Options are not optional

For those of you familiar with Knit Picks, you will for sure have noticed they make a beautiful wooden needle they call Harmony. Not only are they beautiful to look at but the tips are the pointiest wooden tips I've ever seen. They have a Harmony wood story on their site explaining the creation of these unique wooden needles.

I am now the proud owner of the Harmony Options needle set! These are interchangeable circular needles and came with 9 different tips ranging from 3.5mm to 9mm.



The set came with a case to carry all the needle tips in along with a separate case to control the cables. There were also some ends and a tightener.

I also ordered separately the stand which I'm really glad I did. Now I'll have to work on getting the other sizes I'm missing to fill my stand up.



If you are a circular needle knitter I highly recommend these needles. For the price and what you get the Options needles are not optional ;)

FOs

I just returned from a work trip to Las Vegas. Not much knitting done on the trip, just one sock that I haven't taken a picture of yet. Prior to the trip however, it seemed like I was trying to finish everything up before leaving. I was only gone for 5 days, but there was definitely a sense of urgency to finish as much as possible before heading out.

First, here's a pic of the finished Rosamund's Cardigan on me. It fits well and I've worn it quite a bit so far.

Closed:


Open:


I like it both open and closed at the top while leaving it a bit open at the bottom. It does have clasps all the way to the bottom but thus far I don't use them much. I love the buttons!

Next are two pairs of felted clogs, yet to be felted.


Here's hubby modeling them prior to felting. You can see how crazy huge they are.


And for the Nancy Bush KAL, here is my finished mitten. That's all I'm going to do for now for the KAL, as some other items have taken a higher priority to finishing the second mitten. I really liked making this though. Knitting with the hand dyed yarn as the contrast color added a lot of dimension to the pattern and was really a joy to work with.


Now that I'm back home the priorities for February are:
- Finish Isabel's second cardigan (only sleeve and finishing remaining)
- Finish spinning for Spin A Long
- Finish socks started on Vegas trip
- Work on Troy's saddle shoulder pullover
- Work on Lace SAL project a little every other day
- Start afghan for a birthday present in March

I love lists... now let's see how far I get on it.

Holy crap I'm stupid

The stupidest thing a knitter can do is to knit blindly away with instructions they had wrote down that were wrong. I've just wasted 2 nights of knitting using instructions that I had already once found out were incorrect, and that time I didn't even get as far as this time.

Frog pond here I come! And I'm crossing out those 'bad' instructions to never again be used. Stupid stupid me!

(For those curious, the item going to the frog pond is the pink top down sweater I was knitting at Chapters. The fronts do not come together, just like the first time I made this mistake!)

Isabel's Cardigan

One navy blue cardigan has been delivered to a sweet little 2 1/2 year old girl, Isabel, and her mom this morning.



Both are very pleased and it was a terrific reward to see little Isabel running around showing off her new sweater. I hope it keeps her warm for the upcoming months and then later warms her baby sister too!

Details:
Based slightly on Flyaway Cardi by Debbi Bliss. Modified to be knit top down
Berroco Ultra Alpaca yarn, 2 balls
4.5mm needles

A New Year

I'm not going to dwell on how long it has been since I shared projects and stories with you on this blog. It is a new year so we will start fresh.

The first finished project on 2010 was Rosamund's Cardigan and it was for me. I finished up Christmas knitting early this year and rewarded myself for a new sweater to cast on Dec 23. It came off the needles Jan 4 and was blocked with buttons Jan 5 and worn on Jan 6! That is definitely a record for me. It was a combination of more knitting time plus focusing on this project only that allowed me to finish it so promptly. It was a fun knit and I love my new cardigan.




Note: The pattern calls for it to be worn with reversible stocking stitch, or the ridges on the right side. I've chosen to wear it with the knit side as the right side and it works just as well.

I'm super stoked about the next project on the needles. Heidi is having a Designer knit a long so I've casted on Maimu's Mitten's by Nancy Bush from her book Folk Knitting in Estonia. I haven't even been out to the KAL group that meets on Sunday afternoon's at London-Wul yet due to sickness, Christmas and bad weather but last night at Line's place Catherine and Manon twisted my arm to cast on while I was knitting with them. They did a great job of helping me pick the yarn I was going to use and plan the project, but not much luck on the knitting. When I got home I looked at what I'd knit and tore it off the needles. It was way too sloppy and the point of this KAL for me is to learn and perfect some knew techniques. Home alone on my couch I conquered the Double Cast On and the Two Color Braids. Lesson learned is that I must stick to brainless knitting amoung friends.



Tonight I conquer Nupps, or as Nancy translates them, bud stitches.