So ashamed :(

I've been so consumed by my research lately that I have not touched any knitting in this year! I was originally planning to finish my thesis by April or May, and I was making such good progress! I mean, it's 11:26PM and I'm still at school! Well, maybe it's because I'm a little behind on marking the reports for the lab course I'm TAing, but nonetheless, I'm working!

Anyway, since there's no knitting, there's not much of an update. However, I HAVE finished the deep v argyle vest (in December actually), I just never got around to blocking it, and taking pics to put on here. With the weather being so cold, I probably should block it so I get to wear it!!! Hopefully, I will get to that soon. I also started on the back piece of the Phildar cross over cardi (which I mentioned in the previous post), and just got to the the sleeve shaping.

I seriously need to spend all my time on research and TA, so that doesn't leave much knitting time. :( But hopefully I'll be able to sneak in a row here and there, and next post should (it better!) have some more interesting things to show.

Finally! Some progress to show!

This is seriously a fun knit! I just can't put it down! I just want to finish knitting so I can try out steeking. Although I've never done it before, and actually quite nervous about it, but it keeps me motivated! About another inch or so and I'll be upt ot the armscye shaping. I'm a little too tight on the stitch gauge, about 2-3 stitches more per 4", but I've put it on scrap yarn before and tried it out, and it fits, so hopefully blocking it will help. I'm perfect on row gauge though! There's also a bit of puckering. I think that's inevitable, and hopefully, blocking it will even it out.

Yes, more yarn. I went on a bit of yarn binging a couple weeks ago when I was stuck here in Waterloo over the weekend. I just went a bit crazy on the internet shopping. The yarn on the left is Phildar Quietude in Aubergine (a new colour - it's a purple basically), and on the right, we have Phildar Lambswool in Noir.

The Quietude is for the first sweater. It's from Phildar Tendances Autumn 05 06. They didn't have an English version for this, so hopefully, I'll be able to translate the French. 9 years of French and finally it can serve a purpose! :p The Lambswool is destined for this cute little wrap cardi also from Phildar Tendances, but Spring 05. Luckily, there's an English version for this.

Sarcelle has been a little neglected lately. I'll try to work on her during the holidays, but seriously, it is one slow knit!

Come Ye, Come All!

Look what I've started! I've decided to knit this for the Stranded: The Colorwork Challenge instead of the Anemoi Mittens. I actually casted on a couple days ago and had gone up to the first row of colourwork, but then, realized I had casted on for the wrong size. So off to the frog pond it went.

This is what I knitted up yesterday:

I also didn't swatch. Shame on me. :( I actually tried, but trying to knit fair isle in the round on DPNs is rather difficult, and I didn't think I'd get same gauge on circulars anyway so I just went with it. The yarn had the same gauge as what's called for, only difference being I was supposed to use 4mm instead of 3.5mm, but for some reason, I didn't realize that until I was in the 4th or 5th row of colourwork, and I was NOT going to rip it out again for a 2nd time. I checked though, I'm not THAT off, so a good blocking should solve that problem.

I'm really enjoying the fair isle, although my hands got tired really quickly. I held one strand in each hand, and I guess I wasn't used to the continental knitting style. I'm using Clover bamboo circulars. You wanna see the back? Come on, you know you wanna!

Not bad for a first-timer, eh? This is actually a first time of many things. First knitted garment. First knitting in the round (aside from socks). First fair isle project. I'm loving it!

My very first KAL!

I've joined my VERY first KAL! It's Stranded: The Colorwork Challenge. I'm planning to knit Eunny's Anemoi Mittens with RYC Cashsoft 4 ply in a charcoal grey colour, and a mauve colour. Just bought the yarn from the local LYS. Sorry, don't have any pics to show because by the time I got home, it was way too dark for decent pics. This is also the very first time I'm trying out fair isle. Looking forward to it. Hopefully, by joining the KAL, I'll have some motivation to finish it! It's a pair of mittens, so theoretically, it shouldn't be too time consuming. Um ... I'm setting myself a goal of December 31? It's totally do-able. We'll c.

In other news, remember in the last post I said there was no way I'm frogging Sarcelle? I ended up ripping back a couple rows and then picking the stitches back up. It's all good ... EXCEPT that it's going VERY VERY slowly! It's now taking me about 35 minutes to do a 6 row repeat. At least I've got the pattern down.

Probably start swatching for the Deep V Argyle Vest tonight or tomorrow. I really need to get some work done around here. Been having a bit of personal problems lately, and that's affecting EVERYTHING. School, sleep, knitting, eating ... It's like, I'm hungry, but the smell and thought of food makes me want to throw up! Well, this started BEFORE the "personal problems" started, but it's been a like a week now. Maybe I should go to the doctor's.

Sarcelle oh Sarcelle, why must you treat me so?

Things are NOT going well around this part. Just as I've almost got the pattern repeat memorized, THIS happens:

Yuppers. Those are dropped stitches. On purpose. Because I screwed up. Mistakes in lace knitting = NO FUN! I've already spent hours on those measely little couple inches. I am NOT, I repeat NOT sending it to the frog pond. Besides, it'd be a pain to frog it since the stitches kind of catches on to one another like mohair does. What actually happened was I was missing a stitch on the edge. I couldn't figure out what was wrong, so I simply decided to increase a stitch. It was right on the edge, and after blocking, shouldn't be noticeable. I put it down last night, and woke up this morning to see that I've screwed up. I had accidentally shifted the pattern one stitch over. It was about 6 rows down so I thought maybe, maybe just perhaps I can dropped the stitches and fix it. It's no fun when you got yos, pfbs, and kfbs. No siree. Not having much luck so far, but I'll look at it a bit later. I really need to get some work done on my research. That's going to be on fun either since I'm trying to program something, and that also requires debuggin. Arg.

On a happier note, look what I got in the mail today! Socks That Rock in Midsummer Night and Rose Quartz. I love handpainted yarns in different colours ... when they are still in a skein. But once you knit it up, the colour's too busy for me. I prefer solids or near solids. Hm, any suggestions what to make with these?

The Jaeger Matchmaker Merino DK is for this. Now I just need to wait for my needles to come before I can get started on it! Can't wait!

Walking in a winter wonderland

This is what I woke up to this morning. Days of wiping snow off the car and sitting in a freezing car waiting for it to warm up have started! Also means I will soon be able to try out the new skis and boots I bought earlier in the year! If only it wasn't so cold and didn't have to walk to school ... brrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr. It was only last that week that it was +12 instead of -12 degrees!

So I've finally started Sarcelle. I love the lace pattern! But it's progressing VERY VERY slow. It's taking me average of about 25 minutes to do one repeat. At this rate, it'll take me a good couple years to finish it! Hopefully, it won't remain in the WIP pile forever. Not to mention the additional times I have to fix my mistakes. I still haven't been able to memorize the pattern yet. I'm sure there's a method this madness!

What can you do with 1375 yd of laceweight yarn in 5 hours?

This is what you get:

It took me 5 whole hours to wind the skein of Merino Oro into a ball by hand. I don't have a swift or ball winder and I have yet to justify spending money on that ... for now. I contemplated actually knitting from the skein, but the thoughts of undoing the mess of knots put me off that idea. I wanted to start Sarcelle, but I think I've had enough of this yarn for the night. Time to get some rest.