Progress Report

Just a few pictures to share!
The other night I cast on for an Irish Hiking Scarf in the pretty Indigo that I received from EarthChick. In true Malabrigo form, the skeins had significant color differences. My friend Kevin, who is not a knitter, but, hangs out with me a lot looked at the skeins and said, "They're different colors." And then he looked at the tag and added, "But they're from the same dye lot."
Funny how friends and family pick up on the lingo even when they have absolutely no desire to knit (I've tried to teach him twice!).
I'm working from both skeins at one time, alternating every two rows. It's creating subtle striping, but, I think overall it looks pretty cool.



I also decided that I would knit this whole scarf Continental. I'm mainly an English knitter and started to develop my Continental style while knitting the Exchequered scarf, but, I figured I could fine tune it.
It's sort of frustrating. I really have to focus and force myself to not switch to English, but, I'm doing it. =)

Shifting Sands has been moving along quite nicely as well.



It's strange but the scarf/pattern looks 100% better in photos. I'm almost finished with my first skein... It doesn't feel like it's a good length for half a scarf. o_O I'm hoping that I had used a bit of this first skein for something else and that my 2nd skein will have more yarn. I can't really think of what else I would have used it for... but... umm, let's hope for the best. ^_^



You can see the gaping hole that used to hold the yarn. It's magic! The yarn just turns into this really weird scarf. =)
There's also a jar of honey in the background from my Knitter's Tea Swap partner Suzie. It's delicious and wanted to be in the photoshoot 'cause he matched the colors of the scarf.

I've extended the Malabrigo Cast On Week cut off for Sunday afternoon/evening. So, hopefully people upload a few more projects. I actually have one more project I want to add, but, we'll see if I get around to it.
Now that I have like... 10 WIPs it's time to go into knitting hibernation and try to finish at least one.

Knit hard!


ETA: I totally just tripped myself out. hahahaha. For a fun time look at the middle picture and scroll up and down and up and down. It looks like it's moving or zooming in and out. TRIPPY! o_O

Malabrigo Cast On Week

I have a few projects to share with you. They are all Malabrigo Worsted and they all were Cast On this week for Malabrigo Cast On Week. =) I plan to start maybe 2 or 3 more projects. x_X

The first is a 2nd Scrunchable Scarf in Whale's Road:

I started this on Sunday evening. I know for sure that the Scrunchable Scarf is a great pattern because I've knitted it before... but, I dunno about how well it's working with this yarn. I loved the color in hank form, and it was equally stunning wound up in a cake... but... now I don't know... I think I'll keep working it to see how it turns out.

I think the first image shows truer colors.
I slipped on the stitch markers I received from EarthChick for picture purposes. This scarf really doesn't need any stitch markers and requires very little memorization.

My next project I started last night. It's Shifting Sands in Amber Gold.

I'm currently loving it. Ever since I saw brooklyntweed's version I've been considering knitting it up. The amount of cables were always daunting though... and I had previously tried the cables-without-a-cable-needle technique but it would not work out for me.
The Amber Gold had been ... reincarnating itself every so often because I love the color... sadly, nothing ever really fit the bill... I figured the color was similar to sand (and similar to brooklyntweed's) so I should go for it during this Malabrigo Cast On Week.

This time I was able to learn with assistance from Grumperina's instructions as well as the videos at knittinghelp.com. It made all the difference and now this scarf is a breeze. I've already memorized the pattern and I'm really enjoying knitting it.
It looks like it would make an awesome place mat.

I messed up on the first two repeats. The 2nd row of cables I was actually knitting two in front when I should only have been knitting one. It's okay though... it's a design feature. ^_^

My third project I started just about an hour ago. It's the Diagonal Knot Stitch Scarf from SavingNine in Azul Bolita.

This blue is SO radioactive. It like... glows. The scarf is a bit thin for my tastes so I think this will end up as a gift. I actually already have the perfect recipient in mind. ^_^
The pattern is pretty simple, although the purl three is quite difficult for me. It might be because I'm using super blunt wood needles. I think I'll have to switch to sharper aluminum because it's quite the struggle. Overall, though, I'm pretty happy with how it's turning out.

Those are my projects so far. I feel an Irish Hiking Scarf in the works as well as a pair of mittens... I NEED Malabrigo Cast On Week to be a success. We're only ~40 projects away from being the 8th most popular yarn on Ravelry!

Knit hard!

recap!

It's been over a week since my last post. Not too many FO's. I finished one Dashing in Malabrigo. It's part of a set I'm knitting for my cousin.



^{dashing in velvet grapes}

I LOVE Malabrigo. A friend of mine had a birthday party over the weekend. She really liked the pair of Dashing I had so instead of yet another pair I decided to try Fetching. I went to Wool & Co. to get some Debbie Bliss Cashmerino, but, they didn't have any. They did, however, have an ample supply of Malabrigo, so, I bought some in Pink Frost and Verde Adriana. I ended up knitting Fetching in the Pink Frost colorway with a few changes--the main one being I made the gloves significantly longer. Sadly, I was weaving in the ends as we were driving to her house so no pictures. =(

It was really sunny yesterday so I decided to take pictures of yarn I've recently acquired.



I bought this from the JoAnn store near my house during their huge closing sale. It was 50% off. It's Sensations: Bellezza Collection. It's so soft and luscious. I thought it'd make a decent pair of Fetching, but, I'm not sure about the gauge. I only have two balls so I'm a bit limited in what I can create, but, it's wonderful yarn. Wool, nylon, and cotton.



This is Bearfoot sock yarn. I lost the label for it so I went online to look up its information. Turns out you need US 1 or 2 needles. o_O I have no idea what "inspired" me to pick up this yarn, but, I'm very afraid. Four is seriously the smallest size I've used and the smallest size I own. Hmmm. I'll definitely try it, though. I wouldn't want it to go to waste. ^_^



And finally, my Malabrigo. This is my current Malabrigo stash in its entirety. The Verde Adriana is all the way on the left, you can see the leftover Pink Frost in a sad little heap on the right. Slightly above the Pink Frost is Saphire Magenta Gold. SO beautiful. The moment I saw it I had to buy it. I love the really contrast-y variegated colorways. I believe the rest have been featured on my blog at one point or another. =) It's good stuff, that Malabrigo.

There are a few more pictures on my flickr. You can see close ups of Verde Adriana and the Saphire Magenta Gold among other things.

I actually have nothing on my needles right now, but, on my to do list is the other Dashing, and the other sock (it's been so long, I forgot what size needles I used x_X).

Knit hard!

smoooth

i wish i could knit faster. i have so much yarn and so many patterns i want to try out, but, i knit too slow. the scrunchable scarf has been a WIP for more than a week now.
i think i need to dedicated time solely to knitting. for some reason i can't just sit and knit... i have to be watching TV or a movie, or maybe reading, or at the very least drinking coffee. hmm. we'll sort this out so i can move on to more projects.


^{scrunchable! almost done.}


my current largest project is My So Called Scarf. i originally bought two skeins of Manos Del Uruguay colorway 118: mulled wine. it was my first encounter with manos at a yarn store and they didn't have a large selection.
when i got home i realized that the two skeins were distinctly different. same colorway but, one was more saturated and the other was lighter and less saturated. so, i figured i'd need to knit from both and alternate skeins every other row.
i ended up pulling the "swapping side" too tight and my scarf started curving and puckering. so, i quit. it wasn't really a color that i would wear... and My So Called Scarf is REALLY hard to frog for some reason. i decided i would get 2 new balls of manos in another colorway.


^{manos, oh, manos}

i visited a new yarn store recently and found a HUGE selection of the varigated manos. i took my time and found 3 colorways i really liked. and then i spent another good 10 minutes comparing skeins to see which colorway had 2 almost identical skeins. i ended up with #110: stellar.
since they were so similar i figured i could knit from one and then attach the second at the end. it's been going pretty good so far, but, just to be safe, i've decided to start knitting from both (the first ball is about half way done).


^stellar!

i've had major difficulties with MSCS. i've probably frogged stellar 4 times already. the edges always turn out wonky for me, nothing smooth and straight. i tried altering the pattern for a selvage edge. basically i added one stitch to each side so i could always slip the first stitch and knit the last. that actually stood out a lot from the pattern so i frogged that. i wanted something that wouldn't be too noticable.

what i FINALLY ended with was slipping the first and last stitch of the knit row. it's working out really well.

i bought stitchionary volume one the other day. i love it. i've been testing out different patterns on my amber gold malabrigo. it's definitly going to be a scarf, but, i havn't really settled on a pattern just yet. i'll keep testing though!
here's the malabrigo in its current condition: a slip stitch pattern (strangely the slip stitch pattern wasn't from stitchionary).


^{i love gold}

so, that's what things are looking like for me right now. i think i'll be able to finish the scrunchable scarf by tonight and i've casted on for another odessa but i promised myself i wouldn't work on it until i finished a project.

mmmMalabrigo

i am now officially obsessed with Malabrigo. it comes in such beautiful colors and it's so unbelievably soft. mmmm.

last week i went on a spontaneous trip out to evanston to check out their yarn stores. i brought kevin along with me. after a strange mix-up we got to closeknit and took a look around. i didn't really see anything that was really grabbing me. i wanted something REALLY thick in blues and browns. i had seen a scarf on grey's anatomy that i loved and wanted to make.

sadly, i couldn't find yarn that i wanted so i settled on this blue varigated wool. at this point kevin had become impatient and really wanted to leave. so, i had the hank wound into a nice ball and went to leave.
as i turned around to shut the door behind me i noticed a few skeins of yarn sitting on a table. my eyes moved to the tag and i read malabrigo. i made a grabbing motion towards it but at the next moment kevin pulled me out of the door.

the rest of our time in evanston was spent walking around, eating, and exploring. the whole time i couldn't get malabrigo out of my head. i've read SO much about it and i really wanted to get a feel. so, i finally asked kevin if i could go back. he agreed to wait in the car while i bought my yarn.

there wasn't a lot to choose from. only a few single skeins of random colors. i noticed glazed carrot, sunset, lettuce, and indigo. i went for the glazed carrot. when i got to the front i noticed they had a few more skeins at the counter. i asked if they were for sale and lady said yes and that they had just recieved a new shipment. she went to the back and brought out bags and bags of new malabrigo for me to look at. it was bliss. i ended up buying charrua and vaa.


<sup>charrua: browns and blues



vaa: blues</sup>

i LOVE them. the yarn store woman also gave me a copy of a pattern for a moss rib stitch scarf. i decided to give it a try. the pattern calls for 2 skeins of malabrigo but i only purchased one in each color. so, instead of CO 32 stitches i did 24. i ended up with a good 63 inches.


^{malabrigo charrua scarf in moss rib!}

i've been watchin the knitting help forums often and they had been recommending the scrunchable scarf pattern to use with malabrigo so i figured i should try it out. a few days later i returned to closeknits in evanston to buy 3 more skeins in tortuga, velvet grapes, and lettuce.

i decided to take another trip to some new yarn stores. i really like to drive out and find shops that carry a decent selection and have great customer service. i've been looking for some manos del uruguay yarn in any of their varigated patterns and i managed to find some. i also found a shop with MORE malabrigo at a cheaper price than i had originally bought it at. so i ended up getting 2 skeins of amber gold. beautiful!

for the scrunchable scarf i ended up using velvet grapes.


^{scrunchable scarf in velvet grapes}

i'm not too fond of the pattern. i definitly like the moss rib stitch more, but this is still pretty decent. i like how it causes the columns of stockinette to tilt a little on their side. but, what i like about the moss rib is that each column of stockinette has a decent amount of space in between, it's even on both sides, and it creates deep channels. here's a close-up.


^{reminds me of pebbles or cobblestone}

well, that's my deal with mmmMalabrigo. if you havn't knit with it yet you should definitely try it.


^{mmmmmmmalabrigo!}