Progress: Guernsey Wrap

Yesterday I finally embarked on my Guernsey Wrap in Rowan Felted Tweed.  Something about this project screams "the sea" to me, so I even went ahead and made a sea themed mix for my knitting time... so far so good. I have finished the first repeat of the first chart (only 3 to go!) so hopefully this beauty will be completed in the next week or so. The RFT has a way of showing stitch definition unlike any other yarn I've ever used (and loved)... and becomes so dreamily soft once washed. 

(Finally!) Finished: Edie

I hardly ever take months to finish a project, minus a few sweaters that are too boring to even discuss.  I am what I like to think of as a speed knitter.  I have been known to deprive myself sleep just to finish, even if the weather is the total opposite of what I need to wear the thing... doesn't matter. Some sort of peace washes over me once I know a project is finished and resting with all its other knitted brothers and sisters even if it will spend its first few months after birth in hibernation..

I am happy to say I finally finished Edie yesterday.  It was slow going... but I chalk a lot of that up to my own terrible procrastination.  My Edie gave me something of a heart attack yesterday as I was frantically emailing my KAL partner Vanessa and attempting to figure out why mine did not look like the pattern images.  (I can imagine Phillip laughing at me as I type this.  I have been known to often curse out that whatever project is ruined, destroyed, that I have messed up only to say "Oh wait. Nevermind.")  I swore I had done something horribly wrong, though of course I now think differently.  I ended up binding off a little early to avoid any catastrophes... I mean, I hardly ever invest this much time into a shawl and the last thing I wanted was to wreck the piece in some sort of knitting/television coma. 

I have a few other projects in line, including a few Christmas gifts I am still figuring out but I feel like my hands are desperately begging for a break as I practically worked until my fingers bled in those last few days.  Coming up soon will be my Idlewood knit with the Cascade Eco+ in my previous post and a few cabled hats perfect for this (amazing) chilly weather. 

New Yarn!

I had something of a knitter's nightmare earlier this week.  I had been eagerly awaiting the arrival of my skeins of Cascade Eco+ for a few days.  I worked late into the night and ran to the door to check for my package... of course it had been delivered. (I had been refreshing the USPS page on my phone for most of the day.)  I get it inside and start looking it over--all is sorta well but more on that later.. I wind the first gigantic skein.  I start making a gauge swatch; I don't have a particular pattern in mind yet, but I figured it wouldn't hurt to get ahead of the game.  Then I realize I don't have the right needles to make any of the patterns swirling in my mental queue! :(  

Sadly enough, the website I ordered from sent me the wrong item.  The right item being a needle sizer for all those random needles that have somehow managed to hack off their info so perhaps I do have the right needles and just don't know it yet... 

I have a lot of needles. I mean, a lot. But for whatever reason, I have somehow managed to avoid getting needles within the odd space between worsted (what I like to call "regular"--size 8's) and mega huge (I even have a pair of size 17's, that I feel haven't been used once?).  Anyway, so now I am on a mission to find a pair of size 10 needles that I can somehow have delivered in the next day or two since our schedules are jam packed and a trip to the store seems unlikely.  I am not too upset as this gives me the extra time needed to finish my neglected repeats of Edie, of which I have two left. (=18 rows) For what it is worth, I like the Cascade a lot more than I thought I would and the color seems to be a nice compliment to my skin tone. 

All is not sad with the my internet buying though, as a few weeks ago I received another package from Quince and Co.  I ordered a few skeins of Chickadee in the Chantrelle colorway.  I was quite surprised when it arrived.. I actually liked it a lot more than I anticipated! I think I mentioned before that this yarn is spoken for---I have a plan to make  leg warmers to go with my winter boots.  I have yet to pick a pattern but I have been searching some stitchionaries.  This yarn is perfect for showing off stitch definition, I don't think I can be held back by the same ol' patterns I fawn over on Ravelry.  I am dreaming up something new, so more on that later.