beautiful things

Mermaid gloves

Gotta keep posting these FOs.... seriously, this year I am going to keep so much more up to date!  Yes, even with a newborn!  (Yeah well, we'll see...)

I mean yes, with Ravelry, it's a little moot, but it's still nice to do a wrap-up of a project, especially if you don't wait a year before doing it...

Mermaid Gloves

Date:
April 29th - May 5th, 2008

Yarn:
1 skein of Alchemy Temple in vintage jade 72e

Needles:
US#4 circulars - probably Addi Turbo 40"

Pattern:
Mermaid Gloves (ravelry, pattern) adapted by Stephanie Degen from Pomatomus (ravelry, pattern), a sock pattern by Cookie A. 

The story:

Wrist warmers are popular!  A friend requested a pair of these but I decided to step things up a little and try a more challenging pattern.  These fit the bill as a) there isn't really a pattern, just some general directions for adapting a pattern and b) the stitch pattern it's adapted from is also relatively complex.  I managed to get the hang of it though, and it still ended up being a relatively quick knit. I enjoyed and highly recommend the yarn too.  However, I did not attempt to mirror the pattern for the second glove! 

It was a while ago, but I seem to remember sitting in the car at a freezing cold football game of my nephew's knitting these.  And that they were a fun and satisfying knit!  Of course, it then took several months for me to get around to mailing these to my friend...

For those of you not on Ravelry, here are my pattern notes that I posted there, which frankly are Greek to me now but I assume make sense if you are following the pattern:

48 stitches (4 pattern repeats) worked out well. I started with an 8 round cuff. I adapted the thumb from fetching - on round 12 of the second repeat I did k2togtbl, p then ktbl, p 4 times using waste yarn, then slipped the stitches back to the left needle and did ktbl, p 4 times again. After the second repeat I did 1 round of ktbl, p rib, then cast off in pattern. I picked up the 8 live stitches below the thumb opening and 7 live stitches above and picked up 1 stitch at one end and 2 stitches at the other for a total of 18 stitches for the thumb, also in ktbl, p rib. I did 5 rounds for the thumb binding off in pattern. Ta da!

Finished shots:







Flickr set is here.
Ravelry link is here.

April recap

So the whole hunkering down with my knitting thing in April worked out pretty well and for the first time ever, my stash went down for the month!

Here are the stats! (running total with total for month in parentheses)

skeins purchased: 198 (1)
skeins knit: 91.7 (4.8)
yards purchased: 31,717 (128)
yards knit: 14,077 (1,394)
yards remaining: 16,741
$ spent on yarn (not including sales tax or shipping): ($15.50)
knitting since: 1/27/07

I was helped a great deal by the April Spring Cleaning Challenge over on the Stash and Burn Group on Ravelry - the challenge was to destash 1,000 yards in April (up to 250 of those yards could be via trade or sell).

Here's how I did:

Yards to start: 18,007

Yards knit:

clapotis: 321 - no recent picture

print o’ the wave stole: 541 - I'm actually halfway done with the border now, and still loving it!

one skein clutch: 118 - I did go to Purl Patchwork where I obsessed for an embarrassingly long time about which fabric to use, and ended up hedging my bets and picking out three! It was all I could do to resist buying bundles of "fat quarters" just because they were pretty!

lala scarf: 370 - uh, still haven't blocked it

mermaid gloves: 44

Total knit: 1394

Yards bought: 128

Final yardage: 16,741

Stash burned: 1266!

And yes, I almost managed to purchase no yarn at all but I did end up buying one skein of Alchemy Temple which is strangely not listed on the Alchemy website or on Ravelry (at least not until I just added it) but is a beautiful machine washable superfine merino. I've been looking for a superwash yarn in green for a gift for a friend and was hoping to try something new so when I saw this, I snapped it up and it has not disappointed!

My friend requested some wristwarmers like these but I decided to try a different pattern too - the mermaid gloves, except I did not make individual fingers or make them as long. It was a great knit and I'm really happy with how they came out! I'll post photos once the gift has been received so it is still somewhat of a surprise for her...

I also visited two new yarn stores over the past couple of months - String and Knit New York. Both stores were kind of a revelation as they have beautiful but entirely different collections to each other and to Purl. I've been to Purl so many times now that I'm not sure how it could ever NOT be my favorite, plus it's more convenient for me, but I can see myself branching out a little.

String definitely has an Upper East Side vibe to it. They have a lot of beautiful cashmere, including Koigu cashmere which I fondled furiously... and they had the CUTEST little ribbed baby sweater knit in it that was just gorgeous.... but takes 3 SKEINS!!! $150 for the yarn for a tiny baby sweater - ouch! I have to admit, I would consider it for a very special baby. Speaking of ouch, how about Qiviuk? (That's a good scrabble word.) Yes that's right, $138 for 1 little 2oz ball! It has to be said though, the sample scarf they had there in this was just beautiful.

I loved Knit New York too, and they have tons of colorways of, amongst other things, Malabrigo, Debbie Bliss Cashmerino, Noro Silk Garden and Kureyon and oh my oh my, the Artyarns 5-ply cashmere! That is definitely going on my shopping list one day. They had a beautiful pair of fetchings knit up in a pink colorway and, well, need I say more? I will be back!

And no, I didn't buy anything at either store! (Oh wait, I did get some Lace Addis for Print O'The Wave at String but no yarn!)

My "hunkering down" knitting is going to continue into May I think, although I'm most likely not going to meet the 1,000 yard goal this time, seeing as I just bought 10 skeins of Pakucho at an amazing price for the Voyager Lace Stole shown on the same page. I seem to be all about the stole lately. This one is for another friend whose birthday is at the beginning of June. She asked for a stole, any stole, any color, winter or summer, and when I saw this I jumped on it, or rather, waited patiently until no-buying April was over and hoped they wouldn't sell out!

I could possibly still make the goal if much of my knitting is on bulkier yarn - here are my possible goals for May:

Starting yardage: 16,741

Definite goals:
Finish print o’ the waves stole: approx 400 yards
Finish mermaid gloves: approx 80 yards - DONE!
Make voyager lace stole: approx 880 yards

Possible other goals (need another 520 yards total)
Make progress on clapotis: approx 650 yards if I complete it
Make baby surprise jacket: approx 360 yards if I complete it
Make zinnia bag: approx 500 yards if I complete it

And oh yeah, I almost forgot, but I won not one but TWO contests! Much to my amazement, I won second prize in a blog contest at Kathryn Ivy and I am getting Alice's package. I believe there were something like 96 entrants and two winners so, wow! And then, on top of that, I won one of the Ravelraiser prizes - a $20 gift certificate to the Diva Knitting Store. Not sure what the odds were for that but given that they raised over $70K and you got one entry for every $10 donated, I am doubly amazed! Thank you Alice and Cheryl for the prizes!