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.

Right now, they’re mostly of the variety I can’t discuss here, but let me tell you about my new favorite yarn:

Berroco Seduce is a rayon/linen/silk/nylon blend. It is one of the softest, silkiest, most fun to work with yarns ever, and I’m already plotting several other additions to my wardrobe. It’s perfect for the summer heat, as it is incredibly light and airy. (This color is Rye, by the way.) I can’t say enough good things about it and encourage you all to rush to your nearest LYS and get some right away.

Non-secret progress crawls on. I have so little left to do on Salina that it’s a crime to let the poor thing languish. I have been making progress on the Devon socks, though!

(I’ve actually even turned the heel and gotten partway through the foot since this picture was taken.)

Here’s hoping your summer knitting is going smashingly!

Whenever I knit a gift (and I do it fairly often), I’m always pretty paranoid that the recipient won’t like it. I can’t really quell that urge entirely, but I’m definitely not as worried this time.

Pattern: Baroque, by Janice Kang, from Fall 2008 Knitty

Yarn: Louet Gems Fingering, Eggplant, 2.3 hanks

Time Elapsed: (Why do I even write this one anymore?) Awhile…

Notes/Modifications: No real modifications. I knit the large size, and my gauge was a teeny bit tighter (on the order of a quarter-stitch per inch). I knit the ribbed toe instead of the plain stockinette.

These socks are not nearly as difficult as they look. It took me a little while (5 rows?) to get used to the cabling–stitches are re-ordered as usual without a cable needle, but then you also do a “mock cable” on two of the stitches that have been re-ordered. At first I found this to be fiddly, and the yarn splitty, but I hit my groove quickly enough. The second sock did drag on–the leg of the sock represents two run-throughs of the chart, and the foot 2.3 (ish) more. So by the foot of the second sock, I found myself needing to look at the chart, still, because it was juuuuuust complicated enough that I couldn’t remember the whole thing—but also being bored with the chart, because I’d knit the same thing 6.5 times already.

However. I think they’re well worth the patience. I’m more enamored of these socks than almost any other project.

These are for the lovely knitting lady Danielle, who is doing something I can’t imagine because I don’t spin, and spinning me something luscious. Hooray for such enjoyable swaps! Of course, I won’t be able to actually knit her creation until probably December, because I have some ideas waiting to get out of my head first…

…but such is the way of knitting. At least in this house.

Wow. I’m pretty embarrassed that a month went by without me even noticing. That’s life sometimes, I guess. To be fair, two of my four projects are gifts, and I was keeping one of them a secret.

Can you tell what it is? My other WIPS: Salina (for me), the February Lady Sweater (for Beth), and a pair of Devon socks from the new Cookie A book (for me). I now remember why I was a strictly monogamous knitter for so long.

I’m just loving the simplicity of Salina–I’ve now finished the back and both of the sleeves, and have a few inches of the front done. The combination of the tweedy yarn and the stockinette/moss stitch makes me squeal. I’m going to really, really enjoy wearing this sweater. So far, the only changes I’ve made are to increase the length of the sweater some, but as I get to the appropriate place I’m going to throw some short rows in there too.

Sadly, I currently feel as angsty as Jacob looks about the FLS. Following the pattern produced some really horrible raglan increases for me (I’m sure my row gauge is off), but I blindly knit on, alternating balls of Classy, for another 8 inches on the body. I finally admitted to myself that it looked awful and started ripping last night–I’m about halfway ripped. Sigh.

The last bit of news, I guess, is that I’m doing more stash restructuring. I’ve got a bunch of lovely, lovely yarns up on my ravelry destash page that just aren’t right for me. If they’re right for you, let me know–I need to make room for the couple of sweaters’ worth of sport-weight gray yarn I picked up at WEBS this past weekend.

(I’m nothing if not predictable in my yarn taste!)

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!

When Jacob asks for socks, he gets ‘em.

Pattern: Basic 52-stitch socks, 3×1 rib

Yarn: Sundara Sock, Bronzed Forest

Time Elapsed: Something like a week or two

Notes/Modifications: This is a made-up pattern, so modifications are nil, although I did notice that the 48-stitch ones are getting a little small. But still, no earth-shaking anything to say about these socks.

(He asked for them, and pestered me about them while I was knitting them. And then said he wouldn’t wear them for photos, and when he relented and put them on he hid his feet.)

He said he’d only let me get some proper shots of them if I wore socks and took pictures of my socks, too.

The Sundara is leftover from Daniel’s Tomten, which is still sitting on my dressform waiting for a zipper. I’ll get around to it before he outgrows the thing, I promise. It’s a lovely color, the Bronzed Forest, and Sundara’s sock yarn was nice to work with as always.

And really, there’ nothing cozier than a snuggly family in hand-knits, right?

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!

Thanks so much for all of the well-wishes, everyone. I hope Mr. D. arrives soon and healthy, too!

Until then, of course, life goes on. And since we’ve been enjoying a spell of really nice weather lately, complete with cooler evenings, my mind has turned to my sad, neglected knitting. In my fantasy world, the (pregnancy-caused) carpal tunnel is nonexistent, and I can quickly finish up my 2 wips.

Well, the CTS is sadly still with me, and nothing quick is happening here. I did manage to finish the first Rivendell, but I’m still only a few rows into the second. And although knitting has increased somewhat now that the Olympics are on, I’ve still got tons of yarn left for this Flower Basket Shawl. I’ve completed the called-for number of repeats of the main part of the shawl already, so it looks like I get to add an extra repeat or two to this lovely number.

What would I do, if these dragging wips were suddenly finished tomorrow? I’ve totally totally got the itch to knit sweaters again, folks. Perhaps a cardigan for myself, a nice cabled number for Jacob, maybe a sock yarn version of Tomten for the little one.

Until fantasy meets reality, I just need to keep telling myself: Soon, the swelling will go away. Soon, the air will have that gorgeous crisp fall taste. Soon, it will be time to wrap ourselves in wool once again. Soon.

…because I clearly couldn’t actually finish anything to save my life, right now. I’m appalled to discover it’s been nearly three weeks, because I don’t even have one finished sock to show you folks, let alone two.

The new version of Rivendell does seem to be a keeper, though. (Yes, for the observant, I tweaked the pattern some.) I look forward to wearing them this fall, definitely. I’m sure my feet will have un-swelled enough by then.

I also started a shawl out of my Sundara fingering silky merino, because working on size 6 needles seems to be better for the carpal tunnel than working on the teeny dpns:

It’s flower basket, and I’m just loving the way it’s turning out. As always with Ms. Clark, the pattern is extraordinarily clear and produces a lovely result. The yarn doesn’t hurt either, of course.

And sewing doesn’t seem to be bothering me at all, so I’m almost done with my first solo quilting project.

The jury’s still out on it. I think, technically, it’s fine, but it’s far less to my taste than I imagined. I’m super-excited about the next quilting project, though. Isn’t that always the way with a new hobby? Initial excitement gives way to a bit of disappointment that it’s not as easy as you thought gives way to even bigger excitement about the next thing, because you’ve learned so much?

Or is that just me?

(Edited to add: I think I’m going to do my inbox a one-time favor and just publicly say thank you SO MUCH to everyone who commented on the Cleopatra Wrap. All of the wonderful compliments and well-wishes really meant a lot to me during these past gross weeks.)

Well! That was longer, more stressful, and more lacking in the internet department than we expected. Fortunately, we’re all here safe and sound. The boxes are far from gone, but I kind of have a craft room now!

Jacob is all settled for summer camp and preschool in the fall, I continue my part time work tomorrow after a nearly 1-month hiatus (thank goodness), and someday my stash will even have a home. Things are still hectic and disorganized, but hoo boy are they getting better rapidly.

Including my knitting! I’ve had a terrible time knitting-wise, these last few weeks. I’ve started and ripped no fewer than 4 different socks. Frustrated by pooling semi-solid/shaded/whatever you want to call it sock yarn, I bought some Cascade Heritage in a beautiful solid blue-gray for another try at Rivendell. I think I have a winner, this time.

Keep your fingers crossed for me?