Some WIPs

I've somehow gotten involved in the Ravelympics. It's totally arbitrary, but you choose a project and cast on during the Olympic opening ceremonies and complete it before the closing ceremonies.

I'm using some Dream in Color Smooshy sock yarn:



The color is "Cloud Jungle". It's superwash merino, and utterly smooshy.

I'm making the Ishbel shawl. This picture is a few days old, but I'm on the last lace section now. I think I'll have enough yarn leftover for a matching hat.



I love the color. I was thinking it might be too busy for a lace pattern, but it is subtle enough so it works.



The colors remind me of the inside of an oyster shell.

Since I can't multitask while knitting lace, I am also working on the Lion Neck Cardigan.



I'm not quite sure about wearing it with short-shorts, but it will be a cozy cardi. I'm using Rowan Scottish Tweed Chunky, so my fabric is denser then the sample shown. I'm hoping it won't be so dense that it will stand up on its own.



The yarn is woolen-spun 2ply, which makes for a fuzzy yarn and a little variation in the thickness. It's not quite a thick-and-thing yarn. Kind of more of a thick and thicker yarn.

In a sweater frenzy, I also cast on for the Baby Cables and Big Ones Too. I've been wanting to make myself a Cobblestone type yolk sweater, but I kept seeing people at Rhinebeck wearing this one. I liked how it was a bit more feminine then the Cobblestone and the cable details are sweet.

I'm using some Valley Yarns Northfield that I dyed in eucalyptus. It made the house smell great and I got a bright gold yellow color from it to boot.



It take some concentration- there are plain rows in between- but there are a five sets of stitch markers to denote placement of five different cables, plus raglan markers and increases and oh, I think I'll be working on this exclusively at home in good lighting for a little bit.





Of course, I have not forgotten about my commitment to the A-Z project. Once the Ravelympics/Olymipics are over with, I'll jump back on to the Shetland Shorty bandwagon. Here's what I had before I put it aside:



The bird's eye lace pattern is easy, but it's really hard to correct mistakes. I've had to tink back twice so far because of a mesh mess I made. I'm stopped at the shoulder shaping, but it feels like I've ripped back more than I've knitted.

Aeolian progress

I sat down one day last week, beads and handspun in hand, and cast on for the Aeolian shawl!



I have to sit down and concentrate on it, or I'll be losing YO's and making a tangled mess really quickly. I'm pretty psyched though- it's not difficult knitting, you just need to be in the mindset to sit and concentrate for a while. Lace frightens me, but once you break it down into bite-sized chunks it seems pretty do-able.

I'm using size 8 seed beads in a pretty purpley-pink. I didn't have a crochet hook small enough to impale the beads on and I was impatent to start, so I strung the beads onto the yarn beforehand just push them down the yarn as I get to them. It's easier for me to string them like this rather than fiddle with them one at a time- I have this heriditary hand tremble that makes doing something like that really difficult. It's not bad at all- some people in my family has a very noticble partkinsons-like tremble. It does make picking up teeny tiny seed beads and threading them a bit of a challenge though. I'm glad I bought extra because most of them ended up on the floor.

I started swatching for the Espresso sweater in handspun as well last night. I didn't mean to start a new project. Wednesday night I try to meet up with the local knitters for some tea and socializing. I went through all my projects on the needles and I had nothing that I felt like I could bring with me- Lace is a big no-no when I could possibly be (and want to be) distracted, I have one Fair Isle sock project going, a complex cabled band for a sweater, and a lace cami that I have to do some soul-searching on as it is a canidate for frogging. So I use my time wisely and bring along whatever needs to be swatched.

Aeolian Shawl SAL/KAL

I started spinning for the Aeolian Shawl. Several of my friends are doing this as a Spin-Along Knit-Along. It's gorgeous, but I'm intimidated by lace patterns. I'm hoping this will help me conquer my fear. I'm only committing myself to the smallest shawl size at this point, and I'm pretty sure I've fallen far behind everyone else at this point.

Here is what I'm using:


It's some oatmeal colored BFL top from my stash, soft and silk and a feathered fawn color. I'm going to spin up about 3 oz laceweight and 2-ply it. I have a couple of packets of seed beads that might work with this- some dusty pink and some bronze.

So far I have a negligible amount spun up on my bobbin. I love spinning BFL- it's soft and silky and it has a nice long staple. It just flies out of your hands as you spin it and I can sit there for hours, mesmerized by it sliding through my fingers. I think that I'm so anxious about the lace pattern that I just can't seem to get myself sitting down to spin it! Oh, that and my work has been crazy as it is the end of the quarter, so I really haven't had the free time that I'd like. I'm hoping to have this all spun up and ready to start knitting by the end of the month.