Commissioned Hat, Mulled Wine Sweater, and Loop-d-Loop

As I was showing off my One Skein Wonder recently, I got two requests: a OSW for a goth-y girl at The Tap and one for a grey and black hat for Mike, also from The Tap, bf of my co-worker Linz. I'm working on the hat now, and simultaneously planning a sweater with my new batch of yarn from Knit Picks. I bought 12 skeins of the Wool of the Andes in Mulled Wine to make a raglan-sleeve cable sweater. I found a couple of patterns that I like, but nothing I love. I've taken my measurements, and I might just write the pattern myself. I want the decreases on the raglan seam to be cabled too, so I have to incorporate that part. I'm going to make up a decreasing swatch to see how it works.
Why am I such a technical knit geek?
I'm just glad to be working on new projects.
I got a new job recently, so I may not be able to knit as much as I would like to in the fall, especially with classes coming up and everything. Pictures soon.

On a trip to Barnes and Noble looking for a pattern for the sweater, I ended up with a copy of Teva Durham's new book Loop-d-Loop. I love the patterns. Her techniques are really different and cool. I love the woven scarf/wrap. The photographs are beautiful, and the book is broken up into four sections so that each one has a introduction with just pictures and descriptions of the patterns, and then a second part of the sections has the pattern instructions, accompanied with more photographs, so the book isn't front half pictures and back half instructions. I would suggest this book for any knitter who's looking for something out-of-the-ordinary.

The OSW

I finally found a great project for the skein of Fundy Fog Briggs and Little yarn. I was worried it would become another darn scarf, but Glampyre's One Skein Wonder pattern saved it from certain scarf doom.
The short-sleeve shrug pattern is genius, making use of false seams to make for very little piecing, and the seed-stitch edging gives the sleeves a very finished look.
Everywhere I go with it now, I get comments on it, and its cool enough to wear out on summer evenings (read: i don't have to wait around a few months to wear it!)I've had two people ask me to one for them too.
I also have been getting more hat orders for fall from some of the guys I know. I never would have thought that they would be so excited about a knit hat, but they're all willing to pay $25 each for them, and they only take me two hours, so I'm excited for the extra cash.
Picture of the OSW to come soon.

Knitting in Canadia

On the way to Halifax, I decided to make a hat for myself with the same pattern as Neil's new hat. I used a white, purple, and pink variegated cotton and knit it for part of the 12-hour drive to Nova Scotia, to visit with Nicholas' (The guy I was travelling with, my best friend) friends from University, and to go to his 3rd Annual Sangria Party. His roomate Norm makes the red wine for the Sangria, and it always comes out fantastic.

During the party, I was informed that Norman's girlfriend, Natalie, is an avid knitter as well.
(Then Natalie told me that Norman knows how to knit...convenient that he left himself out...) She showed me this beautiful lace shawl she made, and told me which yarn shop to stop by before leaving the city.

I've been home for over a day now, and I'm still winding up my new yarn from L K Yarns in Halifax, Nova Scotia. Nick and I waited to get on the road on Monday morning so I could hit up the yarn shop before leaving the city, and it didn't open until 10 am.

The woman in the shop was very nice, and helped me find local-made yarns. I bought four skeins of Briggs and Little's Regal worsted weight from New Brunswick. The color variety was very wide, and I ended up with Turqois, Violet, Fundy Fog, and Oatmeal for colors. I also bought a beautiful hand-dyed yarn in pastel colors from Fleece Artist. It reminds me of rainbow sherbet.
It's a very fuzzy yarn, and when I wound it, the fibers kept sticking to my nose and mouth and getting on my clothes (although I'm sure the wind coming in the truck window was not helping).
So now I have new yarns, and no new project. The yarn was so inexpensive, I was surprised. The Briggs and Little was $4.75 and skein Canadian, about $3.89 American. The Fleece Artist yarn however was about $24 American.
In hindsight, I should probably have gotten six more skeins of Briggs and Little instead of the hand-painted yarn, so that I would have had enough for a large project. But I never plan ahead like that when I'm yarn shopping.
So now I am off to dream about what my fibers will become...
Ciao!

Neil's finished Hat

He's so excited, I even put a little tab on top because he liked the last one that I did for him with a tab. Here he is:

Cable hats and free raw wool

After a short period sans knitting, I am back in action. I went to Newburyport on Sunday to go to Yankee Homecoming, a festival with art shows, antique cars, live music, street venders, etc. While Neil and I were there, we stopped into the yarn shop there, Three Bags Full.
For the last six months or so, Neil has been begging me to knit him a hat with vertical cables out of this beautiful Irish tweed from Tahki that he bought. I have had a LOT of trouble finding a pattern, but when we were in the shop he saw a picture of one on the back of a Rowan catalougue.

I brought the pattern home and immediately started on the hat. It felt so good to have needles in my hands again. I started the pattern twice, misreading the pattern each time, before I realized I had to modify it to knit it in the round without a seam allowance. It's coming out really well, check out the pictures.
I should be done by tonight, so I'll update the finished hat when it's done.

PLUS!!! Fantabulous news for spinning!

My mother has a friend who has two pet sheep, a white one, and a dark one. She shears them every year, but doesn't know anyone who will take the wool. She's going to give me all the wool she's every sheared off of her sheep and now I am going to learn to spin like a maniac. I found a great video from the DIY network show "Knitty Gritty" that shows how to wash, card, and spin raw wool. It's exactly what I was looking for. I now know why my fibers were pulling apart when I was spinning, and I fixed it. I found a spinning wheel on ebay for $9.99 and it's in Halifax. (I'm leaving for a weekend in Halifax tommorow morning.) Maybe I can buy it and skip the 60 bucks for shipping by picking it up instead! (I'm getting all bubbly just thinking about it.)

If anyone knows any good yarn/knitting places in Halifax, let me know, and I'll be back blogging on Tuesday!