Saturday stroll

After the early morning rains, the weather became warmer and sunny so I went out for a stroll in to Salem.  It's about a 15min walk to town which is one of the things that I like living where I live.  I first went to A&J King Bakery to get a late lunch.  All their stuffs are pretty good, I like their Vietnamese Ham Sandwich, which is my go to sandwich there.  Then I strolled over to Front street where we have the LYS Seed Stitch Fine Yarn.  It's hard not to walk in there whenever I'm walking around Salem, and inevitably I end up buying something and yesterday was no exception.  Now that the weather is finally getting warmer, I want to knit something light so I grabbed this lace weight yarn from Shibui knits.  It's a beautiful green color and I think it will make a nice light weight cardigan.  Because of the lighting, it's hard to see the true color of the yarn....and the yarn is going under some heavy scrutiny by the cats:

Hopefully it meets their lofty standards. 

I just walked around the rest of the time, weaving in and out of stores.  It was nice just being out and about. 

After I walked back home, I worked on the Color Affection shawl I have been knitting.  This project has been great for TV watching.  It's a sea of garter stitch so it doesn't require too much attention.  The short row wrap and turn sections that creates the 3 color stripes is really pretty and creative.  I have enjoyed knitting this but I'm ready to finish this off and move on to something new.

This is where the shawl is at.  Last time I mentioned that one of the yarns that I used was Madelinetosh Thyme.  I realized that this yarn didn't provide enough of a contrast so I switched it to another one-Koigu KPPPM yarn.  I've had this yarn for ages, since I was in NC I think.  Anyway, the shawl is coming along:

It is Kramer approved.

 

Spring, where are you?

Well the temperature is getting warmer, but I still have the heat on in the mornings and the evenings.  It's April, come on.  I'm ready for spring.  I finished the Dragonflies Jumper this week.  The ravelry project page is here. 

I used Elsebeth Lavold Silky Wool, just over 5 skeins.  It was a pretty fast knit.  The lace panel goes fairly quickly.  It fits nicely but I feel like the sweater makes me look fat.  Fatter than usual, I should say.  I mean, look at the mannequin, the sweater makes even the figurine look fat.  Maybe it's the lack of waist shaping.  I should have thought of that or I should have knitted a size down because the lace panel is stretchy.  The lace panel of the sweater would have stretched to accommodate the body's curves but then again, where curves should exist, I have rolls, so the size I knit may have been a good thing.  I've knitted a few sweaters in a row with interesting stitch patterns and I was in a mood to knit something fairly simply and mindless.  I decided to knit what seems to be the most popular shawl on the planet right now to knit:  Color Affection.  There are over 8000 projects on ravelry for this and I decided to see what all the fuss is about.  Also, it's all garter stitch with some increases at the edges and W&Ts so it promises to be an ideal project for TV watching and the like.  I'm knitting the fingering weight yarn version using 3 different yarns that have been in my stash for a while (Each, very very beautiful):  Mad Color Fiber Arts Shimmer in smoke, Madelinetosh tosh merino light in ink and Madelinetosh tosh sock in Thyme.  I hope the colors match well together.

While winding one of the Madelinetosh yarns, something went seriously awry......

....I ended up with a tangled mess (surprisingly a cat was NOT involved).  It took me the whole evening to untangle the mess and wind it up by hand.  But the yarn has been rescued and I am happily knitting away. 

Speaking of cats.  They were kinda-sort-a playing, which is rare...  In case you are wondering what the background noise is..that's Maria Sharapova on TV shrieking as she hits the tennis ball.

North Shore Yarn Crawl 2013 Part 2

Part 2 of the North Shore Yarn Crawl. 

4)  Coveted Yarn-  So much yarn to see here.  They have a lot variety of yarns, maybe the best selection of Malabrigo yarns around this area.  You can spend tons of time here.  I've visited this yarn store before and always end up wanting more yarn than I can afford.  One of these days, I'm going to try the BBQ place next door.  Here, I got these yarns:

Malabrigo yarn Silkpaca-a lace weight yarn.  I've never used it before and I love the sheen and color:

And 6 skeins of Miss Priss from the Schaefer Yarn Company.  It's an aran weight yarn, which I'm thinking of knitting Ratana (cardigan), but I may change my mind.

5)  A loom with a view-  I went to this store last year as well.  I dropped a lot of $ here for Shibui sock yarn-sweater worth last year which I haven't used yet.  All in good time.  This year, I dropped a lot of $ for these Donegal Tweed yarn (homespun).  They were buy 2, get 1 plus 10% off so I feel like I got a good deal after buying 9 of them (paying for 6).  I'm thinking about Central Park Hoodie for this one. 

6)  Village Stitchery-I was getting pretty tired at this point.  This store in Topsfield was new to me.  It's a nice store with good selection of yarn.  I bought a ball of Uluru from the Queensland Collection.  I have no idea what I will knit (it's a fingering weight yarn) but I suspect it will be some sort of shawl or cowl.  It's pretty so it landed in my shopping basket:

7)  Seed Stitch Fine Yarns- I guess I lied yesterday when I said I visited 6 yarns stores.  I visited 7 apparently.  This was my last stop since it's the closest to me being in Salem.  I always like walking into Seed stitch and yesterday was no exception.  I bought this bright yellow/ orange fingering weight yarn because it's such a 'happy' color.  Probably a shawl or something-we shall see.  It's from Toil and Trouble.  She is a local dyer and she was on hand for the show and sale which was really cool. 

I also got this yarn Metalico from Blue Sky Alpacas.  It's a DK weight yarn made with silk and alpaca-so ridiculously soft and silky.  I have no idea yet what I will knit with it, but it said 'hello' to me when I saw it and I had to have it.

The yarn crawl was fun as always, now it's time to find enough time to knit all of these up.  I updated on some of the projects yesterday, but here are two more. 

Susie Roger's Reading mitts: It's always cold where I sit at work.  My fingers feel numb sometimes so i knit my self these mitts.  I used Alchemy Yarns of Transformation Sanctuary.  Super fast knit and the yarn is gorgeous.

 



I'm currently working on Dragonflies Jumper.  It's lace sweater I'm knitting for myself using Elsebeth  Lavold Silky Wool.  The torso is done, just need to work on the sleeves and neck.  I tried it on after knitting the torso and it looked perfect!  So excited.

Enough knitting updates for this weekend! I will leave you with a picture of this pretty girl:

North Shore Yarn Crawl 2013 Part1

It's that time of year again.  The North Shore Yarn Crawl is here where you get to go around various local yarn shops in the area (The Boston North Shore) and swipe your credit cards in exchange for yarn!  There are great deals and bargains and raffles and it's fun to venture out to yarn stores that you normally don't visit very often.  I managed to visit 6 stores this year.  I'll talk about the first 3 in this post and then continue next time:

1)  Yarn in the Farms-  I visited this cute little shop during my lunch hour on Thursday.  I've been there several times and I always manage to find something I like.  I bought 9 balls of Classic Elite Yarns Firefly.  I'm thinking of a cardigan to wear during the spring/fall or summer in heavily AC'ed rooms:

2)  Creative Knits- This store is on my way home from work so I stopped by on Thursday.  Got me this nice kettle dyed yarn from Plymouth.  Maybe a cowl?

3)  Cranberry Fiber Arts-They were open later than usual so I managed to stop by after work on Friday.  Got me some pretty yarn from Araucania-Nuble-haven't decided what to knit yet:

I also got Classic Elite Yarn Fresco in 2 colors.  I've been wanting to knit with Fresco.  It feels so soft.  I'm planning a Fair isle hat:

I went to 3 other stores today but I'll talk about that some other time.  But since the last time I blogged, I've finished a few things.  The Ahni sweater is all done- knit with Dream in Color Classy.  The actual color of the yarn is really hard to capture in a photo.  It fits perfectly except that I could have made it a little longer.

And 2 baby projects: Easy Peasy Newborn Hat:

and Fleegle's Seamless Saartje Booties

They are for my coworker's baby.  I always forget how tiny baby things are and how quickly you can get them done.  They were both knit with cascade heritage sock yarns.

I finished another little project and working on a sweater, but that update will have to wait for another time. 

Somewhat belated Happy New Year!

Somewhat late, but Happy New Year!  It's been rather hectic at work toward the end of the year and the beginning of this year and I haven't had much time to knit.  But that has passed and I'm enjoying my 3 day weekend (Martin Luther King Jr's day).  My neighbors in the condo and I had a nice brunch yesterday-I brought over some Ricotta-yogurt parfaits which tastes really good.  It almost tastes like ricotta filling.  The recipe is from Giada De Laurentiis and can be found here.  I would take it easy on the raspberry jam though, it can get a little too sweet.  I also used Greek yogurt for extra creaminess.

I was pretty darn full after the brunch, but I hopped in my car and went down to Ikea.  I have a side table in my living room, but for whatever reason I only bought one.  I've been wanting to get another to match.  Ikea always has cute organizational stuffs and decorations so it's always fun to window shop.

I have managed to do some knitting despite the busy end/beginning of the year.  I've always wanted to knit a Stephen West designed shawl.  I especially like his multi-color usage in his shawls.  I think they are creative and can be both masculine and feminine at the same time.  I decided to knit 'Chadwick' using Cascade Heritage Paints (black) and Toil and Trouble Tweed Sock (blue-green).  It was a quick fun knit.  The details on ravelry can be found here.   

Kramer was nice enough to guard the shawl while it dried after a wash.

I'll be done with the 'ahni' sweater soon.  I'll post about it next time. 

Happy Holidays!

I hope everyone had a great holiday and getting ready to ring in the new year!  I've had a pretty productive knitting year, but as always, which I knitted even more.  Since the last time I updated blot, I finished the 'Twist' Cardigan. 

It fits nicely and super warm.  I forget how warm alpaca knit sweaters are (knit with Berroco Ultra Alpaca).  The details of the project can be found on my ravelry page for this project here.  I messed up somewhere though.  Something is funky with the left front neck line, which I only noticed when I was seaming up the pieces.  I usually know when I make a mistake as I'm knitting and decide to 'fudge it' at that point or frog it and fix it, but I just didn't realize the mistake I made during the neckline shaping.  Oh well, I think 'fudged' well enough that the mistake is not too too obvious.  I love cables, I love the texture, I love knitting it, I love everything about it.  The cables on this cardigan is pretty simple, but so effective, I love it.

I also finally finished the Rock Island shawl:

It's a beautiful shawl and the Jade Sapphire Lacey lamb is a joy to work with.  I have plenty left of a small project I think.  I'll have to think of something.  I feel like I didn't do such a good job of  blocking though, the points on the edges don't seem to pop as it should.  When I get a chance, I might re-block.  We shall see. 

Currently, I'm working on the Ahni sweater from the Twist Collective, using Dream in Color Classy.  It's a hand dyed yarn, semi-variegated.  I love the stitch used throughout the sweater.  I can't wait for it to be done.  The details on the project on ravelry can be found here.  The yarn is so squishy and easy to knit with.

 
  The color on these photographs does not do the yarn service.  I'll have to take photos during the day, under natural light. 

Oh, Hai!

Sundae chasing tail