the rarely seen progress

If you've been reading my blog for some time you probably would've noticed that I'm really bad at posting knitting progress. Seriously, whenever I look back at my own post all I see is FO or yarn porn post! I guess that's why I don't blog very often, I always get the feeling that if I've got no new FO or new yarn, then I have nothing to talk about.

Or maybe I'd just ramble and I'm worried that would turn people away.

But I do love talking, really. Try stopping me once I start. I can't even stop myself most of the time ;D
Just not today, consider yourself lucky. I'm posting now because I'll be buried deep in my coursework for this week, I doubt I'll even have time to knit.

Anyway, here's the progress picture I've been talking about

It's the Shetland Triangle shawl in progress. Well, theoretically speaking it should've been done last week if I had bothered to check with the pattern instead of knitting like crazy. The pattern calls for 8 body chart repeat, I'm on my 12th now. No wonder it seems endless. The lace pattern is super easy to memorise, I think that's one of the reason why I got carried away. This one is a wedding gift for my friend who's getting married in summer.
When I started it grows so fast that I couldn't stop working on it. Now that it's a nice 280++ stitches per row I'm not feeling the love as much. But we'll get there, and hopefully soon. I have a spring wardrobe to fill!

Textured

Textured Top
Pattern Source: Fitted Knits by Stefanie Japel
Yarn: Rowan Summer Tweed "Gold", less than 5 hanks
Needle: 5.00mm Addi Turbo Circular
Modifications: Shorter length, short sleeves, no slits, no purl ridges framing the texture.
Comments: I initially knitted it following the pattern length, but it looks horrible on me when I put it on. Fitted tunic really isn't suitable for my wide hips. So, after letting it ferment in the knitting basket while I'm working on other stuffs, I finally took it up again. I'm glad I pushed myself into taking it up again, otherwise it'd just sit there for months or even years.
Even though I made it shorter, I still want to keep the design element of the slit, so I knitted a seed stitch panel on one side and put some buttons on for the illusion of a slit. I didn't knit the purl ridges at first because I missed that part of the pattern and just kept on knitting. But actually I prefer it this way since I think those purl ridges would accentuate the bust part even more, and I really don't need that. As for the short sleeves, I've never been much fan of long sleeves anyway and it'd be more suitable for spring/summer wear.
Of course, the original pattern from the book is gorgeous, and had I been working with wool I might've kept the long sleeves.
The yarn came from my stash. I bought it off ebay last year since I've heard so many good things about it, and Kim Hargreaves uses it a lot in her lovely designs. It took me quite some time to get used to the rougher texture since I've been working with soft wool yarns for my other WIPs. But I do love the glorious tweedy texture, it's so pretty. The colour isn't my usual colour too, and I doubt I would've chosen it if it wasn't on sale. But I think it's a gorgeous colour. Perfect for spring and oh so Project Spectrum appropriate!

I finished something else too...

Midwest Moonlight
Pattern Source: Scarf Style by Interweave Press
Yarn: Jaeger Wool Silk 6x20g
Needle: 4.00mm Addi
Comments: I never blogged about starting this because it was one of those project that I only pick up while I have nothing else to knit. It's been on my needle for months, I can't even remember when I cast on for it. The pattern was really easy to follow and with pretty result.
The yarn also came from my stash, it's a vintage yarn won from ebay with 60% wool and 40% silk. It's lovely to knit with and has excellent yardage considering it's only 20g per skein. The whole scarf weigh only 120g!

There are two other projects that I finished, but I don't have pictures yet so they'll have to wait.
So, on Sunday(or was it Saturday, can't remember), I ran out of project. The only thing left on my needle was the entrelac socks, but I wasn't feeling like working with it. I think I spent about an hour rummaging around my stash and my knitting magazines and books looking for a project to knit. For those of you who have a longer-than-live list of things-to-knit this might sound crazy. But I do have a long list of things to knit, and a long list of yarn to knit with. It's just that most of the time they don't really match. I finally remembered that I've been wanting to knit Shetland Triangle from Wrap Style in some pure white Regia Silk I've got in my stash as a wedding gift for a friend. So I cast on, knit like a mad woman while watching a ridiculous amount of anime and I've got 9 repeats done. I'll be sure to share a progress picture next time ;)

And thank you soooo much for all you nice comments on my cadigan!! Each and every one of them are very much appreciated, I love knowing there are people out there who would understand the happiness we get from getting a nice fit from a garment or finding the perfect button for a project.
Anyway, can you believe I missed my own blogiversary?!! I can't believe I've been blogging for more than 2 years now! Can you?

Puff-sleeved Feminine Cardigan

Pattern source: Fitted Knits by Stefanie Japel
Yarn: Knitpicks Merino Style "Rhubarb" 7++ skeins
Needles: Addi Turbo 4.00mm and 3.25mm
Comments: I love it!! I was lazy as usual and didn't swatch since I'm using the yarn called for in the pattern. The pattern was easy to follow though I did get a little confused with the lace peplum chart. It's very wearable and doesn't itch at all. The yarn is really soft, excellent for it's price, though I'm not sure how it'll hold up. I'm hoping it holds up well because I can see myself actually wearing it quite a few times. I actually wore it to grocery shopping today (and the skirt I'm wearing in the first picture is purple, not black). Maybe I should've lengthened it a few inches, but it looks fine with a layer inside. I love the little pearly buttons too. And yeah, I do feel VERY feminine wearing it. Not sure if it's a good or bad thing.
And the colour...I'm liking it more and more. It's perfect for spring and perfect for this month's Project Spectrum!

And talking about Project Spectrum, this is another project that's colour appropriate

This picture is taken last week so I've actually got more of it done. The pink yarn is Regia Silk and the burgundy yarn is Regia Silk Shine. I cast on with both yarns for socks before, the burgundy one for Chid's First Socks from Knitting VIntage Socks by Nancy Bush and the pink yarn for something from Knitty but I can't for the life of me remember what it was. They never felt right on their own. The Silk Shine wasn't soft enough to make me want to work on it and the pink Silk was just too....pink. But together, I'm loving them. And I love working in entrelac too, even though my joints are somewhat messy. Knitting just seems to progress faster when you're working in portions. I don't think I'll make it knee-high though, since my HUGE calves would just make them look ugly.

I'm also working on other Project Spectrum appropriate projects. Remember my yellow Fitted Knits tunic? I'll get around working with it one day. For green, I'm working on Silk Sleeves from One Skein by Leigh Radford (see sidebar) in Kidsilk haze. Perfect projects to surround myself in springy colours. They make me happy.

Preview

Coming soon.

Spinning away...

Thanks for all your nice words on my FOs ;) They're very much appreciated as always.

This is for Katey (can't find your email address!), who asked about how I frog the pentagons. All I did was undo the seams for pentagon #1 and #7, frog them, and used crochet hook to do crochet cast-off on the live stitches of the other connecting pentagons. I hope I'm making sense here!

On other news, I took a spinning lesson yesterday!!! The class was great fun and I didn't get bored the whole 7 hours of it! I also met some other knitters which was great since we get to talk about knitting, my favourite subject ever! And look what I came home with



It was extremely satisfying to see the yarn coming out of my fingers. I started spinning a little with my new drop spindle last night, but it was sooooo slow!!! It'll take me days to get a 50gr skein of yarn! Spinning wheel is out of question though since it's very pricey and there's no way I can fit it in my tiny room, except if I stay in my bed all the time. That sounds strangely tempting somehow ;)

On knitting front, I've been busy knitting my Puffy sleeved cardi

It's progressing slowly but I'm sure it's growing, though I can't for the life of me see the growth! I've been working on it quite exclusively until last night, when I was lured by the fun of spinning. It went like this, one row of knitting, one length of spinning, all the while watching CSI. Love it.
And last night, waaaay past midnight, when I really should be in bed, I dig in my stash for that skein of very pink Regia Silk I have and together with my skein of burgundy Regia Silk Shine, and cast on for Eunny's Entrelac Socks from IK. I'm still fighting with the tiny dpns for the toes so far.
We'll see if it goes well.