Colors and My Stash

For our "get to know your fellow" swappers post for this term of HSKS (this is the 12th, the 9th that I've participated in) it was determined that I have the largest stash in our group. You can see the post with my stash pictures here. (Or you can see a couple of the pics below... My Malabrigo cubby and my Wollmeise + Sundara FMC basket.)

A lot of the comments left on my blog were about how COLORFUL my stash is. I love colors. I love pretty much every color! I cycle for favorites depending on trends, seasons, my mood, pretty much anything. I can get triggered to a FAVORITE by seeing a shirt I like, or a flower, or a picture... ANYTHING!

Right now I am in love with ORANGE! I don't know if it's a subconscious want for it to be fall. I'm not sure where it came from. Normally I don't long for fall, being as it's the END of summer which is my favorite season.

 I have been fondling and staring at all my orange sock yarns. I cannot decide what I want to do with them or what I want to make. OR where to start. All I know is I WANT to cast on something ORANGE!

I've been looking at Stephen West scarves/shawlettes. Ronni gifted me the new one Pagona that is a preview for the upcoming West Knits book. Or maybe a Daybreak with orange and contrasted with a red or a yellow... Or a Red-Orange with a Yellow-Orange. Or maybe an Annis.

Not to mention a plethora of sock patterns that would work. I think making the Gin and Tonic socks in an orange and calling them my Tequila Sunrise socks. OR Anne Hanson's Flaming Desire, I've been in love with this pattern forever. OR MAYBE Phoebus Apollo, I've been hanging onto this pattern for a while.

In the meantime I'll continue to try and get some of these WIPs done while dreaming of the ORANGE project that's to come. (I'm heavily leaning toward Pagona.)

Finish 2, Start a New One

Recently I've been overwhelmed with all of my WIPs. I made myself a deal that in order to start a new project I had to finish 2 of those wips. So I did I actually listened to myself.

First Finished WIP:

Ozymandias, 

King of Kings

(AKA the never ending shawl from hell)

Pattern: Percy by Sanne Kalkman

Needles: US 7 / 4.5 mm

Yarn: Cosmic Fibers Ara Stellar

Color: Sweeney Todd

Edging Yarn: DIC Starry

Color: Midnight Derby

Beads: Size 6/0 

(replaced the nupps, and extended through the points)

Finished Dimensions:

55” across, 27” from base to tip

Modifications:

Beads added (see above), Ran out of my Sweeny Todd yarn so did a contrasting edging.

I am so very very very happy that this is done. I giggled like a madwoman when blocking it. I mean seriously this thing took me almost a year, and THEN I RAN OUT OF YARN... Well, actually now that it's done and I weighed the yarn I PROBABLY could have finished but when you have something like 20 rows to go and 6 or 7 grams or yarn, you start to worry. The end result is pretty and it makes me happy AND I'm pretty sure it makes other people jealous. Right? 

Second Finished WIP:

Knives Chau: 17 Years Old

My very first Scott Pilgrim Fandom knit. :D The scarf is just twisted rib, 17 stripes, each stripe is 5" long, so the total scarf is 85" long. I maybe could have gone longer but I was really stuck n wanting 17 stripes.

Details are as follows:

PATTERN:

• Cast on 24 stitches
• Using twisted rib create stripes
• Each stripe is 5” (or 27 rows)
• Bind Off after 17 stripes are finished

(NOTE: I did the math later on, and if I wanted the 10 foot long scarf, I'd need to make each row about 7" for 17 stripes, or have  23 stripes and be 5" short of 10 feet, or 25 stripes and be 5" over 10 feet. I debated doing 25 for a little bit.. Because then it'd be Lucy: 25 Years Old, but I just didn't like that as much.)

Needles: US 9 / 5.5 mm
Yarn: Cascade 220
Colors: 4002 (JET) & 8505 (WHITE)

AND FOR MY NEW PROJECT:

I cast on the Snapdragon Tam by Ysolda.

For some reason my brain wasn't functioning when I first cast this on Tuesday night. It took me 5 attempts:

• Attempt one: CO too few stitches
• Attempt two: Started knitting WITHOUT STITCH MARKERS and lost the beginning of my round
• ATTEMPT 3: too MANY stitches… I need enough for 5 repeats, and I CO for 5 1/2
• Attempt 4: I Twisted the G.D. stitches
• Attempt 5: FRAKKING finally

Luckily I persevered and managed to get going. I'm looking forward to having a very pretty hat and flip-top mitten set. Which reminds me... I'll need to buy buttons soon.

Scavenger Hunt - Q&A (Stop Swap Group)

Do you knit or crochet? How long have you been at your craft?

Knit. I've been knitting for 4-5?? years. I'm going to try and teach myself crochet with the help of a friend.

Do you spin? What type of spinning do you do?

No. It scares me, although I have been given a couple of drop spindles.

Are there any other crafts that you participate in?

Beading, Ceramics, Wire working, Charcoals, Pastels, Painting ... But they've more or less taken a backseat in my life since I'm always working knitting or reading. There's just not enough time.

What are your favorite yarns/fibers?

Fibers: merino, silk, cashmere, MCN, alpaca

Yarns: Malabrigo, Madeline Tosh, Wollmeise, Dream in Color, Rainy Days & Wooly Dogs (creator of GothSocks), Cosmic Fibers, String Theory, Sanguine Gryphon

What are your LEAST favorite yarns/fibers?

Acrylics and acrylic blends, most cottons (Not all though. I recently was at an LYS and started to realize not all cotton is as miserable to work with.)

I've banned myself from lace weight. I have like 4 or 5 skeins and I've yet to use them. I tried once and it was too thin. If I try again and get into it I'll revisit lace weight.

I also don't like scratchy wools. I'm not a Noro fan (love the colors but it's so scratchy). Also do not like Araucania

Are there any types/brands of yarn that you are dying to work with but haven’t gotten a chance?
Ummm... I'm not sure. I'm sure there are things I've not tried but I don't know them yet. I'm willing to find out and try them though! :)

What are your favorite types of projects to knit/crochet?
Socks, Shawlettes, and I've been on a scarf kick, but that'll be short lived and result in a lot of UFOs that get ripped out in a month or two

What are you currently working on? Anything you plan to start this autumn?
Currently: Finishing WIPs and about to start a Ravenclaw scarf for the new HP movie

Plans: some Christmas gifts (stuffed dogs for 2 girls, hats for my brothers, pillows for my mom), a Snapdragon tam and mitts set for myself in Malabrigo twist

Are their any knitting/crochet techniques that you would like to learn?

I'm really wanting to learn to crochet. Ronni started to teach me. Hettie has sent me links to youtube tutorials to get me (re)started. I have the SnB Happy Hooker book, but I need to have hands on experience before that will ever help me

Do you have a yarn winder and/or a swift?

Yes to both!

Where/how to you keep you needles/hooks?
I just re-organized my "Room of Requirement" ... So all my needles are together: in the basket I have my interchangeables in a case, my sock DPNs in a roll, and a namaste cozy with my few crochet hooks and 2 dpn sets. I also have the tumbler from the Loopy Ewe anniversay kit holding my straights and a namaste circs case for my circs.

Do you collect anything?

Shot Glasses, Starbucks cards (I have a future art-type project planned for them), Books (I guess)

What is your favorite type of music? Are you MP3 ready?

Ummm... I have a pretty diverse taste in music. I like punk. I guess. I really love the nerd-punk-rock genre (Descendants and Weezer). Ummm my favorite bands are the Offspring, Bad Religion, Flogging Molly, The Thermals... I also like a lot of more "indie" bands (Florence and the Machine was non-stop playing for a while.) I love that indie-punk-raw sound... Currently I'm obssesed with Metric. (Thank you Scott Pilgrim soundtrack). The ENTIRE Scott Pilgrim soundtrack pretty much rocks. I like that sound. ;)

My LastFM profile (it's probably a better way to explain my music)

I own (honestly) like 6 different iPods. I'm an apple junkie.

Do you like sweets? What are your favorites?

YES! Chocolates - especially dark chocolates or chocolates from Netherlands and/or Belgium (but only when it's not so hot they melt in my mail), Lemon (cookies, martinis, hard candies, etc), coffee! (that's a sweet right?), gummies

What is your living situation like? Any pets? Children?

House with Boyfriend and my Pug, the spoiled diva. (He won't drink tap water anymore, and wants ICE CUBES in his bowl). No kids, Rocky would be sooooo jealous.

Are you allergic to anything?

Grasses, some pollens, melons, bananas

Do you have an online wish list (Amazon, Etsy, Loopy Ewe, etc.)?

I do! Links are in the side bar over there ----->

(don't exactly follow that arrow it's up a ways too.)

Is there anything else that you would like your pal to know?

I'm a lot of fun! I swear!