Seraphim

I don't even know how to start this post, because I don't honestly know if I have ever felt *this* way about another knit. So, I'll simply start with a photo.

Seraphim is almost like a dear friend. She represents a lot of hard work before I even purchased the yarn, since I used this Koigu indulgence as a bribe to get me back to the gym. In fact, this shawl represents 12 consecutive weeks of spin classes.

She then became a dear companion to me during my summer of long hours and overtime at the office. I knit her almost exclusively during the few hours of knitting time I had from the beginning of July, when she accompanied me to Idyllwild, until the end of our vacation on Labor Day. In between those bookended vacations, she was there for me on my lunch breaks and during my virtually non-existent evenings.

Generally, the magic of knitting lace reveals itself during final blocking. However, for Seraphim it was the moment I took her out of her Euculan bath. I can't even put the way it felt into words. The closest thing I can come to is that felt the way I always hoped the clouds might feel. I was so shocked, there *may or may not* have been a vocalized response that went along with it. I say "vocalized" because it was definitely more "sounds" than "words". In fact, Jenny even came into the bathroom to see what the heck was going on.

However, my amusement with Seraphim didn't stop there. Upon taking out the blocking pins, she revealed her true beauty. Miriam, this was truly an inspired design. I love the combination of it's simplicity and ornate details. I feel like a princess when I have her on and I love the feel of the Koigu when it is draped over my arms. There is nothing I don't like about this shawl.

(BTW: These are what B calls 'dainty' hands, which I was instructed to make for this photo.)

As for the details, I knit this Seraphim on size 5 needles using approximately 900 yards of Koigu KPPPM in the speckled colorway #716. When I purchased this yarn, I went back and forth with how many hanks to get and even sought Mim's advice. 5 would make me 25 yards short of the maximum yardage requirement. Surely 5 would be enough, right? It seemed silly to buy an entire 6th hank for 25 yards. In the end, I did because I knew I could bring it back if I didn't need it. However, as I got to the second to last row of the last chart and held the end of the 5th ball in my hand, I was really glad that 6th hank was there to dip into.

I was also very pleasantly surprised with the way this colorway knit up. I am generally not drawn to the speckled KPPPMs the way I am to the standard variegated colorways. However, this one spoke to me and I am truly delighted with the way the color laid itself out, very even and very un-speckled in my opinion.

All in all, Seraphim may be my most favorite thing I have made. And I highly recommend using a luxury yarn/fiber for this knit...even if you have to go to the gym 12 weeks in a row to earn it!

The countdown begins...

In less than 2 weeks, Nonnahs and I are going to have our lives back. We can hardly wait!!! However, working so much does have some positive side effects. I rarely have time to go to any stores, so unless I order something online (which although I admit I do that a bit), my stash has a whole new meaning.

For instance, this dress (which I love but would never have the courage to wear without a wrap or something) is getting a little something to make the outfit complete.

I've been contemplating wraps and shrugs, but had trouble keeping the options in focus while looking though my knitting magazines and books. Here's where Ravelry rocks! I just did a search for "shrug" looked through the pattern options, queued by favorites...and ended up picking out the Anthropologie-inspired capelet to work up in some chocolate Kona Bay Cotton I had in my stash. I'm so excited. I re-worked the gauge this morning (which was basically one calculation) and off I went...

I also thought I would finally take a couple progress photos. First, I made it to the first chart on my Seraphim. (See the little eyelet below.)

Seraphim has taken over as my office knitting. I can keep everything in a little zippered bag and the stockinette is just what I need during such busy days. And the Koigu! Well, it makes me a very happy Dis.

I also made it to the body portion of Fifi, my current evening project.

I'm worried about Fifi. It was so hard to tell if I've got the sizing right when I tried it on. It's so stretchy that I'm just not sure if I'm pulling and tugging too much or just enough. I'll give it another few rounds then I'll try it on again to make sure the armholes and chest will be ok. I understand their is negative ease, but I also don't want to look like I'm wearing my Speedo swimsuit. I'm also worried about my neck. I was at the park when I cast-on...and didn't have access to anything that explained a cable cast-on. So, I did a knitted cast-on and I'm rolling like a tater tot. I'm hoping blocking will help but I can't escape the knitting doubts that the whole thing will be messed up by a poorly chosen cast-on.

All right, enough about that, it's time for some wine, cheese, a movie and the rest of our laundry. Also, thank you for your wonderful anniversary wishes! It meant a lot...especially since I didn't see B until 9:30 that night! But we did go out for dinner and a movie last night (we finally saw Harry Potter in IMAX 3-D) and I'm hoping to have a new capelet to wear over my new dress for our "real" dinner celebration in a couple weeks. So, that's all for now, I hope you all have a great week!

July wrap-up

I hope everyone is doing well. I feel really disorganized and out of touch right now. I'm averaging about 1.5 hours at home each night, I think I saw B for less than an hour between last Sunday night and Friday at about 9pm, and I haven't been to a knit night since the end of June. I don't have much time to keep up with what people are doing, so I feel really out of touch. I was looking forward to being done with this push at the office at the end of July, but guess what? They extended our deadline until August 17th! Which unfortunately means four more weeks of this. I may have actually teared up a little when I found out. So, I thought I would steal this couple of minutes from my Sunday to at least show people what I have been up to...

First up, I had made a goal of knitting my Manos blanket in conjunction with Project Spectrum. And while I have actually made more progress than I had anticipated, I did fall short this color period (red, black, metallics). I had hoped (and would have) to make it to my truly red square, but I reorganized the squares I had left to knit and unfortunately, that means that I would have had to finish the blanket to get to that square, so that will just have to come later. I did knit one other square in red color family (although it does look rather purple here) earlier, but thought I would show it off now:

"Waves" in Bing Cherry (M)

I happened to notice that the two projects I cast-on for in July follow in the Project Spectrum theme. First up is my Seraphim that I am knitting in Koigu KPPPM 716. While the base color of the yarn is cream with various colored speckles, the yarn has a noticeable pink/red hue as a whole. I attempted to take a more recent status photo, but my camera batteries were dead.

Right now, I am about 50 repeats into the basic stockinette portion of the shawl and on my second ball of Koigu. I will be checking my row gauge and adjusting the length depending on how it is knitting up. When I initially checked my row gauge, I was coming in tight, but since I tend to loosen up as I go, I have a feeling I may be ok now. Either way, the most important thing for me is that I don't end up with a short shawl.

I also cast-on for Fifi in Garnet Calmer as part of the latest Sexy Knitters Club KAL. I decided to name my Fifi "January" since Garnet is January's (and my) birth stone. This is just a picture of my swatch, but I thought I'd include it since my camera batteries are preventing me from taking a proper progress photo.

I've been working on January during those few evening hours, but it has been a great knit so far. I am knitting it in a slightly tighter gauge like Nonnahs did with Josephine. I really liked the results she obtained by doing that and mine is coming out pretty good so far, I think. I just have no idea what size I will actually be making until I am to the point I can try it on for the first time.

Finally, this month's UFO resurrection challenge will not be a FO but rather a RIP. I decided that after careful consideration, I will not be finishing my Simple Knitted Bodice. I'm not sure why the love has died, but it has. I had only knit about 14 rows, so it won't be a huge loss and know I can return that yarn to my stash for something else...of which I've had lost of ideas for lately.

So, that's all for me for a while. Not only will work remain busy, but my free time is now also going to be preoccupied by a certain Mr. Potter. See you soon!