FO Friday: That Garter/Cable Thing

I finished it! Well, sorta. I cast off my design sample (so far known as garter stitch+cables+Malabrigo) yesterday evening. It’s one of those projects that I had really, really high hopes for. In fact, I’m not sure that I could have ever met those hopes, even if everything went perfectly and it was a breeze. In any case, it’s not exactly what I was expecting, but I think I’m coming to terms with what I ended up with.

I mean, it’s Malabrigo, so it just feels like heaven around my neck. Heaven, I tell you! And the texture has made it so thick and warm that I bet I could wear it in the arctic and still be comfortable.

The whole plan was to hit on the “sweet spot” so that the colors from a very, very variegated skein of Malabrigo Worsted would make up and down stripes. In the end, I’m pretty sure that perfect stripes are pretty impossible. I still think the pooling effect that I ended up with is pretty nice!

I don’t think this pattern will come out anytime soon. It still needs to be written and tested (and I already have 2 tests going on right now) before it gets released. I’m thinking of saving it for that collection that’s been ruminating in my head. We’ll see what happens.

For more FO Friday posts, check out Tami’s.

WIP Wed: Molly

After a life of crazyness both at school and in the computer arena (long, long story that I will probably post some other time), I finally have a WIP post for you guys! Sorry about the crappy photography, but I took the pictures at work.

Molly Hat

I’m currently working on a Molly hat using some Malabrigo Merino Worsted from my stash, or “babies,” as one of my students put it. The hat is a gift that is going to be given this Saturday, so it’s been going pretty quickly. I went up a needle size for more drape. I didn’t end up changing this stitch count at all, as my guage is still pretty close and my recipient will probably LOVE a really, really big hat.

gurgle…MALABRIGO

The puppy got to the ball of yarn this morning as it sat next to my backpack waiting for a new work day, so it’s a little deformed. I think that it was revenge for not letting her go back to sleep in my bed. Hopefully it isn’t tangled! I know that it’s a really, really short post, but I only have a few minutes, and there’s not really that much to say about this hat. Hopefully I’ll have a full report on Fri. for a FO Fri. post!

For more WIP Wed. posts, check out Tami’s.

Shopping PLUS a trunk show!

So, this weekend I decided to hit up one of my LYS’s and spend the rest of the gift certificate that has been burning a whole in my pocket for almost a year (OK, don’t blame me- it’s not exactly ‘local’ to me at home, and definitely not local to me at school). Of course, it helped that she was having a trunk show for Dragonfly Fibers, which was just…unbelievably spectacular. The only thing that was kind of unfortunate is that the store was too busy for them to skein my yarn. While I understand, that is definitely going to make things a lot harder on my end. I am slightly reconsidering buying a 100g skein of sock yarn…it might have been nice if they had a sign posted or something. They did offer to have it ready in the next couple of days, but the store isn’t exactly around the corner from where I live.

stitch markers in action!

First things first: the Yarn Club always has a great selection of Knit Picks brand needles and notions, which is a major draw for me. Who wants to pay half the cost of a pair of needle tips in shipping? The night before, I was noticing how the stitch markers that I had made from some leftover yarn were not up to par, so I got this package of really, really cheap Knit Picks markers. They probably won’t fit on needles over size 8, but they’re doing just fine on my 6’s. So that was a good find!

Knit One, Crochet Too Brae Tweed

And now, the yarn. First, a skein of Knit One, Crochet Too Brae Tweed (60% merino, 20% baby llama, 10% bamboo, 10% donegal) in color number 879…a sorta dark muddy brown. If you remember correctly, this is the luscious yarn that I used to design the free Leafy Tops Hat (which, by the way, I’ve made some changes to the pattern). My sister fell in love with my original sample, but I’ve been craving a soft, go to hat lately. This darker yarn won’t be quite so flesh-tone, and it will go with a bunch of my jackets! Plus, this way I can take some more pictures. That page needs some serious updating.

mmmmmmalabrigo

Next, a skein of Malabrigo Merino Worsted (100% Merino) in Whales Road, a mix of blues with a touch of purple. The skein was already untwinded when I grabbed it from the pile. I probably should have asked if they had another one in that colorway, but I don’t think it will get tangled or anything. And worsted weight yarn is a lot less tedious to hand-wind then sock! Since I made my first skein into a cowl (secret, by the way), I’ve been thinking about doing another one. Hell, I may just made a collection!

The bright sun took out a little bit of the depth of colors, so it's actually MORE beautiful than that, if you can believe it!

And then, finally, for the main event, a skein of Dragon Sock (100% Superwash Merino) from from Dragonfly Fibers. The colorway is called Admiral Benbow, and I just fell in love with it the second that I dug it out of that giant pile of yarn. It it simply spectacular! The colors are so deep and vibrant, it’s just really hard to describe. I think this one will have to be a pair of socks- maybe some plain-jane stockinette ones to show off the color? I don’t know, exactly, but I’m sure whatever I made will be amazing, judging by the yarn.

closer up on the gold end, which is so radically different from the dark blues and greens in most of the skein.

Finally, for my Locke St. progress report, I’ve finished the first sleeve! Wooo!!!!! The numbers for the sleeve cap shaping were a little off- I know I started with the correct amount, so I must have just done a couple too many decrease rounds or something. Hopefully, it won’t be too different from the second sleeve. But really, it would only take an hour to fix it if it was! Now one more to go…and then the rest of the whole sweater body. I can tell that this project is going to take a good long time, but I’m pretty hopeful about the finished project.

Locke sleeve number one- it's curling so much, I can tell it's going to be a bitch to sew.