Knitting with Silk

Silk is great to knit with since it feels so nice between your fingers. I've just used Fiesta La Luz (I told you, I find one thing I like and I stick to it!) and I've really only knit with two patterns though I have gifted a lot of these scarves to other people such as my mom, my older sister, my younger sister, my roommate, and my officemate. The light brown/pinkish scarf (actually Fiesta's name for the color is Champagne) was the first silk scarf that I knit... The pattern was very simple and it was my first time doing yarn-overs, so I messed up slightly on this scarf though you probably can't tell, but I thought that YO meant the yarn over and the knit stitch after it so this scarf is actually supposed to have 5 yarnovers per row rather than 4. I don't think the pattern has a name though I bought it from my local yarn store (Woolcott). The darker brown scarf (Pinon by Fiesta La Luz) is knit in Braching Out and I'm not done with yet. Perhaps you can't see the details of this scarf very well (sorry, I think I took a bad picture), but it's a pretty lace pattern with leaves on it. Again I'm hoping that posting it on my blog will help me finish it... I haven't really wore the Champagne scarf yet because as a grad student, I'm not really sure how to wear silk scarves with my daily attire -- perhaps I should have thought about it before I knit it, but oh well, it was fun to knit. I know that my mom and my older sister have been wearing theirs a lot. My older sister's is in in Branching Out and is silver (Silverado by Fiesta La Luz) and my mom's is in the simpler pattern and is in this color called Cinnamon (again Fiesta La Luz). The color of my mom's scarf reminds me of the Grand Canyon since it is the color of rocks.

What's on your knitting bookshelf?

So far I just have Scarf Style and Vogue Knitting. I've only knit one thing from Scarf Style but it seems like it has a lot of fun stuff in it, like Midwest Moonlight, the ruffled scarf, Ene's scarf (though it's really more of a shawl), etc. Other books that I am interested in are Wrap Style, the sock books mentioned in my previous post, Louisa Harding's Hats, Gloves, Scarves and Folk Shawls... Are there other books I should be interested in? :)

Socks! Socks! Socks!

I kind of wondered what the craze about sock knitting was, since sock yarn really isn't that cheap and you spend all this time knitting something and it just goes in your shoes anyway so what's the point? But then as I was browsing more and more yarns I realized that sock yarns come is some really awesome colors (like these ones I just got in the mail :) :) ) The two skeins on the left are Lorna's Laces in Somerset and the remaining six skeins are Koigu. Who knew that I would end up with Merino socks!

Having started a couple of socks myself, I realize that socks are fun to knit since working with small needles the stitches look more uniform, you can incorporate all sorts of lace patterns, and turning the heel is cool...

I haven't actually finished a single pair of socks. I can sometimes have a really short attention span when it comes to the various projects that I start, so I'm hoping that in part, this blog will help me finish the projects that I start if I post my half done projects on this website. So I'm posting two pairs of socks that I started. They are competing for the title of first pair of socks that I have ever knitted. One is knit in the Broadripple pattern from Knitty using Cascade Fixation and the other is knit in the Hedera pattern from Knitty using Koigu. I don't have any sock books yet so I'm all about the free patterns (though it's no sacrifice really because Knitty seems like it has a lot of great sock patterns. But if I did buy a sock book next, it might be Sensational Knitted Socks since it seems like everyone raves about that book or Socks! Socks! Socks! because it has tons of patterns and got really great reviews as well....

My first scarf from Scarf Style

Scarf Style is actually one of the few knitting books I own and so far I have only done one pattern from it. I did the Backyard Leaves pattern and here it is. This pattern is knit in two pieces and then grafted together. I hate grafting! Perhaps this is why it sits, still not grafted... But the pattern was really fun otherwise (I guess I'm using the word fun too much on this blog), but I really enjoyed the way the leaves came out as I was knitting and the though the lace chart looks intimidating at first it really wasn't that hard to get the hang off. For this scarf, I used 4 skeins of Karabella Aurora 8 in Herb on size 7 needles.

Cashsoft Scarf

I knit this scarf from Knit Ponchos, Wraps, and Scarves (my officemate lent it to me) using 2-3 skeins of Cashsoft Aran. The cashsoft was fun to work with since it feels so soft in your fingers and I enjoyed the fan pattern... I hadn't really worked a lot with increases and decreases so the fan part of the scarf gave me good practice with that... must block! I wish I had a huge apartment to lay out my drying scarves all over the place.

My first experience with cables

I also knit this scarf from Knit Ponchos, Wraps, and Scarves (again the officemate lent it to me) with two skeins of Manos (I guess once I find something that I like, I tend to stick with it). It was my first time doing cables -- I must say that I don't really love cables, though it was kind of fun using the cable needle the first time around. I have not yet worn this scarf, I hope that it doesn't look too manly for me to wear and I've been debating whether or not I should block this scarf... perhaps the cables would show up better if I blocked. My apartment isn't that big and I don't have that many pins, blocking is always a chore since I have to do them one at a time.

Garter Stitch Scarf with Fringe

This was the second thing that I ever knitted. I used two skeins of Manos and it's just your average garter stitch scarf with fringe...

Hola!

I have decided to create a knitting blog because knitting is fun and I'm proud of my creations. Hopefully it will also help me finish those pesky projects that I decide to start but never finish... I've been knitting for less than a year, I started in December of 2005 when my officemate taught me how to knit...