Finished Object Wednesday...

Oh hey, a new picture!!


Pattern: Pointsettia, Michele Rose Orne
Yarn: Alpaca from Ebay, Sheep Shop 3
Needles: Fat 10 straight needles
Modifications: He-e-ellz yeah. Widened the border, attached the ties to the bottom corner of the fronts, no icky bell sleeve nonsense.
I likes it, though I had a few points of thinking that I wouldn't. If I were to do it again, I would make it smaller, and also, I would get over my hangup about obvious steps in the shoulder shaping. I fudged that aspect of it, and I think that it might bite me in the ass somewhere down the line, which I don't want to think about right now...
This was the first sweater I've done that involved seaming, so that was a bit of a steep learning curve. However, I'm now unafraid of the process -- bring on the set-in sleeves! The Arans! The, uh, what else is better with seams? My purling consistency also improved immensely while knitting this -- though I usually prefer knitting back and forth on circulars, I can begin to see the appeal of straights.
Note to self: do not try to explain seaming to non-knitters in a noisy bar. Especially if the non-knitter is a veterinarian. They (she) will (did) not quite get why any project should involve a lot of "seaming", and will, in fact, wonder what you must be doing in order to get "seaming" into your project.
That is all.

ETA: Yeah, I took the picture in the grad floor bathroom. You wanna somethin' a' dat?

Older socks, they are done!

A quick little finished object here...



Pattern: Spiraling Coriolis Master Sock, Cat Bordhi's New Pathways for Sock Knitters
Yarn: Knitpicks, "Shimmer", Deep Woods colorway
Needles: 2, double points, sticky bamboo (kind of a pain)

The knitting of these was ... interesting. I bought the book because of this pattern, which still makes my chest feel a little swoopy (what a nerd!), and the socks do not disappoint. I love the way the colors blend, and I love the construction of the arch expansion. I generally like spirals, so yeah, that part makes me happy, too.

I am less than crazy about the way that the second sock is a bit tighter gauge-wise than the first sock -- that will teach me to wait about a month to knit the second sock, I guess, and I'm pretty sure that it will even out with wear. Also, I need to figure out how to really do the EZ sewn-bind off. Flexible and loose my you-know-what! I tried to pull the first sock on after doing it and worried that my foot would fall off from lack of circulation, and then needed to pick out the sewn-bind-off. Pain in my ass!

That all said, I still like the socks, and will still feel some hesitation about giving them to the intended recipient. This woman is so cool, and has changed my ways of thinking about so many things that an alternatively constructed alpaca sock is just barely beginning to be worthy of her. And I guess that that's what makes knitting worth it...

Here is are some detail shots of the spiral itself:


And, with marginally better lighting:



Charming socks, really -- hecka warm, and not hecka heavy.

While I am at it, here is the frogged Covelite Sock the first:


And the pile of frogged yarn:



And, finally, the second sock in progress:



Depending on how much work I avoid work I do, these socks may be finished soon... and I can't wait.

(I just hope there will be more snow on which to photograph them...)

Unghhh

The Covelite Basic Sock Recipe Socks are in time-out for the evening; the toe ends just a bit too abruptly so that they feel as though they're constricting my feet, which is less than awesome.

I have a few works-in-progress that I should get around to finishing, but that didn't stop me from posting on Ravelry about my flash of inspiration for how to use a bunch of birthday yarn (different kinds, roughly the same weight) in a load of different colors.

We shall see! (When I feel like posting the picture.)