FO - Exchequered

So, I started Knitty's Exchequered right when it came out... early in 2006. I had no idea that double knitting was going to be such an incredibly tedious endeavor. Two years later, I've finally cast off one of my perpetual UFOs. Uh, I might have overdid it a bit, because this scarf is seven feet long.





Seven. freaking. feet. of double knitting. I feel like I've just run a marathon or something. Very much worth it, though. This thing is double-thick, warm, and just... yeah, I haven't really taken it off yet. I wish I'd have pulled it out to finish sooner, because it languished as a UFO for far too long. I guess one of my New Year's resolutions should be to finish or frog all the things that have been sitting that way for far too long...

Michigan Fiber Fest!

For the second year in a row, I've made the trek to Allegan for the Michigan Fiber Festival. This year, with quitting the job and starting law school, I was on a bit of a budget so the haul wasn't as exciting as it potentially could have been. However, this is all either gifts or for a specific project! Good news!



The outside is six skeins of Lamb's Pride Superwash Bulky in Baron Red, meant for a buttony. There are some really gorgeous ones on Ravelry that inspired me, otherwise I'd probably never have looked twice at the pattern. This wouldn't be such a new, exciting thing, EXCEPT that the skeins were only $3.90 apiece rather than $8.00! Twenty-five dollar sweater, hello!

The two skeins of sock yarn are from the same vendor, Ellen's 1/2 Pint Farm. The red/black is for my mother, and is superwash merino. The black/green is for myself, and is an 85/15 merino/nylon mix. Delicious stuff. It may actually become my second pair of Monkeys, unless something cooler comes up.

Not pictured: A set of 5" brittany size 1 DPNs, already hidden from the cats who chewed up my clovers of the same size. They don't seem to like yarn as much as needles. I'm not sure if this is a blessing or a curse.

Ever wonder what $500 of law books looks like?



Wonder no more!

Circular shrug

Yay! I finished the gray thing mentioned in the previous post!



It's the Urban Outfitters knockoff that was big on craftster a year ago or more. I used this tutorial (.pdf), from Peony Knits. I used pretty much exactly two skeins of caron simply soft with size 9 needles. I'm actually pretty darn thrilled with how it turned out...



Just a little something to jazz up a t-shirt. It's also a really nice use for the vintage and antique brooches I keep buying while antiquing with my mom... I love borderline tacky old jewelry.

I'm also pretty thrilled that I pulled a UFO out of the bottom of my stack of knitting and just did it. I cast on for this baby quite a while ago, to be honest... though once I got back into the groove of the mock rib, it was all downhill! It didn't go nearly as slowly as I thought it would. I almost want to make another because simply soft is so inexpensive and comes in so many delicious colors. The obnoxious brights are especially lovely. Lime green and hot pink and turquoise, oh my! I remember standing in my local Joann, agonizing over the big selection of colors. (At the time, I seem to remember that there were also Christmas glitter colors, so perhaps I cast this on last fall?) How I ended up with a boring heather gray is completely beyond me. Was I thinking practically for once?

Politics, cars, and knitting

I have to say, the direction that my country is headed in is absolutely astounding. I feel like it will take decades to undo the damage that has been done by our current administration. Take the Supreme Court's recent ruling on pay discrimination. (Not that this decision was the administration's doing directly, but two of the nine justices were appointed by Bush and therefore in on this decision...) Ignoring how pay inequalities usually occur (slowly over time), the court decided absurdly that one has to figure out that they're being discriminated against in the first place and file suit within six months of being given unequal pay. That is, the day you start getting paid unequally. Until we can openly know what our co-workers doing the same job are making, we have little protection under the law.

Suffice to say, the linked articles discuss the matter much better than I do.

In happier knitting-related news, I made yet another garterlac dishcloth.



Dishcloths never seem to photograph well, but I never bother to block them or anything; I'm going to be getting this guy wet and stretched out in no time, so why bother? I don't think I'll ever get tired of this pattern. It seems to knit up in no time. It's cute. It looks more complicated than it is. It's a good size. It shows off the Sugar 'n' Creme ombres nicely. I could go on.

I've also been trying to work on the UFOs in my stash. The exchecquered is coming along nicely, but as usual, dragging along slowly. I have, however, made remarkable progress on the interminable gray thing:



The miles of mock ribbing will really only equate to two balls of caron simply soft, but still. It's mock 1 x 1 ribbing. What is this gray object, you ask? I will show it off when I'm finished... hopefully soon.

I've also been commissioned by a coworker to make a beanie for him. He is a very large guy (a former football player), and says that many beanies are just too small for his head. This is exciting to me, somehow. It's rare that someone who isn't close to me takes such an interest in my work! I was going to use Lion Brand Wool-ease because it's washable and inexpensive... However, he wanted navy blue, and my local Michael's was out. Go figure. I'm going to check Joann tomorrow. My backup plan is Plymouth Encore from my LYS. Hopefully both backup plans don't fall through!



In other, sadder news, I'm starting to fear that my car's days are numbered. (Obviously the above photo is not my car but a stock photo; however, it looks just like that, down to the color!) A week ago, it started making a hideous noise. Steve's dad is extremely talented with all things mechanical (he builds custom motorcycles on the side!), and his prediction was either the serpentine belt or the air compressor. The diagnosis? Both, really. The belt needed changing and this was done, but did not fix the hideous noise. Therefore, no more AC for me until I get a nice, expensive repair done, if I do.

A new compressor would probably be about $400, which seems like a lot of money to put into a car equipped with a transmission that will likely die in another 13,000 miles or so. When that goes, that's it; that repair would run several thousands, more than the car would be worth.

I'm emotionally attached to it. It is, after all, my first car, which has been mine since I was fifteen.

Neverending scarf of doom

I'm starting to think that Knitty's exchequered is the neverending scarf of doom. This has been in my stash as a UFO for a long freaking time. I love how it looks, but I can't focus on the double knitting for a very long time. I don't like k1p1 ribbing much either, so I'm assuming that there's a connection there.

To ease the process, I'm having:



Delicious red vodka drinks with happy heart-shaped ice. I went to Ikea for the first time today, and I got a couple of spiffy fun ice cube trays. I also have puzzle piece ice!

Hopefully the Stoli will get me to concentrate on my knitting...

Back to our regularly scheduled fiber content...

...and no, I'm not talking about that kind of regularity.

I was supposed to be participating in Knit From your Stash 2007, but that has largely gone by the wayside. My stash is, if anything, larger than it was at the beginning of the year. Oops. Allow me to show off some of my recent acquisitions.



Brown Sheep Lamb's Pride bulky superwash (that's not a mouthful!) in onyx, white frost, and stonewashed denim. I got it from Alpaca Fleece, who seriously are the sweetest people and have the best prices on all things Brown Sheep.



Apologies for the craptastic picture, but you try and photograph a glossy magazine with a crappy camera. It wouldn't cooperate with or without the flash. The brown sheep is for the sweater pictured above, from the holiday 2005 issue of Vogue Knitting. Hopefully I can get gauge and have enough.



In the future, these will be socks. The speckled Koigu was in my LYS's orphan bin when I was shopping for my SP10 spoilee. The Regia Nation was ordered to make awesome socks for a close friend of mine who just got back from studying in Germany. I'll probably start them soon so that they are definitely done by her birthday. We shall see...

Even though this isn't yarn, I still felt the need to show it off. I purchased that shirt last night. I love threadless.

And finally in non-yarn acquisitions...



1.75 liters of Stoli. It was so much cheaper than buying several smaller bottles. I just felt like sharing because it seems like such an enormous amount of liquor and I felt really foolish carrying it through the grocery store. Consider that the other purchases of the evening were brownie mix and toothpaste. I must have been a funny sight. Party on Friday, anyone?

Hemp... and a winner.

I'm in the middle of Eiffel and Revolution. In both sweaters, I am plodding along in repetitive, somewhat boring stretches. Nothing exciting in either.

Although, this allhemp 6 is such a weird yarn. I'm using black, and we got off on the wrong foot; it made an awful tangle when I tried to wind it as it wasn't wound up into its hank correctly. And working with it is so weird... it's stiff, and reminds me of that craft hemp that was popular in friendship bracelets in sixth grade.

So I really, REALLY hope this softens up nicely upon washing. I've heard it does.

I must, MUST finish one eiffel or revolution before starting Mariah! The world at large (six people) chose Mariah over the other two sweaters I've been admiring. So, congratulations to Mariah for winning.

Perennial Knitters' ADD

There are so many choices. So many.

I want to make Knitty's Mariah.



I know it's old and everyone's made it, but the funny thing is, I was going to make it two years ago. I even bought the pink yarn necessary to do it. But then Revolution came along and I changed my mind on what to do with the pink yarn. I've been working slooooooowly on Revolution ever since it came out. Two years and the back is still only fourteen inches long. I fear I'll never finish it; the split stitch goes so slow. But I still love it as much as the day the pattern came out! Pulling it out of the depths has reminded me of Mariah, and how I was going to make it...

I also downloaded the lace inset cardigan thinking I'd like to modify it a bit...



I was somewhat disappointed that an $8 pattern only had one size which might be a smidgen too big for me. Lame. However there are other modifications I wanted to try, namely making the lace panels symmetrical.

And this one I actually have the yarn for. It looks so cozy and comfortable...



So, tell me:

Which sweater should I make next?
	Mariah
	Lace Inset Cardigan
	Barcelona Bolero
pollcode.com free polls

I leave it to you. You will also be indirectly deciding if I should work from the stash (Barcelona Bolero) or purchase more yarn (the other two). Choose well!

Magknits

Well, there's a new Magknits up for the month of July.

Things I like:

• Bakerloo, a set of sideways constructed socks done by Alice Bell. The piano keys are way awesome, but the construction makes my head spin. It's complex, but I think so worth it looking at the finished product.


• Ballet Camisole, a slinky sexy top with a gathered neck. Has the added bonus of being made out of knitpicks shine sport. That stuff is a dream... Although I wish it came in black and red, then I'd make a striped version. Hotness, no?


• Summer Nights, though I wish it had more shaping in the shoulders and wasn't done on Collinette. Collinette is always such a mess; I hate the stuff.

Things I don't like:

• Summer Shawlette, even though I suppose it's not all that bad. It's just kind of... blah, I've seen it before somewhere.

I've been concentrating on other endeavors as of late; what can I say, my birthday was yesterday and I got a sewing machine. I finished sewing a neat skirt that I'll post soon, even though it's not actually knitting. More knitting related, though, is the needle case I just found some fabric for. I went on a fabric stash-enrichment expedition (fabric SEX?) to Joann today; they were having a ridiculous sale. In all, I got 10 yards of fabric for $15. Totally flippin' awesome.