Last post from this location

For a while, at least. Goodbye California; I shall miss you. But I'm off to bigger and better things, over in Wisconsin for college for my first year! Of course, I'm super excited, but I've been knitting up the proverbial storm while awaiting for Friday morning, when I get on a plane by myself for the first time. I've been quite independent all my life, being an only child with insanely busy parents, but I still haven't been 100% on my own. I mean, I went to band camp every year, but that was only a week, and we lived out of our suitcases. Anyway, some knitting content, shall we?

I finished these mittens what seems like ages ago, but was really only earlier this week. This is the pair unblocked...

and blocked!

Blocking is a miracle. I know it's not very obvious from the pictures, but all my stitches are even and the mittens aren't puckery now! They weren't very puckery to begin with, but still. Of course, I showed them to my mom, saying "Mom, look what I just made!" She said if she saw them in a store, she'd definitely buy them. I think I know what I'm making my mom for Christmas or her birthday (in November) this year, but maybe not the Pimento. I'm kind of tired of it, and you'll understand why later on in the post. Maybe pink, or purple with cream? The reason I chose Pimento was because what looked like clovers to everyone else looked like berries to me, so I figured red berries would be festive.

This was my second colorwork project ever (my first one was a hideous Fake Isle hat I made while band - and therefore all my friends - were in Hawaii on a band trip; I know, soooo unfair). It's not the pattern's fault, though I must admit that I'm not too fond of the pattern itself. Being my first colorwork project, it was insanely puckery and ugly and the Noro Kureon I used was really itchy. I ended up selling the other three or so balls I had remaining in my stash. Anyway, I'm really really proud of these mittens, and I can see myself wearing them as soon as the temperature drops below 60 (which I assume it does in Wisconsin as early as the beginning of September - and I'm the little Californian used to 40 deg being SUPER FREEZING).

I guess I should probably mention this: I made these mittens inside-out, but I didn't purl at all throughout the colorwork portion. I did the ribbing as normal, then pulled the ribbing to the inside. Normally when we knit using dpns, we knit on the outside. But this time, I just knit from the other side. It's hard to explain, but if you pull a sock cuff inside out while it's in progress, you can still knit all the way around - the purl side is just facing you. You work on the needles that are further away from you than normal.

Then, I started some Dublin Bay socks on Saturday, and finished them on Monday. I got the yarn from Stitches West this year, when I went with my awesome French teacher. It's Lorna's Laces Shepherd Sock in February's limited colorway, Peppermint Mocha. I am such a sucker for limited colorways and discontinued yarns.

And THEN, I wasn't done. I decided I needed to use up the rest of the Palette I had left over from the mittens. I didn't end up using all of it, but it was very close and caused much nerve-wracking.

It's blocking on that plate right now, and I'm super proud of it! I was actually super scared when I pulled it out of the water after washing. It looked purple and beige - I almost freaked out. But after it started drying just a bit, I got relieved as it started transitioning back to a deep red and cream.

I think I'm rambling a bit more than normal simply because the next time I post, it will be from my DORM in Wisconsin. Such a weird thought.

Look what I can do!

I finished my shirt! It's kinda lumpy but it does need to be reblocked after having seamed everything together.


Last night, as I stumbled in the door after an awesome day in Monterey, I found a package from Knit Picks! So of course I tore it open and wanted to cast on right away. But I resisted until this morning.

Knit Picks Palette in Pimento and Cream. These colors are truer than those in the photos below.

I took that picture this morning. This the progress as of this evening.

Future stitches to be picked up for the thumb.

In Monterey yesterday, I happened upon a cute little yarn shop called The Twisted Stitch, at 400 Foam St, Ste A. It just opened fairly recently, and the only reason I even noticed it was because I was wistfully staring out the window, wishing a yarn store could be close to either Fisherman's Wharf or the aquarium, and all of a sudden I saw yarn in a window, and screamed YARN STORE! So yup, I got some Cherry Tree Hill suri laceweight in Rosewood from the fabulous owner, and I can't wait to go back over winter break and visit it again to see how well the store is doing.

Knitting up a Storm

Lots of knitting progress this week. On Sunday, my parents and I went to San Rafael for a day trip. And of course, whenever we go on day trips, they let me check out one or two yarn stores in the area. I found the Dharma Trading Company, and walked out with three skeins of white Debbie Bliss baby cashmerino and three skeins of brown Debbie Bliss baby cashmerino. Actually Mom bought them for me to make things for her, and I ended up making a neck scarf with one of the skeins.

Mom decided to model the little scarf for me, but was too shy to let me photograph her face. The peter pan-collared sweater is from Lands' End.

The morning I finished the neck scarf, an awesome package arrived!

I started a short-sleeve pullover from a French pattern book I received for my birthday this year, using the bottle green St. Denis Nordique. So far, the back is done and I'm working on the front. Interesting: there's an English version of this pattern floating around. Ah well, I don't mind translating. I made a swatch of the leaf panel in neon pink acrylic and it seemed just fine, though some people seem to say there's an error in the pattern. Hopefully I was interpreting it correctly. A few things literally got lost in translation, though. I didn't understand the terminology for "k1 tbl," but that's the only problem I've had so far.

The ginger Cascade Elite Fresco is going to be a long-sleeved shirt/pullover from the same pattern book.

I Have an Excuse!

I got my wisdom teeth removed on Monday. I was pretty much passed out all week from pain meds. Now I have big icky holes in my gums. But I'm awake now, and with a finished object!

My second Whisper cardi is done! I've been working on it off and on in between consciousness (again, thanks to the pain meds).

Next project: Debbie Stoller's All-Day Beret with some Paton's Angora Bamboo I picked up in Madison, WI while visiting campus last month.