WIP Wednesday

It’s been a long time since I posted for WIP Wednesday! So here’s what’s on the needles right now… (Or, cough, at least what I’m actually working on right now, as opposed to projects that are on needles but haven’t been touched in a few weeks!)

 

The Scalloped Lace Baby Sweater

I have to finish this one by June 7th, so this is my first priority right now. I was stalled on how to handle my goof, but then I looked at it some more and decided that the buttonholes were a little too far apart (the perils of knitting the buttonbands at the same time as the body of the sweater). The bad news was that fixing that meant dropping the 4 stitches of the buttonbands back quite a few rows. Blargh. The good news is that the new buttonhole is exactly opposite my goof, so I can just sew the button over it and go on my merry way. Cheating? Yes. But I can live with that!

Baby Hoodie

I am knitting this baby sweater out of KnitPicks Comfy yarn. This is the first time I’ve used this yarn, and I must say: it is very aptly named. It’s one of the softest yarns I’ve ever used. After so much time working on the Scalloped Lace Baby Sweater, I’m a bit tired of knitting with cotton yarn. But this yarn is a blend of cotton and acrylic, and manages to take the best qualities of both to create a yarn that is machine washable, soft, and much easier on the hands than pure cotton. This might be my go-to yarn for baby knitting from now on.

I can’t decide if I like the green stripes or not. I found some adorable buttons on Etsy that are brown and blue with a bit of pale green, but they haven’t arrived yet, so I’m not sure if this is quite the right green. I had some Knit Picks Shine Worsted that I bought for another project in a bright green, so I tried to use that to add a hint of green to go with the buttons, but I’m not sure I like it. Next to the brown, the stripes look more yellow than green. I have another skein of Comfy on the way in a paler green, so if I like that better, I’ll rip the last few rows and redo with that color. This project is on hold now until buttons and yarn arrive, hopefully later this week.

Lastly, I have a fun new toy! I am writing this post on my new iPad. (I took the photos with it, too.) I’m still getting used to the touchscreen keyboard (and I might end up getting one of the cases with the built-in keyboard eventually), but I’m excited to play with some of the iPad knitting apps that some of you have recommended to me.

A good time was had by all…

I am still tired from Saturday’s marathon Sheep and Wool Festival. But oh my: Such fun!!

Cherry Tree Hill Supersock and Cephalopod Bugga!

Carla and Hope and I met up at the gates at 9am, just as the Festival officially opened. We started out at the All About Yarn tent, where Hope went a bit nuts with Shalimar Yarn. Then we got about ten feet past that tent, and I got sucked into a couple of skeins of Cephalopod Yarn Bugga! (I’m totally blaming Hope for this one. Somehow we’re having a little challenge to knit up simple sweaters using only 760 yards of Bugga!) Then I was good… for a little while.

At lunchtime, we met up with another fiber friend, Claudette, and hijacked her to join our merry band. We waited in line for gyros for entirely too long, but they were sooooo good I can’t feel too bitter about the wait.

Spindle and Fiber

And then we went a bit berserk in the main building. I splurged on a Golding Spindle that I’d been daydreaming about. (And I think I sort of talked Claudette into buying one, too.) And such a pretty spindle deserved some gorgeous fiber, right? So you can totally understand my next two splurges: some Handmaiden merino/silk in a beautiful deep purple and plum and some merino/silk from Chasing Rainbows (at the Carolina Homespun booth) in drool-worthy shades of blues, greens, turquoise, and purple. Hope knits gorgeous intarsia sweaters, so she stocked up on a whole rainbow full of fingering weight yarn. Carla (like me) is a sucker for pretty sock yarn, so despite her best efforts to be good, one or two skeins found their way into her bag.

Signature needles and other tools

I’d planned to buy a US size 8 circular from Signature Needle Arts, but while I was in line, I talked myself into getting size 7 DPNs too. (And now I’m wishing I’d gotten the size 6 DPNs as well. These needles are just too addictive…)

Buttons!

Sadly, Moving Mud did not have the perfect buttons for my purple sweater, but she did have some gorgeous blue and green swirly buttons that I fell in love with. I had picked up some pewter buttons at the Bartlett Yarns booth for my green sweater, but maybe I’ll put those buttons on the purple sweater, and the Moving Mud buttons on the green sweater…

Miss Babs Yet Color Affliction kit

I had not planned to buy yarn to make a Color Affection Shawl. In fact, I’d sworn I wouldn’t. For one thing, I have yarn for a Stripe Study Shawl (also by designer Veera Välimäki) that I’d bought at MDSW three years ago that I still haven’t finished. And for another, the Color Affection Shawl is just so popular right now. Why knit what everyone else is knitting? Ahem. Well, I went into the Miss Babs booth and made the mistake of looking over at the Wall o’ Affection kits. And of course, I fell madly in love with one of them, in her yummy “Yet” lace (merino/silk). Sigh. I’m really just a lemming at heart…

I also bought another nifty notions case, a knit fixer tool (crochet hook on one end and a knitting tip on the other), and some highlighter tape that I’d been meaning to order online. And a skein of sock yarn at Cherry Tree Hill in shades of purple and magenta and teal that was just too pretty to leave behind. And I got some yummy almond honey and creamed honey from The Bee Folks to bring home for my husband (a total honey fanatic).

Trying out the Pocket Wheel

I was pretty good about more expensive fiber tools. I drooled a bit over the Ashford Knitters Loom. (And I got to meet Richard Ashford, which was pretty cool!) I carefully avoided making eye contact with the Ashford Joy Spinning Wheel. I did succumb to the invitation to try out a Pocket Wheel, though. Pretty neat! I’m a long way from buying a wheel, but I’d definitely keep this one in mind.

The day had started out quite hot and sticky, and despite generous application of sunscreen, my face and the back of my neck got a bit sunburned. Then a cool front blew through and threatened rain, but fortunately it held off. Not that some rain would have dampened our spirits!

By the time I got home, I was totally exhausted. I had just enough energy to get a shower and crack open a nice, cold beer.

Now comes the hard part… resisting all the pretty new yarn and projects calling to me! I need to get a few works-in-progress taken care of first. First up, finishing the scalloped lace baby cardigan…

I hope your weekend was full of fibery friends and fun, too!

Sheep & Wool

I went to the Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival this weekend with some good friends, Carla Kempert and Hope Ramsay.  I had so much fun that I’m still smiling, four days later.  What could be better than a day spent with friends indulging in a shared addiction interest? 🙂

Here I am fondling some yarn in (I think) the Cloverhill Yarn booth.  Note Hope’s amazing Fair Isle vest!  She was stopped repeatedly by people wanting to admire it.  One woman told her it was as good as the first place entry in the show!

I bought more yarn than I planned.  Spent more money than I planned.  Came home with yarn and buttons and new knitting needles.  (And allergies, sunburn, and sore feet, but hey, those trifling inconveniences are more than worth it!)

So… what did I get?

Three skeins of Minerva (50% merino, 50% bombyx silk) from Spirit Trail Fiberworks, colorway Storm Clouds. Sweater pattern to be determined soon!

Two skeins of Bugga! from Sanguine Gryphon, in Sooty Dancer and Prostetnic Vogon Jeltz (gotta be a Douglas Adams fan to get that one; I might have bought it just for that!).

One skein of Northumbria from Miss Babs, in Sugilite.  (The colors are a little washed out in the picture; it’s shades of pewter and taupe and a gorgeous dusky mauve.)

Buttons from Jennie the Potter (blue) and Melissa Jean (green).

And new knitting needles (circular and double-points) from Signature Needle Arts (which aren’t in this picture because I already put them to use!!).

I spent Mother’s Day sitting in the backyard with my feet up, working on a new project (which I cast on entirely as an excuse to use the aforementioned new Signature circular needles, which are an absolute dream to use).

This is a modified Haruni shawl.  I am using the plain Ishbel body with the Haruni petal border, and adding beads to the flower stems and edges of the petals.  I think it’s going to be gorgeous!  (I actually didn’t get as much knitting done as I’d hoped, because I had to keep stopping to admire the colors in the yarn– Sundara sock yarn in Lunar Landing.)

If you’re a mom, I hope you spent Mother’s Day relaxing and indulging in one of your favorite interests (and/or chocolate!!).