WhiteStar

Jumping on the Band Wagon

Like a lemming I joined the Follow the Leader Aran Knit-along. I tried very hard to resist but at the last minute* on New Year's Eve I headed out to to one of my local yarn stores and snapped up 7 balls of a gorgeous blue yarn.

It's Butterfly Blue Brown Sheep Nature's Spun Worsted and the picture above is my gauge swatch and my cable swatch, made as directed in the first two "installments" of the project. I was lucky, I got perfect gauge the very first time I tried. Considering how some people are really suffering (at least thats how it sounds) I feel quite fortunate.

I've knit cables before, but I've always wanted to do a "real aran" not just a "sweater with cables" and this seemed like a good opportunity. So far I'm thinking the project is going to move rather slowly, so there will be plenty of time for other knitting as well.

And in Other Lemming Activity

The first time I ever saw the infamous Apricot Jacket from Rebecca #27 on someone's blog I fell in love. For the past year and half I have looked in every yarn store I've been in, across multiple states, and have not been able to locate the pattern. I didn't think I wanted to spend the money to mail order it.. what if that was the only pattern in the whole thing that I liked??

Then a couple weeks ago I decided it didn't matter, that one pattern was worth the $20.

It so is. Look at that lovely detail.

I was a little worried before I actually had the pattern in hand. I'd found the knit-along on crafster and so many people complained about how poorly written (or translated) the pattern is. I found it to be VERY straightforward and surprisingly simple. The knitting on this is cruising along at the speed of light....

I started on it last Thursday and have only spent part of one day and two evenings and I'm well over half way done already.

I just hope I like wearing YELLOW. I am not a YELLOW kind of person*. But I had the yarn and it got the right gauge....

Finishing off 2005

The last two completed projects of 2005...

Chevron scarf made in Prism's Wild Stuff. I can't get a decent picture to save my life. Trust me it's gorgeous and I now understand why people spend the money on this frou-frou yarn.

Socks in Interlacement Toasty Toes.

Speaking of Interlacement Toasty Toes...

I've used both Toasty Toes and Little Toes for multiple pairs of socks. And I really like they way they knit up and they way they feel when worn. But there is one problem with them....

What's this? A glass of Chardonnay? Rose' perhaps?

No, it's the rinse water after washing a pair of my Interlacements socks in Eucalan. Not the 1st time they were washed. Not the second or even the 5th. About the 25th time. I've tried vinegar, I've tried Synthrapol and NOTHING will get the dye to stay in the yarn.

After turning two loads of laundry PINK, I now hand wash ALL my Interlacements socks, every time. What good is having superwash wool socks if you still have to wash them by hand?!?!?

*What's this "last minute" stuff? And why am I (the queen of purple, pink and blue) knitting something YELLOW? I've gone on a yarn diet. A SERIOUS yarn diet. Maybe one of these days I'll take pictures of my stash. I tell people about it and they don't believe me. Trust me when I say I have more yarn in my stash then at least two of the local yarn stores here in town have on their shelves. So when I bought my yarn for the FLAK it was truly a last minute thing, if I hadn't purchased it by the 1st (my self imposed diet start date) I'd have been out of luck....because.... OF COURSE.... I had nothing in my stash I could have used!

Anne at 12:49 PM