprise.

This weekend, Mr. Fruitychick took Friday and Monday off from work to spend a long weekend together. I knew this planned time off existed but I didnt know it was going to exist this weekend--until, oh I think thursday night. Anyway, it was a lovely surprise. Mainly we just vegged around here and caught up on sleep (as an aside--how long does it really take to "catch up on sleep" after you've had a baby? Munchkin is nearly a year and a half and I still feel like I could sleep for weeks...then again, she is still getting up in the middle of the night so maybe I'm not making as much catching up progress as I thought). We also journeyed out and went to the library where Munchkin had an absolute ball. She will sit and flip through books by herself for an hour if left to her own devices and will listen to you read her a book all day. Needless to say, she was absolutely amazed by the library. We went on Friday and again yesterday because one trip to the library is not nearly enough....

While the munchkin napped and Mr. Fruitychick played on his finally-received-back-from-the-microsoft-repair-department-Xbox, I started a little knitting:

I bet we can all guess what that is, right? I've started Rogue now several times but just never really loved it before--mainly because I seemed to start it when the weather was starting to turn warm again. Not this time, baby. It was 51 yesterday and I'm in full sweater knitting mode. I will finish this thing.

Of course, I might get distracted by this:

(French Girl Patterns--Desiree)

I'm usually not a bulky knit kind of girl but this sweater just calls to me. I heard my LYS was having a 50% off sale on Gedifra this week, so I trudged over there to see if they had enough Gigante to fit the bill....they didnt and I almost caved and bought the full price Rowan called for in the pattern but I didn't. I did come home to do a little browsing and found the Rowan Big Wool in the Garage Sale over at Webs. Woohoo! The sweater will be mine!

There will also have to be distraction from Rogue long enough to knit the Chicken Viking Hat. Munchkin and Mr. FC are heading up to visit his family around Thanksgiving and Munchkin absolutely has to have a brown roasted turkey butt hat for the occassion. Yarn already purchased (cascade 220 from The Woolie Ewe).

I think those are the only distractions I'm aware of now but I'm making no promises.

In the old knits I never blogged about/photographed category this week, we have the Thrummed Socks:

A Fleece Artist kit purchased from Colorsong Yarns, I believe. Knit up during the Great Power Outage of the Winter of 06. It was sooo bitterly cold in the house we could see our breaths. It wasn't until the third day I remembered I had a pair of thrummed socks 80% done in the knitting pile. I picked them up, finished them, grafted the toe and, like magic, the power came on 20 seconds later.

I love these socks though I dont get an opportunity to wear them that often. They aren't really "walking around" socks and it is rarely that cold in our house during the night to wear them. They sure are delicious when I get the chance though. I'm even thinking of making another pair with Merino thrums instead of the kid mohair that came with my kit but I'm not sure what will hold up the best.

Have you made thrummed socks? What thrum fiber did you use? Did they hold up well?

Oh--keep your fingers crossed today. We close on our old house in Georgia this afternoon and as soon as that happens, we can make an offer on the new house we found here! The closing was already pushed back from yesterday and I'm really hoping there aren't any other problems.

Posted by fruitychick at 09:18 AM | Permalink