My Busy Week in Knits

It's been a seriously busy week in knitting.  I got a lot done.  This hasn't been the usual week where I'll go on a binge knitting thing for a day or two and then I end up getting caught up in other things in my life.  I've been on quite the kick.

The first thing I finished this week was my sister's socks.  The Nemesis Socks are finally done.  I have to admit, they weren't exactly something I would knit for myself, but they really are lovely.  I'm so glad I had an opportunity to knit some up.  Now I've been asked to knit at least two more pairs.  My daughter wants a pair, preferably in the same color.  Then Chesh wants me to make a pair in some tones of blues, or a black and red kind of tone.  I liked knitting them enough that I would be happy enough to knit up another couple pairs.

This was the first time in a long time I've knit socks exactly as they were prescribed in the pattern.  I really liked the way the heel worked out.  I never was much of a fan of pick up and knit for a traditional gusset heel, but this one worked out incredibly well.  I like the way the edge feels.  There's none of the usual ridge that seems to want to appear showing my picked up stitches to be anything but perfectly smooth.  These lie smooth and flat just like they were one solid piece of fabric instead of a piece of fabric that was stitched onto another piece of fabric.

(Sable, I know you're reading this.  You might like these enough to knit yourself a pair too!  They're delightfully enjoyable to knit!)

When I picked up my knitting basket that had been long neglected, there were two projects sitting in it where I assumed there would be only one.  My Versatility was sitting there, balled up as I had remembered leaving it, but there was also my Tuscan Sunflower Shawl, unfinished and neglected.  Before I did anything else that day, I pulled it out, stitched in all of the endless bits that were loose and unwoven.  As soon as I stitched them all in, the next step was to block it all out so the shawl could be seen in all it's beauty, straight out on my bedroom floor, not the most ideal, I suppose, but it did the trick and now it looks lovely!

Having never blocked anything before, I have to admit that I had no idea what I was even doing.  I'd heard a good deal about how it's done, but I never actually attempted it.  That's sad, given my love of shawls.  I decided to just roll with it.  I tacked out the center of the shawl, then four points for the edges.  This proved to not be a fantastic choice as I had to adjust all the points over and over until I got them to match.  Finally I pinned out the whole brown center and then worked from there.  My victory was finally to be had!  I've really enjoyed this shawl so much that I might attempt to make another in another color to match a dress.  I really love this shawl.  Now all it lacks is a pin.

Once I'd tackled one blocked out shawl, I decided it was time to work on another sadly neglected shawl.  This was my Fall/Winter seasons shawl from KnitPicks.  I'm not sure the pattern is even still available, though I know the kit isn't.  They released it once again at one point, this time with different colors, but I haven't seen it since.  It was a royal pain to knit and I honestly wouldn't want to do it again, but I did love it.  It was frequently used as an oversized scarf.  That will no longer be the case as it took up almost my whole floor to block!  This thing is absolutely enormous!  As you can tell, it's so large I couldn't even cut the clutter out of it pinned down in my bedroom.

This shawl is one of my greatest victories.  It's the first shawl I ever knit with lace weight yarn.  It's also the first shawl I'd done with any kind of color alteration such as this.  I still love the way the colors blend from one to the other.  It's such a beautiful way to flow between colors.  I'm more in love with this shawl than ever.  I don't ever want to tackle it again, but I certainly don't regret doing it.  It's one of my favorite pieces.  Now I just need a dress to go with it!

After all of those were finished, I finally finished the knitting on my Versatility!  Amazingly, it hasn't taken me a whole year yet.  I started it in January, I think.  It's finally finished, all but the buttons.  True to style, I didn't knit it exactly as prescribed.  I decided to add a couple more repeats.  As sleeves I wanted it to come down to the point of obscuring my fingers.  As a vest, I want it to come down over my bottom, because that's where I like my sweaters to sit, there or longer.  I'm not sure how often I'll wear it as a scarf or a wrap, but I can imagine I'll use it quite a good deal as sleeves and a vest before the weather starts getting cool, and I know I'll wear it as a hood once it starts getting cold enough for a jacket.  It looks cute as a hood.  Given that I intend to walk to and from the shuttle to school this winter, I'm sure it will come in useful.  It's nice to have something lovely and classy to wear on a day I want to be a little more dressed up, or if I need to be a little bit more dressed up for some reason or another.  It's certainly a lot easier than wrapping with scarves.  What girl doesn't like her accessories?  Clearly I'm not beyond that by any means.  I love them as much as the next girl!

After that I pulled out some of my favorite  sock yarn.  When Sable and I went yarn shopping I simply had to pick it up.  The colors were so perfect for fall.  It reminded me of fall leaves.  The foliage isn't likely to change any time soon as we're just starting into August, but I'm not planning to wear any kind of warm stuff until fall.  These would make perfect fingerless gloves for the season.

Happy Feet yarn always comes in such beautiful colors.  There are so many yarns that come in this pretty splatter-like coloring.  I don't even know how to describe it.  The whole yarn seems almost, I don't know, spotted seems like the best word.  They're lovely yarns.

Sadly, it looks like they're not going to be doing these smaller skeins of this yarn anymore.  It seems like they've moved on to 100g balls.  I loved my little 50g balls of yarn.  They were the perfect size for a pair of fingerless gloves, which was why I loved them so much.  They were typically right in my budget for a happy little splurge.  I know it's Happy Feet yarn, but for me it was very much Happy Hands.

If you've been reading my blog, you already know I have a love for patterns that not a lot of people have knit up.  I hopped myself on over to Ravelry and searched for patterns I could knit up using the yarn weight and needles I already have on hand.  I don't have a lot of needles around, as I keep losing them.  I don't really want to spend the money to get more needles right now.  So I picked out the Beverly Mitts, made from Creative Yarns, a little yarn shop that just so happens to be in Beverly, MA, the next town over from where I used to live.  Sadly, the yarn shop will soon be closing.

The pattern looks really cool.  Sable says it looks like dragon scales.  I didn't agree until I took a look at it from a bit of an angle.  It's much different than when you're looking at it dead on.  I really like the way it looks, and it's a great match for the pattern as well.  I absolutely adore the way it's turned out.  Plus, it falls at just the right length for wearing with other jewelry and the like.  It's going to be just the right length for just about everything,  It's going to be fantastic come winter and fall because it won't be too long to wear under sweater sleeves and the like.

So that's been my week.  I've gotten so much done.  It's totally insane how much progress I've made on everything.  I guess the weather is right to get these projects done and I'm happy with the results.