New projects, new yarn

I’m getting to the point in my stash where I don’t have a lot of one type of yarn to do a project. So to use up my odd balls I’ve decided to crochet up a lot of my stash into granny squares.

Granny squares

To keep some semblance of gauge I’m crocheting all the squares using an H hook. However, I lost an H hook while Abbey and I were hanging out at Wired, a local coffee shop. Instead of replacing it with another metal hook I got a fancy one from Taos Sunflower, my LYS.

Palmwood crochet hook

I’ve used bamboo knitting needles for awhile and suspected a wooden crochet needle would be just as heavenly to work with. This hook is palmwood and is a joy to work with.

Since finishing my Knucks I decided to start knitting some socks. The Ogee wrap is an intense project for me and requires lots of concentration. I wanted some easy knitting. Socks to the rescue! And what luck-Taos Sunflower was having a sale on sock yarn. Did I get some? Oh yeah baby!

Sock yarn

Trekking and Regia are the brands I used to make my last two pairs of socks. I love variegated yarn, especially how the socks match yet are slightly different from each other. I think I’ll start with the yellow/orange yarn. There’s visions of minimal lace or cable work dancing in my head for these socks but I don’t know if I’ll do anything complex. The point is to have a simple, relaxing project right?

Speaking of lace I was talking to Martie at TS and she showed me her wedding shawl. Wow. Tiny little stiches, yet so very pretty. I have friends who are getting married and once they set a date I plan to make them a granny square afghan in their favorite colors as a present.

Knitty Knucks done!

I finished my Knitty Knucks today. Yay! I’m so happy with the way they turned out.

Knitty Knucks

While I didn’t enjoy the embroidery I love the results. I modeled the branches after juniper tree branches. This lovely juniper tree agreed to model for me as backdrop. My branches are not an exact match but they were the inspiration.

Knitty Knucks

Prana came over to investigate what I was doing. Can you see the kitty in the tree?

Prana under a juniper tree

Harry Potter and Knitting

Harry Potter Book7

Thebes and I finished Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows yesterday. Wow! It was incredible.

Since the book fell into my eager hands I have gotten no knitting done. Some inches on Ogee were knitted but that was earlier in the week. I did get TWIL embroidered on the right Knuck. I’m waiting to get the whole thing done before posting pics. I’m waffling whether I like my embroidery work or not.

Prana was such a good kitty while I was reading the book. I’m a vocal reader and there were many gasps while reading. Prana curled up beside me during the marathon of reading that Thebes and I did. He has gotten much love and kitty treats in return.

Eureka!

Ogee Lace Skirt

Yes, yes, yes. It’s working out. Mind you, progress is slooooow. The knit rows take a long while because I keep double checking what I’m supposed to be doing. The purl sides are a breeze in comparison.

Jen from Knitting Sutra emailed me and gave me some pointers. Thanks Jen! I love the knitting community.

The purple yarn just wasn’t working. I think it didn’t want to do this project so I’m setting it aside for now. Instead I’m using the blue yarn that originally was intended to test the pattern. Abbey gave me a thrift sweater to frog for the yarn. It’s wool and is perfect for this project. Will wool end up being too heavy? Dunno. So far it seems good.

I want the skirt to wrap around more so I’m working it up with five repeats in the middle. I’m on row 34. While it’s turning out pretty it a lot of concentration. I need to start on some socks so I can have some easy knitting when I need a break from Ogee.

This Prana pic is from last year. He’s playing with one of his mouse toys. That bit of pink is the mouse ear.

Prana with mouse toy

Ogee Help

Well, well, well. This Ogee Lace Skirt is a tough pattern. I started working on it and quickly got stumped. I made it to row 3 and confusion set in. What to do? Google. I googled for Ogee info. Since the pattern is so new not many people had made it.

Through my searching I came across KelInCal’s blog Hypknitized. She’s recently completed her own Ogee. I wrote to her asking for help.

She graciously wrote back the same day. I had been knitting with stitch markers in place which was causing my pattern to go wonky. I practiced with some stash yarn and this time it worked.

Ogee lace skirt

What a relief! Next up I’ll work up a gauge sample with the purple yarn. If it doesn’t meet gauge I’ll knit it with this blue yarn. Thank you KelInCal! I really appreciate your help.

I’ve been using this chart keeper from Knit Picks to mark my place in the pattern.

Knit Picks lace chart

However, my chart looks like this:

Prana sits on my lace chart

Such a cutie, that furball of mine.

Knitty Knucks sans embroidery

The knitting part of my Knitty Knucks is finished and they fit great. I really enjoyed knitting them.

Knitty knucks

A view of the palm and the inside of the other glove:

Knitty knucks

I’ve never done embroidery before. The closest I’ve come is handsewn applique. To be honest I’m a little intimidated. Abbey gave me some nice embroidery floss to use. I plan to put Twilight and the Rowan tree on them.

The macro feature on my camera continues to amuse me. Here’s a close up of Prana’s back paw.

Prana's paw close up