wip's

Here are my current WIP's. None of them are very much fun. I have been wanting to start the airy wraparound from Fitted Knits for a while, but I'm not happy with this yarn. It's too fuzzy for my liking; I don't know if I'll continue or not. The lace scarf is "branching out" from Knitty and I had planned on making it with a heavier-weight yarn; somehow I ended up coming home from the yarn store with this (Classic Elite Silky Alpaca Lace in Forget Me Not). It's a very slow knit; I may drop this one too when I'm back home and have more yarn at my disposal. Finally, there's the 2nd sock for Will, which I'm hoping to crank out in a day or so.

one sock down

This is the first of a pair of socks that was supposed to be a Christmas gift for my brother-in-law. (It's being modeled by me, so it looks big.) I planned to give him and my sister the newleywed socks from Handknit Holidays....I think I finished Michele's pair in February but Will's have been languishing on the needles for the past six months. Anyway, I picked it up again a couple days ago and now the first one is done. Second sock syndrome is setting in, but I am fighting it because if I finish it while I'm visiting my family in Massachusetts, that will be one less thing to lug home with me and bring back in December. And it would be nice if last year's Christmas gifts were finished before the end of the summer so I can go ahead and get started on this year's!

finally, off the loom

The sampler that I started in my first weaving class last march is done. It was so boring, and I knew that it would have no purpose in life, so it was very hard to motivate to work on it. But after all that work involved in warping, I wasn't going to quit until I had finished the whole thing. So, it's done: a long, rather sloppy piece of fabric woven in plain weave, mostly. And I've started my next project: a set of coasters. One is done already!

In other news, my shawl is coming along: I may do one more repeat of the lace and then start the edging.

i might be smiling in this picture...

...but I am not happy with how the lotus blossom tank turned out. I added about 5 inches of length to the tank and some additional waist shaping not in the original pattern, and it still turned out boxy as hell. Ugh. Oh well. Here are the stats on this finished object:
Pattern: lotus blossom tank from Best of Interweave Knits
Yarn: Patons Grace in spa blue, 6.5 balls
Needles: US 4 and 5 circulars
Began: May 10, 2008
Finished: July 16, 2008

fo: lillian tank

Pattern: Lillian Tank from Delicious Stitches (http://deliciousstitches.blogspot.com/)
Yarn: Knitpicks Comfy in Honeydew, 5.5 skeins
Needles: US 6
Began: June 8, 2008
Finished: July 11, 2008
I made the medium size and it came out just right, I think. I had to redo the ribbing around the neckline as I picked up too many stitches (I was picking up 3 stitches, then skipping a row on the vertical parts) and it was gaping. I had to use dpns for the armhole edging, and that was annoying as there were really too many stitches to keep on the needles, but otherwise, this gave me no problems. This was a very fun and easy knit...it should not have taken me nearly as long as it did, but I haven't been able to stick to one project lately. There are several more cute, free projects on this girl's blog; I recommend checking her out!

new mexico

Got back tonight from a road trip to Taos and Santa Fe. A gorgeous area....I'm so glad I finally got around to exploring this part of the Southwest a little bit. The week was filled with drooling over art (pottery, woven fabrics, painting, metalwork, drums, etc...) going to the opera (there was a bit of drooling involved in that, too, particularly in regard to the baritone who sang Billy Budd) and gorging on Mexican food. I'm glad to be home, though. Here are a few more photos from the trip:

aspen

I spent this weekend in Aspen visiting friends at the music festival there. What a glorious setting for such an event. We saw a fabulous concert on Sunday afternoon; Julia Fischer played the heck out of the Dvorak violin concerto and the orchestra also played Ravel's Daphnis and Chloe--a phenomenal piece. My friends, who are the members of the Tazman quartet, also performed a Haydn quartet that they're working on for me, which was a treat!

I did get some knitting done, too....my Lillian tank is now all in one piece. Pictures of that soon. I'm off to Santa Fe tomorrow!

getting close

I've finished the armhole shaping and I don't have too far to go before the Lillian tank is finished. I tried it on this morning and it's looking like it's going to fit. So maybe I'll be able to actually wear something hand-knit this summer!

I'm also still plugging along on my lotus blossom tank. Pictures of that coming soon, though it's going to be several more weeks til it's finished.

knit-along

My friend Jenny and I are doing a knit-along, just the two of us. We're doing the Shetland Triangle Shawl from wrap style. (We were inspired by the beautiful pictures of this shawl on Green Apples....I absolutely drool over just about everything she makes!) I'm using Panda Silk from Crystal Palace Yarns--it is the most gorgeous bamboo/wool/silk yarn.

It was very hard to take pictures due to my annoyingly curly needles, but here's a close-up.