It’s that time of year again which means I put up my annual post with my fair entries.
This year I promised myself no more last minute projects and no staying up all night trying to finish pieces. I did so well on my promise that I was done a few days early!
This year I have 13 entries:
After LazyKaty I started looking for something for my new skein of Spirit Trail Fiberworks Orihime. ThePaintedSheep suggested Holden which would have been a 
great fit, but I’ve noticed a personal trend lately in my pattern picks. When I search I try to find patterns that are a little off the beaten path or just getting noticed. I also try to knit a different color and yarn than the original sample. A tiny part of me feels like I’m helping the designer by getting another finished project count and photos out there in Ravelry. Holden will have to wait for another time.
After a few hours searching on Ravelry I found Tornved by Karina Westermann. It was the weeks just before Valentine’s day and the little hearts in the pattern were just the right fit. I was totally in the zone knitting this one. I didn’t even use a single life line or have to rip back anything. Great Pattern. I even got over my finish-itis and blocking-itis and was all set to spend an evening listening to a book and pinning it out when.. déjà vu. Dark blue water. Strikingly bold like the dark magenta water from the zauberbal just a few weeks earlier. OK no problem, the zauberbal took 4 rinses and I made that work…. ha ha ha ha ha. After 6 rinses I cried out for help. NutmegOwl came to the rescue and sent lots of great information about different types of soaks and steam baths and I spent several hours one night boiling, steaming, soaking and rinsing. I’ve even been keeping it in the shower and soak/squeezing while I take my hot shower to wake up in the morning. The water is still dark blue.
So I’m pretty bummed. I set it aside for now.
It was meant to be a gift, but I’m so afraid that it will crock (rub off on a nice shirt) that I can’t send it.
Here’s a picture but it doesn’t do it justice.
The blogs been quiet, but I haven’t 
I was holding off on posting until I could get pictures of a few recently finished pieces outside with snow for a backdrop. It’s crazy that we haven’t had snow on the ground for more than a few hours since…. October!
I know as soon as I post pictures without snow we’ll get some, but that’s OK. Santa brought the girls snow tubes that we haven’t been able to use either. My New Year’s resolution for this year is to get them outside more – no matter how cold or wet.
I finished and blocked the Gaia shrug. I really enjoyed knitting that pattern and watching the color changes with the Taiyo. I did the picot bind off, but not sure if I did it correctly. I’m neutral on it. If I knit another Gaia I’ll probably skip it. This one really needs an action picture against snow and evergreens so you’ll have to wait.
Next on this list was some poking around at crochet patterns. The vortex pillows caught my eye for it’s unusual construction so I did a little swatch. I’m definitely going to do these sometime this year, but not right now. I realized that with crochet I have to look at each stitch, unlike knitting where I can just feel the stitch most of the time. I was glued to the television watching the first season of Dowton Abbey so the crochet got put aside.
After that I did some swatching on another pattern using the Elann Quecha yarn. This time I tried the Brise-Soleil cardigan. I like the look of the lace, but it’s patterned on both the right and wrong side – something I’m just not in the mood to do. I had started watching the series Caprica and needed something less fussy…. the LazyKaty
This was another fun piece to knit, and super fast. I think it’s the anticipation of color changes that makes it go faster. The Zauberball yarn is fun. The directions for the bind off are unusual, but there’s a really good video (or Google Lazy Katy video)… I had to watch the video a few times to get it, but it’s easy once you figure out where the peaks an valleys are supposed to fall. Blocking this piece was an adventure. The inside curve happens naturally as you start to pin it out, but the individual lace peaks took a lot of pinning and repinning. I’m surprised that this didn’t use the whole ball. I haven’t weighed it, but it might only be 60% of the ball. I need to find a coordinating shwl pin for it at the next CT or Mass SheepNWool festivals.
2011
The year started out with a bang of knitting but then ended with a whimper. I just lost the mojo towards the end of the year. Part of it was a busy work schedule, a lot of experimenting with crochet, and not feeling up to the tasks of blocking and seaming.
It was definitely another year of blue and purple. In all I knit/croched a little over 8000 yards. At that rate I have 7 years worth of yarn left in my stash
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Sweaters:
George Street Pullover
Summer’s End
Cafe Cardigan - needs finishing
Luna Peacock Plumes Bolero - needs finishing
Scarves and Shrugs:
Diagonal Lace Scarf
Juno Regina Scarf – half finished
Gaia
Misc:
Coronet - Hat
Filet Crochet Clovers
Frostbeat Headband
Snowflake Afghan
Warming Stripes Throw – Frogged
2 Helmet Liners for a local charity projectikoniхудожник на икониИкони на светци
My husband started a fire in the wood stove last weekend and suddenly I had an urge. It was time to put down the lace knitting of summer and start on something warmer.
Welcome Gaia. My friends Cygknit and nittinmama3 have lovely versions of these. I’m using the Noro Taiyo – color way S1. It has been fun waiting to see what color comes up next.
I did rip back twice and I’m glad I did for both times. Once was early on where there was a long section of plain black. I ripped back and cut the yarn to take out more than half of that color section. A second time I missed the color change to start the transition row. The resulting stockinet section looked too wide. I ripped back to put in the transition rows where they should have gone and it has a more consistent look that I like better.
This pattern – A modified Juno Regina in Knit Picks Alpaca Cloud – Tango Heather [disc color] will go on hiatus until after the snows melt next year. It’s a lovely pattern and yarn, but my deadline isn’t until August next year so I’ll be okay.
I have a long list of warm and cozy items in my queue. Thanks to the Ravelry shopping list I also have the yarns to match! I had taken the list with me to Rhinebeck and I’m happy to report that I only bought yarn for projects that are on my list. Long gone are the days when I would buy yarn and say to myself that I’d eventually find a pattern to match. I’ve also sold several items from my stash this month through the listings on Ravelry. I’m getting better at estimating the postage. I took a huge hit on the shipping for some of the first sales.
I hope to post a lot more in the coming months. At Rhinebeck this October Gothknits and I were discussing how so many of us write blog posts in our heads but just never seem to get them typed out.