getting ready for spring...

last night i decided to stay in and be a knitting dork. here's the front of the tank top i made last year while i was at pinewoods. its my first and only tank top, and i didn't follow a pattern (probably not a wise choice, but its been a good learning experience).

several problems...since its a cotton/rayon blend (knitpicks shine) i've washed it in the machine a few times and it's shrunk so that the lacy part comes up to high and exposes my bra (which is bad). to prevent this i tended to pull it down every 5 mins, which was so annoying that i did not look forward to wearing it.
this is the back. although it fits, the double decreases in the center are too lumpy and the seed stitch competes with the lace pattern. so, i decided to rip it out to below the seed st and re-knit it 2" longer and with better edging. this is what i've done so far:
you can see a line (near the bottom of the chest) where i ripped to, but i think this will disappear after a washing. i tried a simple yarnover edge instead of seed stitch. so far, much better.

a few days ago i made another swatch for the socks, this time with corrugated ribbing. not stretchy, but very pretty. i've decided on blue and light yellow but i haven't ordered it yet.

this isn't a very good picture, but i started a garter st scarf knit lengthwise with the mohair left over from the shawl. it's actually knit straight, not in the round as it appears. the ends on the right side of the photo will be fringes on either end of the scarf.









i really want to make a knit bunny.

new stuff!

so i decided that it's time i do some teeny fair isle. this swatch is 8.9 sts/in on size 1 needles. i got the idea from Eunny's blog. these were just the colors i happened to have around. i 'll probably make the socks blue and light yellow.
i tried to do two-handed fair isle, where you hold one color in the left hand and knit continental while knitting english with the other color in the right hand. i couldn't do this very well because i have trouble knitting english and keeping the tension the same without dropping everything. oh well, maybe another time i'll figure it out. so for now i'm holding both strands with my left hand, which seems to work fine.
about two weeks ago at 2 am i decided i just had to start a lace scarf. hopefully it will be better after blocking...

are you tired of purple lace yet?

yeah, i thought so. i'm a bit tired of it too, so i decided to photoshop the first two of these photos so you can see the sock in different colors.

blue looks pretty good, doesn't it?

it's a short-row heel with a slip-stitch pattern and a gusset. it's a tight fitting sock (51 sts on sz 1 needles) so i increased to 59 sts since that area is usually the tightest for me. also, gussets are pretty.

this is the first one. i'm almost finished, i just need to do the ribbing and on the second one i'm almost at the heel. i really like this pattern.

3 purple FO's this week!

this is a fan and feather scarf made from knitpick's suri dream. its soft and fluffy and about 5 ft long. it's for either my mother or grandmother, not sure yet.i finished my second purple sock! they fit great, even though the heels are different (the one on top is a peasant heel, which is almost identical to the toe). i promise a better photo after they're washed and i feel like doing acrobatics to take pictures of them on my feet :)

this made me giggle

go HERE

i was tempted to chop the head off this one...

i finished my shawl. see the cute little knot and yo edge?

pretty...closeups. on the right: the yo/sewn bind off edge (on the two short sides) compared to the slip-stitch/yo edge (long side). on the left: yo v's in the center
this is an entrelace bag i started a few days ago. it's made from various green and blue leftovers and i plan to felt it when it's done. i'm also working on those purple socks but the progress photo was too boring to post.