If only yarn grew on trees

Kevin came over today and helped me out with a yarny photo shoot. He acted as the Art Director. We ended up shooting outside and came up with this 'yarn-grows-on-trees' deal. More on this later.

I finished my Hemlock Ring Blanket last night. The BO edging was pretty complicated at first and moved slowly. I ended up only adding one more pattern repeat than brooklyntweed's version. I might have been able to finish one more, but, I wasn't gonna push it. I ended up with a diameter of a good 54 inches. Blocking this project made me realize that 1) I need a pin cushion and 2) I need to work on my blocking skills 3) Regular measuring is a good thing.





I'll probably end up taking another set of pictures of the blanket because the grass really made the blanket all lumpy. It's really quite a work of art when the Hemlock Ring is at its flattest.
I tried throwing it on the couches throughout the house... sadly it didn't really go with any of the decor. It works well in the color scheme of my bedroom, so, there it will stay.





Blocked the Branching Out scarf the other day. Maybe I mentioned this? I brought it along so it could have its time in front of the lens. I think I may actually have to re-block this. I didn't stretch it out wide enough. The leaves that are connected to the center column are somewhat smooshed against it. I'd like them to separate more.





The texture of the scarf completely changed after I blocked it. It felt like thin, fragile paper. A really cool transformation. I hope the recipient enjoys the scarf as much as I enjoyed creating it.





I e-mailed briarrosefibers.net last week asking about their Buff Beauty yarn. I had used it previously and did not do the yarn justice so I wanted to get my hands on more. The yarn was never restocked on their website so I asked about it and luckily they had a handful of hanks they were about to sell at a fair. I managed to save two of them:










Delicious stuff. This batch doesn't seem as plump as the last hank I had, but, it's still super thick and in beautiful colors.
You may have noticed a few more balls of yarn hanging in the tree.





The turquoise is Cascade 220. It's a replacement for the darker blue I plan to use on my Exchequered scarf.
The grey yarn is Catalina Super Chunky. A soft alpaca (that hopefully doesn't shed) which will soon be transformed into a scarf for a friend.
Ahh, I love that I technically only have 1 real WIP now. Can't wait to start more.

Let's grow some yarn
and knit hard. =)

This butter is really yellow

I seem to be on some sort of blogging binge. I just can't stop updating! =) Hopefully this trend continues.

As promised, I have some pictures to share. First, here's my fairly large Malabrigo purchase from Loopy.





Like little bundles of love. On the subject of love, I LOVE the color. It's called Olive. Very fitting.
Oh, Malabrigo. I e-mailed them the other day. I started this group on Ravelry called Malabrigo Junkies. We were discussing our favorite colors (Charrua!) and someone mentioned Little Lovely. I have not had the pleasure of meeting Ms. Lovely but she seemed to be quite coveted. The possibility of her being retired came up--a member may have read it somewhere I think, so, to finalize the matter I e-mailed the people up in Malabrigo land and asked them about their color cycle and retirees. (I also oh-so-shamelessly promoted Malabrigo Junkies). I got a reply in two days from Tobias who said that they've only retired a few colors and that Little Lovely (as well as Charrua) were still on the color card. He also mentioned that he'd be happy to link our group to the malabrigoyarn.com website. Mmm.
Just for that we'll celebrate with another picture of this delicious yarn:





I'm really churning out those bookmarks. They're really quick and easy. They'll probably serve as backup Christmas gifts.
The pattern calls for a 1.25mm crochet hook, but, unfortunately the store I bought the Malabrigo lace from had a 2.5 as their smallest. I purchased it anyway. On my way home I stopped at a Hobby Lobby and picked up a 2.0mm and a 1.5mm. 1.25 Just seemed to small for Malabrigo's thick&thin-ness. It turned out that the 1.5 was too small, I couldn't even hook the yarn. The 2.0 worked but the resulting bookmark ended up tight and lost a lot of stitch definition after I ironed it. I tried the 2.5mm and it worked perfectly.





Yay, tassels.
Crochet is surprisingly easy (and fast!) once you get a good feel for how to angle the hook. My tension is still a bit all over the place, but, I think it's becoming steadier as I continue to pop out these bookmarks. I love that there's only one live stitch, it's easy to drop it and pick it back up again. In knitting, when my needle falls out, I stop breathing and move as slowly as possible as not to disturb the now live stitches who's seemingly only desire is to drop. And then painstakingly re-inserting my needle, making sure each stitch is facing the correct direction. Tedious!
While, I AM growing a certain fondness towards the hook, I will always prefer the knitted fabric to the crocheted.





My sweater finally dried. My room is no longer filled with the odd scent of wet wool. The sweater though smells sweet and natural. I actually don't smell the Soak on it at all--I may not have used enough. The directions say one cap-full for every gallon... I soaked my sweater in my bathtub... how many gallons is that? I naively guessed 2 gallons because I ended up only using 2 cap fulls. ^_^ Oops?
Mr. Seamless Hybrid wasn't dry before my photoshoot, so, I'll have to take pictures of him another day.

I'll leave you with Branching Out. This scarf has been waiting patiently underneath my desk for me to finish the sweater. He's finally getting some pattern repeats knitted and is looking good, albeit a bit oatmeal-y.





I'm giving tassels a chance.
Knit hard!

branching out

I've been trying to find something 'nice' to knit for my old boss--the one who taught me the ways of knitting. I was considering another Clapotis... but, I don't really remember enjoying the process very much. o_O I've been eye-ing the Branching Out scarf for a while and on Ravelry.com it's one of the most knitted projects, so, I decided to go for it. I ended up going with the recommended Silky Wool.





It's such a complex pattern. I've even learned 3 new decreases. Branching Out is also my first lace pattern. I think I remember reading something from the Yarn Harlot about a lace project she as knitting... and how it started off as something really messy and how she regretted knitting it... but then once she blocked it then the magic started. That's sort of how my project is looking right now. I can definitely see the leafy pattern, but, blocking will DEFINITELY make this look better. I can't wait to finish. ^_^





This lace knitting takes up 100% of my concentration... so I can't knit while "watching my stories" like I can with most of my other projects. I decided that I needed a mindless WIP to have while traveling and sitting in front of some DVDs. That project ended up being a second Noro striped scarf.





It's still so magical to me... all the colors and the transitioning. Hahahaha. I was working on it yesterday and I ran into a few rows where both of the balls turned into brown-ish colors. o_O I didn't know what to do... I was considering cutting out the brown section on one ball, but, I really have difficulties ripping or frogging.. so, I just let it go. Hopefully the beauty of the rest of the scarf will drown out this one muddy patch.

I also wanted to share one of my only purchases from the Fiber Arts Fair thing from a few weeks ago. I ended up getting a skein of Briar Rose - Buff Beauty. It's a THICK single ply yarn. I seriously have to force myself not to try to take a bite out of it. o_O it's so springy and delicious.



I decided to knit a length-wise scarf with it. The recommended needles are a 13... but, after my first row I found it to be too tight. The resulting fabric was quite stiff, so, I switched to a 15. Of course, I didn't restart.. I just kinda switched right in the middle of my 2nd row. o_O But, you know me. I'm a bit afraid that my scarf won't be thick enough now... but, we'll see.

I'll be going to Stitches Midwest on Sunday. Just for the market... no classes for me. I'm gonna take a guess and say I'll be the only shaved-bald Asian/Filipino boy there, if you see me say hi! =) I'm not sure which project I'll be bringing to work on... I'm leaning towards the Noro scarf though.