Autumn, the New Year for knitters.

well Fall has been here for a bit but this chilly day has really made me take notice of the season change. and it it friggin' October!

i have planned myself a bigger task list this month than i ever have. (mainly knitting, but some other projects too.) Mostly because i have not really been a planner. not in this way. i see things and i am all "oooh i wanna make that" and each mental picture goes in to pile and i pick them out randomly. so this planing ahead for stuff is way weird. and yet, fun. i don't want to get discouraged by acknowledging that i haven't been this productive in such a small amount of time before. ever. and chances are this list will be the same come November. no way. i just wanna be a glass-half-full kinda gal for a minute okay?

my first foray into a KAL was, well, i won't call it "unsuccessful". i didn't finish the project at all let alone on time. but it's still on the needles and once i gain the skill badge i was missing for it to be a complete success, i will revisit it. That said, i am trying new things! throwing caution to the lions, i joined not just a KAL, but a mystery one. not just a mystery KAL, but a lace one. i know. i am nuts! BUT don't give up on me yet. i have actually wound the yarn (1700+ yards. yes, a daunting task) AND i knit the swatch. all on the official day one of the KAL. so not bad right?

(click to embiggen)

yea, i messed up towards the end. skipped a row i think . i wasn't paying close enough attention. first time trying lace with patterning on both sides. i should be more scared, but well, i'm not.

mystic embers kal 2009
Sept 30 -Oct 31

yarn, wm lace in spice market, 4mm addi lace needles. the swatch is not properly blocked.
ravelry Project page

i did complete a Swallowtail shawl [interweave knits, fall 06]. it is a small shawl as far a shawls go. as many before me have stated. it went alot smoother than Ishbel. surprisingly. i was a little scared of it but had to dive in after seeing so many beautiful ones on shoulders at Sock Summit. (i know, i owe you some posts on my adventures there. procrastinated but not forgotten!) particularly Glenna's sea silk version. Her Ravelry project page. a real glistening beauty tat shawl. and even after touching it i didn't buy any seasilk in the SS09 market. Go restraint!
Here's mine

not the best pic ever.

yarn wm twin in maus jung 4mm addi lace needles
ravelry project page

you may or may not know the drama i have been experiencing with socks. one successful pair, three successful lonely abandoned singles, five ill-fitting single toe-up socks,and two frogged attempts at cuff down. int hat order. pretty much.

well...

i said i wasn't giving up!
i am up to the heel flap on the second one and trudging along steadily.
i want these to be finished! my feet are cold!

pattern is summer sox socks by Cookie A. cuff down with a hell flap *gasp* i know. not my preferred method. but i am open minded and tried it and it fits so there.
wm twin in wasabi 2.25 mm harmony dpns (woulda been better in 2.75 mm but still fits!
ravelry project page

Than there is the Gothsocks groupies KAL. i have mental plans for this.
also, been thinking about Multnomah since it first came out. that's a simple one i just can't decide on a yarn. i had single skeins of Bugga! but wanted it bigger since i already have two shawlettes- and like i said- i'm cold! i keep wanting squishy warm knits! i nabbed two skeins of Skinny Bugga! for this. but i have been wavering back and forth between the two ideas. if i knit it in the SB, i can make it bigger but. that means i will have to knit it bigger! kwim?

and then Damson caught my eye. i dunno how many shawlettes one girl needs, but so far the two i have made have been successful-at least in the end- and interesting to knit. they don't have to fit the way godforsaken socks do! it's really pretty. i dunno how much opportunity i will get to wear it. the girly prettiness of it limits it's versatility for me. but whatevs.

and i have to stop ignoring my February Lady. it would be nice to have it done for Rhinebeck. what!? it's possible! i just have to count my stitches and start the Gull Lace. it's totally doable. if i would just power through and stop dilly dally-ing. and maybe not knit anything else until it's finished... yea right.

hmm i think that's it. well, besides the fact that i have discovered hoop dancing and am madly in love. i guess i like being a beginner becase i keep trying new things. of course that means i now have to make my own own hoop. add that to the craft repertoire. i am starting to take my photography more seriously. not really for my craft photos (as is plain to see) but for other things.

i have slowed down on stashing. specifically Wollmeise. yes, because i have run out of room. (pictures soon!) but also, because the ratio of knitting to acquisition was unbalanced in a way that finally pushed me to do so. at first it was difficult, but i have been enjoying the extra sleep quite nicely. having opened my palette to other dyers at the summit i am shifting my attention in differnt directions. and having fun wiht other weights colors and textures. oh. and i'm broked. tee hee.

i'll try to visit more often!

eta: oh! and how could i forget! the dexterous Laris is hosting a KAL on Wollmeiseholics Anonymous for -what else but- gloves! sign ups are until OCT 4 and then i guess she'll email the pattern shortly after that. i am eager to get started on those. hmmm but in which colorway...

yarn winding, an adventure, in pictures!

done!!!!!

DONE! bound off the ish. need a moment to breathe...

7/28 some pics...

the color is offon this one but i like the shape

blocking

oh, this? it's nothing, you should see the other guy.

me and the Ish, we go back and forth. it's a love/hate relationship. i give as good as i get though!

as you can see here the Ishbel is picking a fight! chellenging me by leaping, no hurling several stitches off the needles in defiance!

HAHAA!! i win! Don't try that again Ishy!

kick ish in the shins

persistence! the ish got tired and i persevered! chart A of the lacey part is successfully complete! a small victory? perhaps. but it's mine and you can't take it away! now i have to rest up and rehydrate in preparation for... you guessed it...chart b...

Ishbel is trying to kill me

some people cast on for Ishbel (rav link) and have no troubles. they fly through it and make 3 more the first one was so "quick and easy". i cannot get past the first lace chart! and i am not the only one. i am not alone in my misery.

i have knit and tinked the first 8 rows, only four of them lace, no less than 9 times. seriously. i don't want to give up. but i may not win this one. i am knitting with the wollmeise in Petit Poison. and if i could finish this it would be one heck of an FO. it would get much use. but that length of thread that i have frogged and reknit and frogged again is beginning to look tired. and i am too. so tired. i am a process knitter and therefore don't complete as much as i start. but this process!... i am scared of this thing, really. ( pssst...i think it's trying to kill me!)

the asymmetry of it all!

adventures in tatting

i bought me a tatting shuttle yesterday. the tatting demon was first encountered  june 17th 2007 during a long awaited trip to MAD for the Radical Lace & Subversive Knitting exhibition. Doodling, (Hildur Bjarnadottir, 2005) had me, well, stupefied really. i stared trancelike at the swirling lines of thread until Robert shook me back from the transcendental world. "i must learn this art!" a voice in my head- impersonating my very own self resounded. the demon lay dormant until just recently. it's emergence coinciding with the newly available online resources related to said demon.