Tag: Cashmere

FO Friday, now with more Cashmere

On By FogKnitsIn FO Friday, Hat3 Comments

I have managed to squeak out the first FO of 2017!  No surprise, it’s a cashmere hat!

The yarn is from JoJoland.  They sell it as Sport Weight but it’s not.  I think they’ve labeled it that way to keep from scaring people off with the word ‘fingering’.

The pattern is a sequence knitting inspired design, so it’s more of a non-pattern.  I did a bit of 1×1 ribbing but after that it’s all knit 3, purl 2.   I would say it doesn’t get easier except I find asymmetric ribbing to be a challenge.  My brain knows what to do but my hands really want it to be K2, P2.   I picked an uneven sequence intentionally, to challenge my hands but also to up the texture.  K2, P2 has a certain predictability to it.   This particular texture appears a bit more random, even if it’s not.

I should call it my chaos theory hat.  A small  change — one stitch — has a bit effect and if you’re going to predict chaos, no better way to do it than knitting.  :)

There’s still 10 days until February but I feel a Finish It February coming on strong already!  I’m gonna try really hard to go all weekend without casting on!!  Wish me luck!

 

WIP Wednesday*

On By FogKnitsIn Hat, Socks, WIP1 Comment

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*Turns out having a job has nothing to do with knowing what day of the week it is.  I went from having one day a week – always saturday, to having two days a week – workday or weekend – the calendar is still pretty irrelevant.  And work continues to occupy all the best hours of the day so knitting progress is slow.

I did find time to cast on the first hat of 2017 though.  While reading about the history of the bagel! I love the use of Yiddishists here.  What a great word!

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The yarn is cashmere and the pattern is a sequence inspired knit.  This yarn has lovely stitch definition so I knew I wanted to show off a texture.  It’s destined for a man’s head so I didn’t want to go overboard with something lacy.  Sequence knitting is exactly what the occasion calls for!  I cast on whatever amount of stitches (it happened to 114) and my sequence is a multiple of 5 (K3, P2).  It’s perfect for the amount of time I have to knit these days.  I can pick up & put it down with complete disregard of the pattern.  No need to say ‘just let me finish this row’.

I’ve made it through the toe increases of my next sock as well!  Another project that will satisfy my need to process knit for the next few days.

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I love the way the stripes are fading into each other!  The stitches are just so tiny.  I found an easy rhythm with the size 0 needles I used for my last socks so I’m hoping by the time I get to the heel turn I won’t be so fixated on how tiny these 00 needles are.  At this point, every stitch takes a bit of attention.  I’m looking forward to getting to those meditative qualities back.  My sock knitting career might be short lived if I don’t get there.

The countdown to the long weekend is on…I can’t wait!! So. Much. Knitting. Time!!!!

WIP Wednesday – Current Favs

On By FogKnitsIn Scarf, Shawl, WIP16 Comments

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The reality of 10 WIPs at once is most of them are actually being ignored.  The proverbial time out corner.  The back of the chair is the stuff that will most likely get finished.  The green project bags are my favorite to carry, so you’re likely to find my most active projects in them.  Today is no exception!

 

First, my beaded Hitchhiker…nearing the end!  The beads are an interesting modification to a classic design.  The workflow suits me, 6 mindless garter rows, a (yo, k2tog) row and then one row of focused attention adding the beads.  It’s been more of a go-to project than I expected.  I’m up to 32 teeth and I haven’t run out of beads yet.  I’m currently betting the yarn will run out first.   The end is in sight, either way!

 

The other project getting love this week, my Rockefeller.  It was on a bit of a hiatus but it’s happily back in business!

I’m currently slogging away on the 300+ stitch i-cord bind off.  Worth the effort but worthy of a little gripe too!  An hour at the beach the other day, an hour at knit night, an hour this morning…persistance is paying off.  I WILL get there.  And the next section tapers into a point…no bind off!  So I’m just getting the obligatory complaint out now :)  (don’t worry, I’m still saving the ‘oy! look at all these ends to weave complaint’ for later! )  The yarn is Sylph from Jade Sapphire, a cashmere-linen blend!  There will be no complaints when I’m finally wearing this one!

The Ravellenic Games (aka the knitting olympics) begin Friday, I’m fairly certain I can make it until then without casting on something new.  :)

 

 

FO Friday – Southern Skies

On By FogKnitsIn FO Friday, Shawl, Uncategorized13 Comments

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Happy Friday, indeed!  My Southern Skies shawl is finally done!  Each bead & eyelet combo represents a star.  Together, they are an accurate representation of the night sky as seen in the Southern Hemisphere.  Blah, blah, blah…no one is ever going to know that’s Canus Major at the bottom of the photo there but it is!  Only took me 5 minutes to figure that out, with a cheat sheet.

No, the remarkable thing about this shawl is purple cashmere!  I wish you could pet it.  It’s amazing.  The purple strand is one of my favorite yarns, Superior Cashmere.  Yum!  They call it sport weight.  I call it lace weight.   I like to pair it with Panda Silk, for a bit of body.  The photos don’t do it justice.  I love it!

It took a while, a third of the project, to really find a rhythm.  It’s a charted design that is entirely non-repeating.  At it’s longest, each row was 576 stitches or 8 pages of chart.  There’s no other way to do it.  The consolation is it’s very easy knitting, stockinette stitch with ‘YO, K2Tog’ forming the eyelets.  The beads are placed on the following row.  No brainer, once you figure out the mechanics of it.

I made a couple modifications.  I stopped (aka ran out of yarn) around row 120.  The pattern continues to row 160.  Doesn’t sound like much but that’s ~half the yarn necessary.  It would have been huge had I continued.  I was ready to be done though.  I’m not sure pi shaping is for me.  I’ll wear it folded in half most of the time.

I modified the bind off as well, subbing in a beaded picot edge to use the remainder of my beads (because of course I had plenty of those.)  You can find those details here!

Now, you’ll have to excuse me, I may have had an idea that demands casting on…right now?!?  (I last nearly 24 hours!  Wooo!)

Making Hay

On By FogKnitsIn FO Friday, Hat, Rocky, Shameless Self-Promotion3 Comments

In a surprise to no one, it turns out, having a real job takes up all your time?!?  My brief stint in cryogenics last fall was not a real job.  I still had time to complain about not having time.  My new job is a real job.  There is no time for complaining.  I have too much to do!  I find myself quickly becoming one of those people who gets out of bed early to get things done before work?!  Who am I?  Surely not an early riser?!

All the little bits & pieces add up into a lot of productivity though!  Couple minutes on the bus, couple minutes at lunch, a few minutes in the morning…I’m getting shit done!

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A finished slouchy hat–cashmere and silk–delicious!!

Another silly cat hat!  Rocky needed to be bribed with treats!

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An instant gratification baby hat, that also satisfied my ridiculous need to buy novelty yarns on sale!  I could. NOT. resist!

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And of course an Etsy update to go with it all!

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Now, if you’ll excuse me, it turns out the laundry doesn’t wash itself in my absence and the cat still has not learned how to grocery shop??  I’ll be off adulting if you need me!

Southern Skies

On By FogKnitsIn Shawl6 Comments

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I’m patiently waiting for The Doodler MKAL  to start on Friday by catching up on some older projects that haven’t gotten much love lately!  Ha, yeah right!?!  I’m actually avoiding the lace section of the Jolly Roger shawl.  I worked the first lace row with gusto and then promptly put it down!  I haven’t touched it since.  Instead, it’s back to the Southern Skies shawl.  

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I absolutely love this yarn combo.  It’s Superior Cashmere and Panda Silk.  I doubt I’ll be able to part with this when it’s finished.  Of course, it’s a huge assumption to say it’ll get finished!

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I worked for several hours this weekend and accomplished maybe 10 rows.  That puts me one third of the way through this section where one row is four pages long.  It’s kind of crazy how long the chart is for a non-repeating row of 288 stitches!  Double that for the next section, 576 stitches, each row is spread across 8 pages of chart!  Egads!

And suddenly, I remembering why this is a back burner project!

FO Monday – Pepperberry Shawlette

On By FogKnitsIn FO Friday, Shawl12 Comments

My Pepperberry Shawlette is done!

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The yarn is Pepperberry Knits Mini Skein bundle, 360 yds of sport weight cashmere!  It was 8 mini skeins total, two of each color!  The pattern is a basic top down triangle, 4 increases on right side rows, 2 increases on wrong side rows.  It pretty much fell off the needles, it was so easy!

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It’s the perfect little triangle, small enough to shove in a pocket for later!  Now I just need the summer fog to return.  I’m ready!

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