Very Late Cast On and Early Cast Off

Hello, and happy Easter all!  I hope everyone got something awesome from the 'Easter Bunny', be it yarn, or chocolate (I got both, so I'm quite content!)

Anyway,  I finally bothered to cast on for my Lace Band Bracelet.  It`s an entry into yet another of The Yarn Attic`s KALs.  But with a deadline of April 30th, I may have left this a little tighter then I would like.

That being said, I`m amazed at how far a skein of Malabrigo Sock goes!  I got my Evening Star Cowl, my Stella By Starlight Headband, and now the Lace Band Bracelet, out of it, with still more yarn left in the ball.   It`s actually really impressive.

What's even more impressive is how my Ethereal Shawl turned out.  With a cast off of 500 + stitches, it was rather daunting.

This is it before blocking:

And this is it after blocking (and later in the day). 

It didn't even really fit spread out on the couch after I'd blocked it.   I'm glad it's a symsetrical pattern, since I had to fold it in half to get it to fit on my blocking mats!  Note to self, I need more of the mats!

But I got it done with over two weeks to spare before the deadline.  I'm quite proud of myself for that!

My first KAL

So, I've decided to join in my first-ever knit-along.  It's a pretty open idea, with the challenge of knitting a cowl, there's no specific pattern.  Start date is September 22nd, end date of October 6th.

However, I'm not usually much of a cowl person.  If I want something around my neck, I'd rather have a scarf.  That being said, I love hoods.   Now, if it gets cold enough, yes, I want a proper hat, but hoods are great when the weather is cool-but-not-cold, or to wear under/over a hat when it gets really cold.

When I saw the Evening Star cowl, I fell in love.   I'm a Lord of the Rings fan, and so the entire e-book appealed to me.  Pretty much everything in that e-book has gone into my Ravelry queue, which is actually kind of exciting.

That, and it was a wonderful marriage of yarn and pattern -- remember that Malabrigo Sock in Solis that I won a while ago?   Well, it just seemed to completely suit the pattern.


Unfortunately, I don't have a free set of 4mm circulars, except a short 9 inch Aero circular.  I've tried swatching on that (we're allowed to swatch, we just have to start from scratch on the 22nd), and it works.  Sort of.

While, yes, I can jam 144 stitches onto the 9 inch circ, it's not pleasant to do so, and yes, it is the right size, but the Aero tips (these are quite old Aeros, they were originally my mother's knitting needles) are very round and I find I'm more pushing the yarn around then knitting properly. 

Unfortunately, apparently it's hard to find 4mm needles!  My LYS apologized profusely, but they didn't have any 4mm circulars (in any length). (It's not their fault, they're waiting on some orders).  And I won't get the opportunity to  go to another LYS until at least this Tuesday, after the start date, and there's no guarantee they'll have the needles I want.  Considering I'm not a fast knitter, I don't want to wait until Tuesday (possibly later) to properly cast on. I'm going to need every second of my knitting time to attempt to make this deadline.

So, I'm going to start on the Aero needles, and I've gone and ordered a 24 inch 4mm Hiya Hiya circular from EatSleepKnit with my newest order of yarn.  If it arrives in time, I will switch to it, if not, I have it for another project.

Back from Lettuce Knit

So, I'm back from my day around downtown, and my trip to Lettuce Knit.


It was actually pretty cool.  Smaller then I expected, but hey, that's ok.  I don't know how often I'll be there, as it's a bit off the beaten path for me, (but if I do get that job, they're super-close by!)

So I hung out there and knit on my Mercury Socks, (which are new to this blog, I started them ages ago as part of a previous test-knit).

That's the first sock, I'm almost done the second.

I also found a bunch of new yarn.  I always like picking up a skein or two of yarn when I'm in a new-to-me yarn store, so. . . .

This is Northbound Knitting's Merino Superwash DK in "Conjure".  This just looked awesome to me.  I wish there had been a second skein of it, but no, no luck.

Then, one skein of Blue Moon BFL Fingering in "Neptune".  I'm hoping this will hold up well enough to make socks, I generally hear good things about the durability of the BFL fiber. 

And though I didn't originally intend to get these, I got three Blue Moon Silk Hankies on sale (they had an overstock).  One is "Sky Blue", the other two are "Sky Blue Pink."

Finally, after all that, I came home to a parcel in the mail from EatSleepKnit.  My skein of Malabrigo Sock, (from my winning yarn lotto ticket), arrived!

So, this is Malabrigo Sock, in "Solis".

Procrastination and Project Ideas

So, you know how I said I would drop off my Yarn Lotto ticket from EatSleepKnit on the Monday?

Yeah. . . I only did that today, and only because the Post Office is on the way to Knit Night.

I could give all sorts of excuses, but the honest truth is that I procrastinated on it.

However, I think I've at least figured out why it didn't rate as important in my immediate perception (because seriously, free yarn?  Why was this not more exciting!).

I think it's mostly because I don't have a project idea for anything using Malabrigo Sock (even though the colours look -gorgeous!)  Nothing's inspired me yet.  I am, however, very glad it's superwash.  But reading through the reviews of the yarn on Ravelry, although the description gives enough yardage for a pair of socks, I'm not sure how well it will hold up in socks without nylon or silk. 

I'm probably going to make a. . . something else.

And that's where I pull a complete blank.

I love the colourway I chose, Solis:

I really do, even if it is my usual colour palette.  But I just don't know what to -do- with it.  If' I'm not going to make socks, I don't know quite what else it will suit. I'm not a huge scarf person, and I already have (or have plans for) several hats and mittens, so I don't need more of those.  I would do a shawl, but it's 440 yards to a skein, so there's not enough for a big comfy wrap-around shawl (which is my personal preference.)

So, right now, I'm stumped.   The only thing I have a vague idea to do with it is a pair of Little Arrow Fingerless Mittens, but then I feel bad because I had those queued up to use up some stash yarn.

It's all alright in the end,  the yarn won't be arriving for a while anyway.  It's going to take a bit for my mail to get down there in the first place, and then they ask for 4 weeks to process your order. . . and right now, Solis is out of stock there anyway.  So it's not like this yarn will be arriving quickly (and I'm totally ok with that.  It's free, it can take as long as it needs!).  I have lots to work on in the interim, so it's not like I need it at all.

So yeah.

On the plus side, I got to the heel of my Birthday Socks at Knit Night tonight!    I don't have pictures yet since it's getting too dark, but they should be coming soon.

Fun news!

I figure I should also include the happy news in my early posts, too . . .

I put in a yarn order at Eat.Sleep.Knit, which arrived on the Friday. (I love these folks for stuff my LYS doesn't stock, and shipping has been nice and fast so far!)

Anyway, one of the things that they do is include a scratch-and-win card in every order.  So, I won a skein of Malabrigo!  They even are nice enough to let you pick the base and colour, so I'm going to get a skein of Malabrigo Sock -- I wanted something where 1 skein was enough for a project. 

Even better -- I've yet to use Malabrigo.  I've got 2 skeins of Silkpaca that I got at the Toronto Knitters Frolic stashed away, but I haven't had a chance to try any of their other yarn, so this is perfect!

I've got to mail back the filled-out card, which I'll do on Monday when the post office opens.  So it's going to be a while before I get my yarn, but that's ok -- I don't mind in the slightest.  I can be patient when it comes to free yarn. :)