stash, knit, repeat

What an intensely busy, mostly wonderful year. I know 2009 was rough for many, and we certainly had ups and downs Chez Stashknitrepeat, but overall it’s been a pretty amazing year. Most of all, I’m thankful that we’ve gone from here:

To here:

Without too much trouble, even. We’re very grateful to have such enjoyable children.

Knitting-wise, my mosaic looks a lot less impressive than my knitting year actually was.

Let’s go in order, shall we? First up, some socks for Jacob. Then, a a cowl for me. A sweater for Jacob, followed quickly by a sweater for Daniel. I test-knit some mittens, knit another sweater for Jacob… and then the secret knitting started, the designing bug bit, the secret knitting continued, and… well, there went the blog. I’ve been working steadily, and managed to finish a sweater for Beth and some socks for Danielle, and a sweater for me. Very recently I cast off on some socks I started in March.

I was able to share one piece of secret knitting, and will soon share another (that last photo in the mosaic). But let me tell you, my needles have been flying this year. There are three more entire sweaters that I’ve designed and knit this year, and another that’s designed and halfway knit. It’s nuts.

The design process is reminding me a little of the academic publishing cycle. You get a good idea, and it can anywhere from a few months to a year or two after the work is done for the work to actually see the light of day. It’s sometimes frustrating, but now that my “pipeline” of projects is full, I hope to see a more steady stream of content around these parts.

Speaking of which, I finished some socks.

Pattern: Cookie A’s Devon socks, from her book

Yarn: Sundara sock, Deadly Nightshade

Time Elapsed: Something like 9 months.

Notes/Modifications: None. These socks are perfect.

Happy new year! May 2010 shine brightly and happily on all of you and yours.

Wow, it’s been ages since I shared anything other than an FO with you. Obviously, the knitting is continuing post-kids! The blogging, not so much. Not because I don’t have time, actually–since I only work part-time I actually spend a fair amount of time here at home with the boys, and they’re both pretty independent kids. But my husband is working from home at the moment, and we only have one computer. As much as I love my phone, a good blogging device it is not.

Still, the time has come to make some resolutions and follow them, so hopefully you’ll be seeing more of me here soon. Spring frenzy has definitely hit this part of New England, so when I cast off another Jacob sweater the other day?

I pretty much had no choice but to cast on 3 projects to replace it.

(February Lady Sweater for my friend Beth, and a couple of pairs of mystery socks.) I’ve wanted to knit the FLS for about an eon now, but it’s completely wrong for my body type. (While I never really LIKE it when dressing for my figure limits my wardrobe, I do appreciate the results–thanks, Trinny and Susannah!) The happy solution arrived when my very good friend and excellent knitwear recipient Beth admired the sweater. A few hanks of Dream in Color Classy later, I was good to go. I’m really enjoying it so far, and especially enjoying the speedy progress of a worsted-weight sweater as compared to my other sweater project:

Salina is pretty much exactly right for my body type, in my favorite color, and a glorious yarn. Unfortunately, such teeny tiny stitches do result in fairly slow going. Still, I have the back and most of one sleeve done now, so I have hope I’ll be able to wear it this spring.

Why two pairs of socks, you ask? Well, one particular part of my stash has really been inspiring me lately.

Happy spring!

The destashing felt so great. The bulk of my stash is once again stuff I’m excited to knit with and dream about, it eased our finances enough to splurge on a couple of things, and hopefully it made some other folks happy too.

Meanwhile, knitting continues on at a maddeningly slow pace:

Yeah, that would be the very beginning of the front of a worsted-weight sweater in a 3-year-old size. In two weeks. SIGH. I ultimately decided to finish the back to see how it looked, and I think that many of you are right in that the muted color allows for a more complicated stitch pattern without looking too busy. Jacob pronounced it “gorgeous” and is harping on me to finish it. Maybe I’ll try to get the thing done by the time his school starts next week?

Of course, his feet are cold, too.

I had plenty of the emergency-acquired Bronzed Forest left over from Tomten, and I was stuck without appropriate needles at knit night one week, found a pair of dpns in my purse (just in case, you know, I ever had a sock emergency), and cast on. These are just basic 52-stitch socks (I get 8 stitches to the inch) in a 3×1 rib pattern.

I’m anxious to finish all of the Jacob knitting, though. One of the splurges I made with the destashing cash was to get some sturdy, less-spendy yarn for a more casual sweater for me. I feel badly wearing my really nice sweaters with the baby, who is still unpredictable in the spit-up department. The solution?

I can’t wait to cast on! Happy New Year, everyone!

Goodness, is it Tuesday already?!

Pattern: Set-in V-neck pullover, 26″ chest size, from Ann Budd’s holy grail of sweaters

Yarn: Leftover Ultra Alpaca from my grandmother’s lap afghan and my v-neck cardi, 2 hanks of the blue and little bits of the red

Time elapsed: Very little… 4 days?

Thoughts/modifications: The pattern outline is made to be modified, so I’m not sure what to say here. I added little stripes around the edges, used the numbers in the pattern exactly, and basically just didn’t think too much on this sweater. One neat trick I learned was the EZ sewn bind-off for the V-neck, which turned out to be wonderfully stretchy without losing its shape. Such a nice bind-off!

I love the look of set-in sleeves on little ones. The crisp tailoring on such little bodies just fills me with squee. He seems to love the sweater, too, which is great. He hugs it and says “Mama” and tries to put it on. Such a sweet little guy!

(There will be an FO page update tonight some time, so check back if you’re mad for the Jacob photos.)

*****

I started a new pair of socks, after all, after seeing someone else knit up J. Knits sock yarn. I’m trying toe-up stockinette with a picot bind-off, and they look great so far. After that, it’ll be a contest between a Shetland triangle in some Richesse et Soie, and Tulip. Such choices!

I finished the sweater for Jacob, but haven’t had time to get modeled pictures yet. I’ll save the FO post for when I have cute shots, but here’s a peek.

The sweater for the Damask is Tulip, from the most recent Rowan magazine. I’m planning on making the sleeves set-in and a bit longer, since cap sleeves just aren’t for me. I’m excited about it, but I’d hoped to wait until May to start it, but I may give in and swatch before then.

Not because I’m that impatient, mind you, but because nothing else is working out right! The koigu, which looked SO beautiful and springy in the hank, and wound up into a cake?

Well, charitably I could call it “splotchy” when knit up. Uncharitably, as in late last night when I just wanted a soothing sock to knit, it could be called vomit in sock form.

I’m so disgusted with it, and remember well how little I could change the STR pooling despite going to insane lengths. So, I’m not going through that again. First interested party who leaves a comment gets the yarn! Please, make it into socks that you love.

The other quick project I had in mind, another indoor cap for the hubby, won’t work either–he doesn’t like the color of 4ply soft I have in the stash and I don’t feel like buying more right now. Sigh.

So what’s a girl to do? Chart and swatch and cast on for Tulip, I suppose, but if anyone else has great ideas for quick projects, I’d LOVE to hear them. Because I’d really like to do something else small with the rest of April!

I may be nearly finished with my latest quick fix.

I may have caught some spring fever and bought more yarn.

I may be about to dive into the Koigu Experience for the first time.