What I've been working on...

After ripping out a lacy scarf I started using this homespun angora/silk blend I decided plain stockinette stitch would show off the color and texture of this yarn best... it's probably about 65% done:


And here is my hourglass sweater from Last Minute Knitted Gifts. I'm using a 100% cotton yarn from Crystal Palace called cotton flamme. IT's a thick thin cotton that knits to right about 5 st per inch. The second photo shows the yarn texture pretty well:



And here is my completed wavy scarf using rowan kidsilk haze and frog tree alpaca. The second photo shows the corkscrew fringe better (but the top photo shows the color better):



And that's what I've been knitting while I haven't been posting :-) Finally slowed down a bit at work so I can come home every once in awhile :-)

away

sorry to have been such a slacker on my blog. I've been working a lot (12 hour days 6 days a week). This is going to continue for the rest of the month at least

But I am getting some knitting in still. I finished a Wavy scarf for my mom and I added some corkscrew fringe from Knitting on the Edge as well. The scarf is awesome to touch. I stranded Frog Tree Alpaca and Rowan Kidsilk Haze together. I'll get a photo posted sometime this week. I'm quite pleased with it.

And now I need to sleep to get ready for another very long day at work.

zippers n stuff

here are the zippers I ordered from http://www.zipperstop.com

I figured I'd get a couple extra since I was ordering. The one on the far right is a perfect match for the dark purple/brown of my ribby cardigan. I'm a bit frightened of sewing it in but I'll give it a go this week.

I finished my hoodie from the last post and it's drying as I type.

See more photos in my finished projects page http://yarnjunkie2.blogspot.com/ The body was a little short but I'm hoping that I blocked it well enough to fix that.

As far as my trying not to buy anymore yarn for a while... not doing so well. Better than I have been but I've been buying more then I should. I've got 2 sweaters worth on order. http://www.littleknits.com/ is having a sale so I got some Cascade Eco and Eco+ (chocolate for the Eco and cinnamon in the Eco+). Well tomorrow is another day... I'll keep resisting as well as I can :-) Soon I'll have to start storing it in the coat closet as well.

WIP photos

I started this hoodie in early December... got the front, back and hood done and then shelved it. So a few weeks back I pulled it out and I now have the sleeves done up to about the elbow. It's made from Malabrigo bulky wool in Pasto green. The yarn is lovely to work with... here it is:




The Flame sweater... color work is a pain. My dad will love it but I have to say these flames are not that fun. So many balls of yarn are involved... I untangle as much as I actually knit. There are a couple boo boo's but I'm happy with the result so far :-)





Ribby almost done. The zipper is on order and will hopefully come next week. But the actual knitting is complete. I'm looking forward to wearing this. The Jo Sharp Silkroad Aran is awesome. Great to knit with and it's so cozy and soft. Yummy:

Jessy's Sweater

I finally started this sweater for my dad. The yarn was for christmas and the sweater is for his birthday (April 23rd). I'll post a photo tomorrow but it's coming along pretty well. Once the flame portion is done this sweater should go pretty quickly.



Flames! This is so cool. I may have to add the flames to other projects as well.

-Amber

Photos up the wazzu

Since I've been slacking on taking photos of my numerous WIP's... here goes:
My Ribby Cardi nearing completion:



A zig zag cable scarf for a friend at work who has been putting in a lot of time helping me:


The top image is actually the front... but I kinda like the back better :-)

Here is the Wavy scarf made with Rowan Kidsilk Haze and Frog Tree Alpaca held together. It's so soft... this will be for my mom:


This is a cable scarf made from some of my Stitches West yarn... Alpaca/Wool blend:

Cables are hard to photograph.

And some more Stitches West yarn... A handspun Angora/Silk yarn. It's decadent:

This is a lace pattern... but the pattern doesn't show well in this photo:


And a couple finished projects:

A Broken Rib scarf in Colinette one-zero (still needs blocking):


And my Ruffle scarf in Noro:


Whew... that should do it :-)

I feel so productive

Last night I finally finished the sleeves for my Ribby Cardigan. The ends are woven in but I need to block and finish it (and knit the collar and button bands). Yippie!

And I finished a rather chunky scarf for a friend. It's Colinette One-Zero yarn knit in a single broken rib pattern. I'll get some photos posted this weekend. It's just nice to finish a couple WIPS :-)

I'm it

I have been tagged by Marisa from One By One with the Knitting Meme:

Do you knit using the English or Continental Method?
I use the Continental method. It's the way I learned and I have no idea how to knit the English way.

Who taught you how?
A coworker taught me. She started a knitting group at work and got me going. I was so excited to find a "cheap" hobby. Photography is my other hobby of choice. Little did I know that knitting is not cheap :-)

What was your first FO?
A garter stitch scarf. Of course I had to make it harder than necessary. It was knit with green and charcoal grey wool (dk weight) on size 6 needles. And I wanted it really wide. So it was about 70 stitches wide. It took me forever to finish it.

Favorite Pattern Source?
I love books, magazines, and the internet. Ann Budd's Handy book of sweater patterns coupled with a good stitch book are great for so many sweaters. Vogue Knitting and Interweave Knits are my favorite knitting magazines. And Knitty is an awesome online source for patterns.

Favorite Needles?
I love Addi Turbos for circulars and Lantern Moon or Crystal palace for straight.

Nicest thing you've ever knit?
Probably my "under the Hoodie" sweater. It's knit in Rowan Kid Classic and is just heaven to wear. Although I'm proud of a lot of the scarves and purses I've made as gifts.

Most hated project?
I have a fine gauge ribbed scarf that has been on needles for about a year and a half. It's turning out to be a great scarf... It's just painfully boring to knit. 60 stitches wide 2x2 rib on size 7 needles. I should really just finish it.

Who are you going to pass this on to?
Roxanne and Cyndi

Yummy... but oops

I need to stay away from the Knitters Review Forum. They are always talking about awesome yarn and it makes me want some. So here is what I ordered this morning.

The main color is the burgandy with stripes in the other 3 colors:


And for good measure... a scarf for my boyfriend in:


The sweater yarn is their wool and the scarf is the merino. So I cracked after a week of no yarn... resetting my counter now and going to try to be stronger. I think I'm truly a yarn junkie :-)

SO MUCH YARN!

I was at Stitches West for 5 hours today... 5 hours of yarn shopping!

Wow!

I only bought hand dyed and hand spun yarns... nothing I could get in a yarn store. I even got some cashmere for a scarf. I came home with a large bag of gorgeous yarn. Now I think it time to really stop buying any more yarn for some time... I'm going to shoot for 6 months. So wish me luck!

oops

I need to learn to stay away from ebay. This is the Rowanspun Aran I picked up today :-) It's a great color and the price was awesome... and no shipping fee. So I'm going to just re-set my counter to 0 and start fresh on Moday (after Stitches). Then I will have to be strong... as I've run out of space for my yarn.

TTFN

Stitches West

I've been so good... no yarn bought in the last 2 weeks. Of course Stitches West is happening this Weekend and I'm going. Maybe I should just re-set my counter now. I completely plan on buying yarn. Last year Tess yarns had a booth and I really want some of their Angora/Merino Yarn. It looks like they now have a Cashmere yarn as well... yikes! Their colors are amazing. Last year I got some of their superwash merino in "frog kisses" a verigated green. Very nice stuff.

So in other knitting... I'm done with the back, front and about 1/3 of the sleeves for my Ribby:



I just hope it's not too small. My swatch guage expanded after washing so I am knitting according to that guage. Wish me luck with the blocking :-) I'm also plodding along on my Ruffle and Here & there Cable scarves. I'm close to finishing a bunch of projects... just have to stick with it. There are just so many projects I'm itching to start :-)

here & there, ruffle, tote

These 2 scarves are from Scarf Style. The pink one is the Here and There Cable scarf (fun pattern). The yarn is handpaindedyarn.com 100% merino and feels like butter. The multi color one is Ruffle in Noro Kureyon. I love the colors but the yarn itself isn't that nice. Hopefully it'll soften with washing:






This is a felted tote I finally finished up for my boyfriends mother:

Angora Rocks!

I just got my box of Angora in dark red. I really want to start a sweater with it RIGHT NOW. But I have 3 sweaters on needles at the moment :-) And my next project is a sweater for my dad that needs to be done by late April. Evil.

Well maybe once I finish one of the three on needles I can start this one and the one for my dad. Although the one for my dad will be a fun one. It's the Jessy Sweater from Stitch n Bitch Nation. It has flames on the sleeves!


So much to knit so little time

How Capricorn am I?

You are 80% Capricorn

How much do you match your zodiac sign?

When I'm bad...

So here is the peruvian highland wool I ordered today:







At least one of these combos will go into making another Ribby Cardi. But the other will probably be a pullover reglan. And now I have to re-set my no yarn counter.

gah!

Ribby Color Scheme

Here is the color for the body:

and arms:

but I may just make a solid one in the purple/brown color. Not sure yet. The yarn is Jo Sharp Silkroad Aran. It's awesome to work with. I feel better about having so much of it now :-)

oops couple more projects

This is a scarf made using Jo Sharp Silkroad Ultra in cream. The photo on the left shows the color better and the one on the right shows the cable better:

And this is the Wavy scarf from the current issue of knitty.com. The waves are more visible than the photo shows. But the verigated quality of the yarn makes it hard to photograph.

Angora!

I am so weak. I've been eying Elsebeth Lavold Angora to make a sweater for many months and I finally broke down. Webs carries it and gives a 25% discount if you spend over $120. So here is the color I picked Burgandy Red:

My justification is as follows... I was planning on picking up some yarn from Elann.com tomorrow as well as some of their Peruvial Wool and the total would be about as much as one sweater from Angora. So now I'll have one really nice sweater rather than 2 pretty nice ones :-)

And now I will officially start a "days since last yarn purchase" countdown on my side bar. Kinda like the days since last safety accident they have on construction sites in cartoons :-)

Wish me luck at staying strong!

Paint me happy

Photos finally. This is an irish hiking scarf I made for my brother for christmas (well it was a bit late):

and here is one of the MANY basic cable hats I made:
And here is the broken rib scarf I completed earlier this year using (gasp!) lion brand wool ease thick n quick:

I also started the cable cardigan form the holiday issue of Vogue Knitting (using cascade lana d'oro in burnt orange) . This is the first 5 inches or so of the back. 3x3 ribbing so far: