FO Catch Up!

Recently it seems like I've been living one of those secret knitting lives. I have been very remiss in showing progress on my current projects and have neglected mentioning new projects all together! I have managed a couple finished object posts (thank you for all the great comments - one of these days we will have a blog that will be more conducive to personal thank yous), but it was difficult. I don't know what the problem is, but my goal is to get back to posting more as things happen, rather than always playing catch up.

So to get things started I thought I'd clear my backlog of finished objects. First up, I finished my Anthropologie-Inspired Capelet in Espresso Kona Bay Cotton.

The knitting was done several weeks ago, but it took awhile to find just the right broach to close it. After searching a few brick and mortar stores (and finding out that apparently broaches are "out") and turned my efforts to Etsy. Let's just say, I need to start making Etsy my first stop for searches like this. I stumbled upon Cocoonwillfly.etsy.com and found the perfect broach. Her shipping was super fast and she was *really* nice. Plus, the packaging was cute as can be once it arrived.

As for stats, I re-gauged the pattern for a light worsted weight yarn. I ended up using a little over 3 balls of Kona Bay Cotton in Espresso (78) on size 6 needles. I also reversed the stockinette to right-side being right-side out. Other than that, it was a super quick knit and I look forward to actually wearing it out, but with the weather getting cooler and my move back into pants, it may be a little while before that happens.

So fortunately, I have a couple more seasonally appropriate projects on the needles. This one is part FO and part WIP as it is a pair of socks!

This is my September contribution to the 2007 UFO Resurrection Challenge. It turns out that I started these LAST September and put them down when I started to have some hand problems. While very fun to knit, Silk Garden Lite is not easy on my hands, especially at this gauge.

These are now back in my knitting bag for my spare time at the office and I look forward to having a pair of socks I can actually wear! I've already cast on for the second sock, so my poor left foot won't be cold for long!

What I Did on my Summer Vacation

Nonnahs spoke a couple posts ago about 're-entry' following a vacation. I generally like to give myself a day or two to settle before going back to work after a break or a trip, but I don't feel like I have true re-entry issues...that is, not until this last vacation. Maybe it was the level of work and productivity we had been running at all summer. Maybe it was the fact that we no longer have an imminent deadline we are working towards at the office...just the next day. I don't know. What I do know is that I have felt weird and I've had trouble doing normal stuff like emailing and blogging. Consequently, I have a thousand things to post about and have needed to post about for weeks. In order to save you all, I figured, once again, photos are the best option...

First, I've finally begun to put into practice 'my plan' to supplement my t-shirt wardrobe with some skirts. So far, I'm pleased with the results. They are fun and quick to make, have fit in well with things I already have (except shoes, I really do need a new pair of brown shoes), and are actually serving to inspire my future knit projects (a side-effect I wasn't expecting). It's even more fun when you get he opportunity to sew with someone else...

This is a skirt that makes me happy. It is certainly not "cute" in the fashion sense.

But this makes me happy:

Here is an example of one that came out fairly well, even if I had to attach the elastic 3 times. It goes with 4 of my t-shirts, so it's doing it's job. (btw - see what I mean about the shoes?) (And what is with that dude behind me? Sheesh, you can't even take an FO photo in the office without getting harassed anymore.) Both of these skirts are basic A-lines using Sew What? Skirts as an inspiration.


I also finally managed to take a photo of the Amy Butler wide-leg pants I made from In Stitches. I wear these all the time and have fabric for another pair...that I may even work on this weekend...

I also finally finished a dish/wash cloth I had on the needles for a ridiculous amount of time. I actually put this away as part of my UFO roundup at the beginning of the year and decided to take it out and finish it for August's UFO Resurrection Challenge contribution.

It got stalled out because I had planned to make it more of a towel than a dishrag, but it had been one of the things that led to the trouble I had with my hands last year (cotton on straight needles). When I pulled it back out, I realized that it was pretty much a prefect size...especially once it was washed. So I knit a couple more finishing rows, bound off and ended up with a nice little addition to my grandma's 92nd birthday haul:

Now one of the things I am most excited about is that I finally organized my stash! I was dreading seeing it all in one place. But when I needed to locate the last two balls of yarn I needed for my Seraphim shawl and I had NO idea where they were, I knew it was finally time to take on this project. So, a couple Saturday's ago (blogless) Dr. Nyl came over, we took it all out, photographed everything, and re-packaged it by project type. Honestly? It wasn't nearly as bad as I thought it was going to be and I feel really good about my stash. It was nice to see what I have, be reminded about what I plan to make with some of these, and consolidate out some of the things I know I will never use.

Finally, as hinted in our retreat wrap-up post, I finished Seraphim.

And I blocked it...

Now, I just need to take a couple more photos (preferably where I don't look like I've recently been run over by a tractor) and I will have a FO post to share!

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!

May Resurrection: Cable 8

My May UFO Resurrection Challenge project was my languishing Cable-Eight Top by Joyce Wu from the Spring 2005 Interweave Knits. This was a special project for me because this is one of the first patterns I ever wanted to make. My sister-in-law had given me a gift subscription to IK that year for Christmas and this was the first issue I received. I fell in love with the classy patterns and focus on quality. I had always planned to make this top, but there was always something else to make.

Then last year, this was one of the patterns I brought requirements for when I went to the Yarn Lady Bag Sale. It was also an ad-on purchase I made after I had already bought the rest of the yarn for that day. We made one more run though the bins after lunch and I found a bag of GGH Goa in color 23, which must be SO discontinued the color isn't even showing up on Yarndex.

I promptly cast on during last year's heat wave, finished one panel, and then it sat...for almost a year! I really wanted at least one summer top this year and felt I better hurry up since I have a feeling the summer is going to be over before we know it. So, I thought Cable-8 would be perfect! In the end it took approximately 6 1/2 balls on size 11 needles (although I have a sneaking suspicion that I knit the first panel on 13s. Shhhh, don't tell, you'd never know).

Modifications included skipping nearly all the crochet instructions in the pattern. I was supposed to crochet each selvage edge, then crochet the front and back together. I gave this an honest try, but a consensus was reached at our knit night last week, that it was just too stiff and too ugly. I ripped out the crochet and then seamed up the sides like normal. I then only did one crochet row around the sleeves given the bulk of my yarn compared to what was called for in the pattern.

At first, I didn't think I would like this top all that much. I thought I'd probably wear it every so often, but it would never be a favorite. But, then I wore it yesterday and promptly changed my mind. I like it a lot. It is a little bulkier than the clothes I normally wear, but it fits nice and I love how unique it looks compared to most summer attire. The best part about the bulk? The, um, accentuation of my, err, frontal area. Hey, you gotta take it where you can get it! So, overall, I am very pleased with this FO!

Another Friday...More Random

It seems that I usually like to do my random posts on Thursdays, but I thought I'd mix it up a bit this week. I know, I'll try to be more consistent in the future.

1. I resurrected Cable 8 for my May 2007 UFO Resurrection Challenge. It took me almost a year to complete about 2 days worth of knitting.
2. I seamed it up last night and now I just need to make some satisfactory crochet sleeves and I will be done.
3. 'Satisfactory' being the operative word. I've ripped it out about three times now. I may try a bigger crochet hook because something is definitly NOT working.
4. I finished all the bits for my Ann Taylor top for the design class I am taking.
5. Our last class is tomorrow. We will set in the sleeves and work the finishing in class.
6. It took way more yarn than I ever thought...a recurring theme in my projects of late.
7. I am also close to finishing up the Cozy V-Neck Pullover. I've got a gameplan. Now, I just need to implement.
8. The sweater WILL work out. That has already been decided. The reality of what actually happens is moot at this point.
9. I wanted to share another Knitting In Action photo I received back in March. I knit up this wool hunting cap for my retiring boss. Although it did come out too small (it is supposed to be a fold-over brim), he says he loves it nontheless and has found a way to wear it regardless.

10. This makes me very happy.

Happy Friday everyone!

The Celtic Durrow

First of all, I just wanted to say thank you for all your kind comments about my Under the Hoodie. We've had a bit of a coolish spell in San Diego lately so to my surprise I've actually been able to wear my hoodie a lot. This has also been helpful because it helped to relieve a bit of the guilt I was feeling over only now finishing my brother's sweater...nothing like a new wool sweater in spring! ;-)

This project is fulfilling my April contribution to the 2007 UFO Resurrection Challenge. It took all last month, but I finally sat down, figured out what I needed to do to finish this sweater and did it! And I'm glad I did. I think it fits him great and it just "looks like him," too. This was always what I was going for, but it's exceptionally nice when it actually works out that way.

This is a fairly heavily modified Durrow from MagKnits. The originally is great, but I wanted my brother to have a sweater that was more Celtic looking. I also really wanted the cable to continue from the arm into the the saddle at the shoulder and I wanted a more continuous and flowing cable from the original. (It appears from some VERY brief internet research that the stopping and starting bits are features of Durrow cables in general. They are beautiful cables, but I personally gravitate toward continuous knots and twists.) I also felt that the original Durrow cable reminded me of a treble clef and although my brother loves music, it seemed a cable more suited for a musician. So the first thing I did was replace the Durrow cable with the Loose Five-Rib Braid from Barbara Walker's A Second Treasury of Knitting Patterns.

Since the cable was narrower than that original, I was able to continue the cable as part of the saddle shoulder. The sleeve itself was easy to modify given my cable exchange, see she wrote general increasing instructions and basically told you to work the cable chart while doing such and such increases. So, I just used those details and continued the rib pattern around my cable, incorporating the rib pattern as I increased. I also made extra large sleeves lengthwise on a small sleeve stitch count to account for the monkey arms that he and I are both blessed with. Now, I have to admit, there are a few mistakes in the sleeves, but because I knit both sleeves at the same time they are now "style elements" and I challenge anyone to find them. Besides my philosophy about mistakes is that they are only there if you tell someone about them. And my lips are sealed.

That pretty much takes care of the more normal modifications, now onto the ones that caused this project to turn from a WIP to a UFO: the Neck. I don't really know what to say about the neck except that it was completed purely by trial and error. It was way too big as written, so I pinned in the sleeves and had him try it on. Then I 'filled in' what was missing. I know not really helpful.

More or less, I continued the raglan deceases for another three inches on the sleeves until the saddle reached about 4 inches wide then I worked it straight until it would run into the front and back neck. I also worked another 3 inches of raglan decreases on the front and the back. This was also following a rip and re-knit repair job on the back due to a (moth?) hole. This was very unscientific, it seemed like I needed another three inches, so that's what I did. However, because of this, I actually ended up with about 1/3 more length in the raglan section of the sleeves from the body pieces. So when I seamed everything up, I eased that extra bit into each other as I worked (2 bars to 1 bar) and presto, magic! You can't even see it! You've got to LOVE wool sometimes.

Finally, I wanted to take a moment to talk about this yarn. It is Kilcarra Donegal Tweed and I bought it from Irish Yarns & Crafts. It was important for me that this yarn was actually made in Ireland and this was the only yarn I could find at the time that fit that bill. It appeared to be what I wanted and so I decided to take the risk and see what it was like. Buying this yarn as basically a "store brand" saved some money, too (including shipping, I got about 1660 yards for $70 and I have 3 hanks left over). Now, if you are not fond of wool for it's "naturalness" this yarn is not for you. However, it is a wonderful wool yarn. It blooms beautifully once washed and I consider it a soft wool. It also has some fun features that always reminded me where it came from. First, you can clearly see the curls and kinks of each individual fiber. Second, every so often you would get some weeds or a little bit of vegetation. Not enough to be annoying, but enough to clear any doubt in your mind that this fiber had once been on a sheep. I love that in yarn, so this was a plus for me. I noticed that Irish Yarns & Crafts now sells a merino wool and I am looking forward to trying that out on another special project someday.

Finally, the best part of this whole project is that my brother likes his sweater. He seemed very happy with everything and that is the best part. It made any doubt, frustrations or difficulties I experienced worth it. I'm so glad I worked on (and completed!) this project, but I am glad it is over, too!

April UFO Resurrection Challenge

For April’s UFO Resurrection Challenge I decided to concur a project that had morphed itself from a fun and inspired knit to a gigantic monkey, maybe even a gorilla (which aren’t really even monkeys, but apes, by the way), permanently residing on my back: my brother’s sweater. I decided this time last year that I wanted to make him an Irish sweater. Having spent a year in Ireland in college as well as his honeymoon, I thought he would think it was cool. It would also give me a chance to play with Celtic cables. I found some great charcoal Irish Donegal Tweed wool from an EBay seller, Irish Yarns & Crafts and started planning what I wanted to do. I picked out the Durrow sweater from MagKnits and decided on a substitution cable that I thought he would like.

The goal was to have it finished in time for his birthday last September. However, as I knit on the wool sweater through the summer, I soon realized that September in San Diego is not exactly sweater weather. I decided that I would change it into a hybrid birthday/Christmas present in order for it to be more seasonally appropriate. The fact that this also resulted in another four months of knitting time was purely a bonus (although it may have influenced the idea a bit to begin with ;-). The problem became that having so much time, meant that there was almost always something else that got picked up first to work on.

As last Christmas quickly approached, the sweater kept stalling. And although, I could have finished it for Christmas (that’s my story and I’m sticking to it), I decided that it would be better if I let him try it on first before I seamed it all up. I argued that this was a smart decision since the entire sweater had been knit without any actual measurements being taken and if modifications were needed, better to make them before all that finishing had been done. This turned out to have been a VERY good idea. It wasn’t until I saw the body of the sweater on him, that I realized how many more modifications were going to be needed. Unfortunately, two things happened at this point: 1) I no longer had a deadline, and 2) He didn’t seem to be very excited about the sweater. This last point left me sad (although I knew it was a risk before I even started the project) and quite unmotivated to finish the sweater.

After some discussion and encouragement from several people, I decided to complete the sweater anyway and that his confusion and lack of interest probably had more to do with the fact that I was having him try on a tube with flat sleeves still on the needles. Yeah, not exactly an easy to process gift. Regardless, the longer this project sat around, the worse I felt about not finishing. I had initially planned to finish it last month, but as I previously mentioned, I needed that month just to get myself mentally ready.

So, last week, I sat down, figured out what I needed to do to get the neck to work and finished up the knitting. This weekend I seamed up the yoke and the sleeves and had him try it on one more time before I added the neck. I knew the arms would need to be blocked a bit wider still, but I also think he could use a little more room in his upper chest. He said it fit fine but he seemed to have a slightly worried expression on his face. It is supposed to be a fitted sweater and while he tends to wear fitted clothing, I don’t want him to be uncomfortable. So, once the collar is done, I will give the whole thing a final bath and make those final adjustments. I hope he ends up liking it, but if not, it will probably look really nice on his wife as well. My goal is to have it finished this week so that some long overdue FO photos can be taken this weekend or next.

March Wrap-Up

I know it's not exactly the end of the month yet, but since I have today off, I figure I better take care of a few of March's loose ends will I have the chance. Next week is going to be extraordinarily busy at work.

First up is the UFO Resurrection Challenge. I'll admit it, this month was hard for me. A lot of my knitting time was taken up with my Design Class and my favorite distraction (I'll admit it), Under the Hoodie. However, I had made a goal for this month to finish my brother's sweater and since I have really been working on this sweater more than 8 months, I think it is safe to call it a UFO. I NEED it done. But, I just couldn't get to it and I KNOW I won't get to it next week. So, I decided (when all else fails make up new rules, right?) that my brother's sweater gets two months toward the Resurrection Challenge. March is the prep-month, where I get my motivation ready to work on it. And April, will be devoted (not entirely, of course!) to finishing it up. Now, I know I am violating the official rules, but I also don't have a full 12 UFO projects, so I was going to need to straddle a couple over two months anyway. Oh well. I still feel like a cheater, so that should count for something right?

Next up is Project Spectrum. Since the first two month period concludes at the end of March, I wanted to share my progress towards my Manos blanket. Since the colors for February and March where blue, gray and white, I only made one square since there will be no gray or white in my blanket. The light in my place is either too bright or too dark, so unfortunately, it leads to some very poor Manos photography. This block is Mallard (36), which is a wonderfully rich blue which reminds me of deep, dark Caribbean Sea water. I had some real trouble trying to capture the beauty of this fabric, but I figure it is just one of many squares to come, I'll pay more attention to the lighting when it comes time to photograph the final blanket.

I haven't blocked it yet, but I pinned it out so you can see what it will look like. Each block will be approximately 14X14 inches. In the pattern, they have you work three strips of four squares each, so you only have two seams. However, I am starting to wonder if I will have any trouble with bleeding. As this is the first time I have actually worked with Manos, what have your experiences been? I like the minimized seaming, but if bleeding is going to be a problem, I'd rather block each separately and then seam a bit more.

The pattern I worked for this square was "Stripe," which is a rib of regular rib and all purl stitches. It's really fun to pick the square pattern for each piece and I'm trying to keep each choice in mind when picking out the next.

Speaking of the blanket and the colors of Project Spectrum to come...I was able to pick up the following at the 25% off sale at Knitting in La Jolla yesterday:

left to right: Bing Cherry (M), Thrush (37), and Cinnamon (V)

One thing that was very interesting, is that by looking at the color selection of the Manos at both Knitting in La Jolla and the Black Sheep, you got a feel for the color preferences of the owners. Both stores had a very nice color selection. However, Black Sheep had more of the cool, deep saturated colors I want for my blanket, while Knitting in La Jolla had more of the light, summery colors. This was a good thing for my wallet as I wasn't tempted to buy more than I needed at this point because of the sale. (Each was less than $10!)

Finally, this is how I spent my Sunday afternoon. While B was reading, Jenny and I took a bit of a cat-nap in Balboa Park. It was heavenly.

I'm going to try and keep this feeling with me while I work my way through Cap hell next week. I apologize in advance for being absent from the blog world next week. See you all soon!

UFO Resurrection Challenge: February

This month we say goodbye to a fierce competitor - Forest Floor. For my February contribution to the UFO Resurrection Challenge, I decided to frog my Birch. My Jelly colored Birch was started about the time of the beginning of the Amazing Lace challenge this last summer. She was named for the way the color reminded me of how the sun lights up the little bits of green when it shines through the trees to the forest floor.

I love the idea of Birch, but I have not been able to get past the roadblocks. Perhaps if I had made it farther along before getting stalled out, I would have finished. But I am stuck in the third repeat and I just don't want to pick it up again. Frankly, I think it is because I know their is a center-out version available, Kiri. I think if there hadn't been the alternate version available, I would have stuck with it once I got my pointier Options needles. But, because there is an alternate version, this now frogged Kid Silk Haze will be knitted up Kiri-style...eventually.

So say goodbye to Forest Floor may she rest in peace.

P.S. We may or may not have just returned from a weekend of classes and shopping at Stitches West...details to come...because there are many and I just want to go knit on my Under the Hoodie! Hope everyone is having a great weekend!

UFO Resurrection: Starsky

So I've had these photos loaded in since last week when Nonnahs took them, but to say this week has been busy, would be an all-time understatement. Things are starting to slow down and except for a little trip next week, my schedule is fairly open now. ANYWAY! - on to the good stuff!

Starsky est fini!! I finished just after the first of the month, so pretty darn close to actually finishing in the month this project was resurrected for the UFO Resurrection Challenge. I am so happy to be done and couldn't be more pleased with the final fit. It is so comfortable through my shoulders and arms. Nothing pulls or tugs. And the best part? I can throw this sweater. Literally. I throw it on the chair. I throw it on the ottoman. It is THAT carefree.

As for the details, I made it with the recommended yarn Knit Picks Sierra in Cranberry. I used about 9 balls without the belt. I decided to leave off the belt, because with my longness it just didn't sit right. I added a single toggle as a closure instead (mainly because I only had one in my sewing bin). It still needs a hook and eye on the inside to help it stay shut and I am still thinking I should add a couple more toggles. The reason? Well, after trying to choose a good photo for this post, I realized that the sweater makes me look a wee bit preggers.

Other than that, I pretty much made the sweater as recommended. I made the smallest size and I do believe I knit a slightly smaller knit gauge to manage the ease. I say "I believe" because I didn't make very good notes when I packed this project away last summer. There were needle size issues that I just went with figuring that I had probably thought through everything at the time despite not remembering a thing now!

As for the collar, we had heard that there were various issues with the collar. However, since I never read anything directly myself, I don't really know what the issues were. Fresh off the needles, mine road up since the ribbing wanted to pull in on itself. I steamed the collar flat and that helped it (p)lay nice. The more I wear it though, the more it starts to ride up again, so I have a feeling that the ironing will be taking place regularly.

Overall, I would give this pattern a big thumbs up. It was easy to follow and straight forward. The pieces came out as advertised and except for the sleeves (were I stalled out), it knit up really fast. I'm still shocked at how quickly the collar knit up. I have a feeling that this sweater will be getting a ton of wear. It really is perfect for San Diego. It adds a nice layer of warmth and replaces the need for a jacket. I don't know about you, but I'd rather wear a sweater than a jacket any day!

Camera-less update

So, it's been awhile. We've been having trouble with the feed for our blog that most people are subscribed to and so far, we just can't figure out how to fix it. It happened as soon as we switched to the new blogger last weekend. The other two feeds updated, but not the main one. Since none of us are web-people, this really has us stumped and the explanations are confusing if you don't already understand how this whole thing works to begin with. The fixes that we tried last time we had this problem aren't possible with the new version of blogger (having the ability to re-publish the blog manually), so I guess we are just stuck. We notified Blogger of the issue, but haven't heard anything...as I'm sure they have their hands full right now.

I decided to just proceed as usual and maybe the publishing of posts and updates to the template will help "re-publish" the whole blog and fix this problem. It just sucks, because we have no way of telling the people subscribed to that feed that there is a problem. Hopefully they will see the error message in Bloglines and eventually check in to see if everything is alright...

Anyway, I have been busy with my various projects and managed to not only finish Starsky for my January UFO Resurrection, but a little scarf that I was working on for my office project. I would love to show you photos of them, but it seems that my camera is M.I.A. I'm not too worried because I know (more or less) where it is. I was taking pictures at Nasus and K's wedding party yesterday and I'm sure I left it at the house we were at. So, no scarf photos (they were already on the camera) and no Starsky photos as there is no camera to take my FO photos.

But, there were a couple things I've been meaning to mention for awhile, so maybe these pictures will serve as an adequate distraction. First, as proof of my Starsky progress, here are the finished pieces blocking.

However, with this photo I also wanted to share a little hint and tip. I've had wonderful success wet blocking using what I call my "thirsty" towels. These are those blue towels that they sell at camping stores or sports stores. They are made out of a thin fabric that sucks up many times their weight in water and dry super fast. They are great for camping because they are compact yet work just as good as a regular towel. Swimmers often have smaller versions to help dry their hair quickly. Turns out, they are also great for wet blocking! Because the fabric is designed to wick up the moisture, they pull the water out of the wool quickly. I usually place a plastic grocery bag (cut open like a big rectangle) under my thirsty towel. Then pin out my fabric like normal. The plastic keeps the moisture from soaking through to my carpet (which makes for longer drying time) and the wicking towel continually pulls the moisture from the wool. Add a little moving air with a small fan and I've been able to dry a full sweater overnight. My Deep V vest that was 4 layers thick in some places was dry in one day! Anyway, I don't think I could go back to using regular towels for this job and I hadn't heard anyone else talk about this method, so I thought I would share. Try it, you'll be amazed!

Next up I decided to apply this year's Project Spectrum in a specific may. I've become obsessed with making "block" blankets. Now, I actually haven't made any yet, but I have plans, big plans. The blanket that has inspired me the most is a rendition of the Manos "Four Seasons" throw. Lickety Knit made one as a wedding gift for a friend and I thought it was the coolest thing ever. I realized that a blanket like this would be an affordable project if done in stallments and since I want a blanket with a different color for each block, I can pretty much pick up a hank of Manos whenever I am so inclined.

However, in order to make this a project that actually gets completed, I thought I would knit the squares according to the Project Spectrum colors. This will let me participate in a way that is realistic for me (i.e. low stress) and will help me get my blanket done. I had previously purchased a hank of beautiful red Manos to start me out, but since blue is first, I went out to Lori's in Alpine (which is currently going through a very exciting expansion!) and picked up a hank of Mallard.

I've cast-on and am happily knitting away on square number 1. Thank you, Lolly for the great inspiration!