So much gray!

Goodale, originally uploaded by Filipina Sakura.

This is Goodale, another gray project. I say that because the last 3 FO's have all been different shades of gray. I'm in desperate need to have a pop of color somewhere! I apologize this is not a good picture of it. One of these days I'll get a decent full length mirror at home so I don't take these pictures in the office restroom.

I finished the knitting over a year ago. From what I remember, Madelinetosh's Pashmina was a dream to knit up and I love how drapey the garment turned out. Overall, I'm a teenie weenie bit underwhelmed with the final product. Yes, the little details are very cute, but not on me. Wearing it for the first time today I found the pocket flaps (the fronts that are folded) a bit flimsy. They don't stay folded back and it looks awful. They'll have to be sewn down to lay flat. Eventually I'll warm up to it the more I wear it.

The rest of my knitting agenda is finishing all the WIPs I've put on hold. I have high hopes to have Saroyan done....soon?

Too much on my plate?

In the past couple days I've casted on for two different projects, both of which I bought yarns specifically for at last month's Stitches West extravaganza:

Saroyan

A leafy scarf sorta thing. I'm using Sanguine Gryphon Codex in Secret Garden. This murky shiny blue/greenish/black color is GORGEOUS! I've decided this will be the project to keep at work. The following project will be too much to carry in my bag everyday.

Traveling Sweater (TS)

A comfy open cardigan sweater. I'm using Blue Moon Fiber Arts Woobu in Deep Unrelenting Gray. It's perfectly gray. Not dark, but not light. No variegation whatsoever. This wasn't my first choice of colorways. I wanted my TS to be a darker shade of gray with some bit of dark blue mixed in, like colorways Corbie or Thraven.

Unfortunately for me the Woobu selection was picked over and it was only Friday at 1pm at Stitches!! There were 2.5 days to go and they were cleaned out by the time I left. I'm sure I'll love this cardi when I'm done but it's ANOTHER GRAY SWEATER. =/ I say this because I just finished (but not yet blocked) Goodale, made from madelinetosh Pashmina in Composition Book Gray.

I'm being lazy with Goodale's finishing. It needs blocking, then sewing, then re-blocking to set the pockets. When the weather gets better and I have reason to wear a short sleeved OPEN cardigan I'll have it completely done in no time.

Oh, I forgot one more project I'll be casting on soon...my first mystery KAL. It's feministy's (AKA Liz Abinante) Roxanne Mystery Shawl KAL starting April 15. I'm using sock yarn stash. I'm trying real hard to not purchase the suggested yarn because the color is absolutely beautiful. I'll wait to see how my choice of yarn turns out first.

I suppose my gray phase is fitting for this awful weather we're having. Last night as I was making my gauge swatch for the TS it sounded like my house was going to get blown down by the strong wind and pounding rain. It seemed to never end. At times I love this weather, but after 2+ days of gloom I need a shot of sunshine. I don't know how you northwest folks do it! I'm especially bummed this weekend because we cancelled our trip to Safari West. I was looking forward to staying in a fancy schmancy tent cabin. If you didn't know this is a full moon weekend as well. Our photo opportunities have been duped by Mother Nature. I was looking forward to playing with my new cameras.

California needs the rain before the dry season begins but when it interrupts my plans that bitch needs to calm down. Space it out a little bit, lady! If her intention was to blow off the final bits of blossoms off my plum tree, she succeeded.

TD update and the "happy" gift recipients

I haven't worked on the tilted duster as much as I wanted to this past week. I thought I was going to knit the entire time I was dog sitting for my brother because I'd be bored out of my mind but that didn't happen. When I finally got a chance to take a breather I figured out how to seam the shoulders of the TD (as seen here)
and seam the sides of of the front and back portions using the mattress stitch seen here:
I love learning new stuff about knitting! I still have so much to learn. Here is the upper body finished:
I'm a bit further along since I took this photo. I knitted one sleeve, skipped the other and went for the skirt next. I'm about 5 inches into the skirt. Picking up stitches for the skirt was a complete bitch. I kept losing count of how many I needed to pick up and for some reason I was having a really difficult time picking up and knitting the stitches because they were really tight. Was anyone else out there having this problem? But anyway, I'm in skirt rib hell right now. It's taking forever. Peruvia is extremely rough on my hands while knitting but after blocking the front and back pieces they were surprisingly soft. I have about 5 more skirt repeats to go, still need to knit up the other sleeve, and then do the ribbed collar. Yup. That's all.

Here's my niece and cousin with their knitted gifts I made them:Marhiel has a purl scarf with some floofy yarn I found at Jo-ann's. Yes, it's acrylic but whatever...it can be thrown in the washing machine. There's no way in hell her busy mom would remember to handwash it. If I used wool it would be a felted mess by now and my efforts would've been wasted and I'd be upset.

Leila got the fingerless gloves and foliage hat made out of Malabrigo worsted. (She wouldn't put the hat on because she didn't want to mess up her hair. Whatever. *rolling eyes*)

If they didn't like them they definitely humored me and flashed a big smile for these photos.

Happy New Year to everyone and more fearless knitting in 2008!

Juliet: 2nd time around

Sheesh. I don't have very much luck with picking out the correct size. Not sure if it's the patterns, the raglan style, or me. Probably all three...the latter more than anything.

I didn't think starting the lace pattern right after binding off the sleeves would've looked flattering for my chest size. Instead, I started the lace pattern right under my chest. I'm hoping I made the correct choice.

I'm 3 lace repeats in. I'll decide what to do after 3 more repeats...stop or move on. We'll see how it goes. I'm so anxioius to get done. I'm taking longer than I wanted to work on this. I have some other little projects I want to get my hands on. I'm really tired of the feel of cotton fleece.

I Couldn't Wait

This is the first few rows of my Juliet cardigan. I had to start it last night. I now have 3 WIPs on the needles. I'm usually not this bad. I like to finish a project before I start another. I'm still working on the Filigree scarf and I need to partially rip out the Red Sox Sock and figure out what went wrong at the heel. I got bored with the scarf. I haven't made a scarf since the beginning of the year. I did get the hang of the lace pattern after repeating it tons of times. It's very pretty but it was killing me. It's one of those projects I can keep in my purse and pull it out to work on every once in awhile when I have nothing else to do.

I waited a week before I casted on Juliet. That's as long as I could handle. I received the pattern for my birthday from Bubba's aunt last weekend. I squealed inside so as not to let his other family members feel bad since I didn't want to be overly excited about showing how much I LOOOOVED the knitting stuff she gave me (not that I didn't like what others gave me because I did and I'm very appreciative...but ya know..it's knitting stuff!!). =)

I REALLY want to love this cardigan when I'm done. I'm way too excited about making it and I don't want to be disappointed. The only thing that concerns me is the size I chose. I've done 2 other Zephyr Style top patterns and I've always had to go down a size or two. I did the same with Juliet and *crossing my fingers* I hope it comes out fine. Fortunately I'll be able to try this on as I knit it. This will be an incredibly fast knit since it's a chunky yarn pattern. If I like it I may have time to make a second in a different yarn and color.