must.knit.faster

Carol commented a couple days ago that she liked the picot hem on the gloves I'm knitting, and asked if I'd teach it to her and some friends. That sounds like a great reason to have a Football Sunday Knit Party if I've ever heard one. My livingroom will hold 5 or 6 guests, so I am decreeing October 21 to be Football Sunday Knit Party at Delana's house day. The first 6 people who RSVP to delanaknits(at)gmail(dot)com will have a reserved spot. We can do the picot hem and the toe up sock cast ons you all were interested in!

Mermaid continues to fly off the needles. I am currently almost 4 days ahead of the schedule I set for myself in order to have this finished in time for Mom's birthday. After today's email discussion with a blog friend and a Ravelry invitation, I wish I was more like 14 days ahead of schedule.



Knitfitt's nonmitts are making good progress too. The ease with which these are working up, as well as how very much I am loving the pattern, has convinced me that I do indeed need a pair of these for myself. I purchased 3 balls of the Cashsoft, but I think I'm only going to need 2. Once done with this pair, I will exchange the leftover ball for another color. There was some lovely purple when I was at the LYS that I might just decide on.



I will not break my self imposed WIP rules. I will not break my self imposed WIP rules. Maybe if I chant this enough, I won't run out and buy yarn and cast on for my next major project. I will finish the Mermaid jacket and Knitfitt's nonmitts before buying yarn. I will finish the Lake Park Gloves and silk booties before casting on. Wish me luck!!

I was originally thinking about making Katherine of Aragon as my first "Tudor Roses" sweater. This morning as I drank my coffee, I was leaning more towards Elizabeth of York. Then I got a comment on my blog from Marina. She is getting ready to cast on Mary Tudor and suggested we knit it together. Next thing I know, she's invited me to the Tudor Roses Knitalong group in Ravelry. Buying lots of lovely jumper weight wool and casting on is all I've been able to think about ever since.

I will not break my self imposed WIP rules. I will not break my self imposed WIP rules.

Must.Knit.Faster
Must.Knit.Faster

Score!

I received a purchase I made on Ebay yesterday. I paid quite a bit for it, but it was money well spent in my book. I got a copy of Alice Starmore's "Tudor Roses", and love every single sweater in it! The only problem I'm going to have is deciding which to cast on first. I'm thinking Katherine of Aragon right now, but that could change next time I flip through the book LOL.

I'm making good progress on the Mermaid jacket. Got through the 3rd hem gusset last night and spent the better part of my knitting time today working on it. I'm pretty sure I'll get through the center back gusset and possibly the 4th hem gusset tomorrow.



Making good progress on Knitfitt's nonmitts too. The photo shows my progress through last night, and I did work a bit on them today too. Only a couple more repeats til I finish the thumb gore.

I love progress

I almost feel like this Mermaid jacket is knitting itself. It's amazing how fast the knitting of the body is going compared to the sleeves. I guess I'm just not a big fan of miles of solid color garter stitch! At the rate this is going, I might be done with the project in 2 weeks.



Managed to get a few more rounds done on Knitfitt's nonmitts last night too. Still won't photographs of the pattern side, but I got a pretty good shot of the ribbing tonight. Instead of using my normal background (aka the comforter), I grabbed some white paper hoping to capture the true blue of the yarn.

I love the result. And isn't that flair that the picot hem is giving them nice? Now I really want to get some of my WIPs done so I can cast on a pair of these for myself!

Mermaids and Mittens

Actually got a couple of non-washed out photos of the Mermaid in progress today.

Both sleeves are complete, including the seaming.



And, I'm making fairly good progress on the body. The second gusset was completed after taking this photo, and tomorrow night I should be able to get through the first sleeve gusset. Not bad for only a couple week's worth of knitting. I'm not stressing over getting this done in time now.



What I'm stressing about instead, is the number of WIP's I currently have. I finally got all of them loaded into Ravelry, and boy was that a wake up call! I'm back to my old tricks. I currently have 15 projects on the needles, and I admit freely that I am itching to cast on a few more. I'm a bit ashamed of myself, so a change is in order. Until I get this WIP problem resolved, I am only allowing myself to actively work on 2 projects at a time. Of course, right now the first priority is completing the Mermaid jacket. The second project I have chosen to work on is knitfitt's nonmitts.

Knitfitt is my Ravelry Mitten Exchange pal, and since I want her to see (sorta) what she'll be getting, I'll be blogging about my progress. I'm only showing the "palm" side of them though, so she'll still be surprised when she gets her package. I am so in love with this pattern, and even more so with the yarn. I chose RYC Cashsoft since it contains cashmere. Knitfitt mentioned that she liked cashmere as a joke, but I do aim to please :o)

I do believe that I will make myself a pair of these in the same yarn this year.

I've altered the pattern just a smidge. I didn't like the way the pattern instructed knitting only a hem for the back of the hand side, and chose to do a picot hem instead. I think this will be just the right touch to go with the pattern stitch.



I wonder how long it will take me to whittle down that WIP list so I can cast on something new?

Ravelry is going to be bad for my knitting progress

Although I didn't get as much knit on Mermaid 2 as I had hoped this weekend (thanks to Ravelry), I did get some work done on her. Pardon the poor photo quality. Both were taken when there was no more natural light and the flash on my camera washed out the colors a bit :o(

Last night I finished up the first stripe section and was hoping to get to the underarm gusset today.



Didn't happen though. I did get the first gusset done before snapping this photo, but Ravelry called and I set her aside for the night.



My main goal for this weekend was to finish up the OSU socks, and I actually managed to get that done!! Woohoo! No late birthday present for my stepdad.



I pulled out the silk booties to work on before the football games started today. I'm just about to the heel turn on the first one. Love the colors in this. I will probably concentrate on knitting more of this project this week since the OSU socks are done. Hopefully I can have them finished next weekend.



Ravelry is going to be bad for me I can tell already. I can't stay away from it. And, to make matters worse, I keep adding more and more projects to my queue and staring at them longingly. Today I gave in to the impulse to cast one on. Just what I needed eh? Yet another WIP. Behold the beginnings of my Lake Park Gloves. So far I'm liking the striping I'm getting from the yarn I chose. Again, poor photo quality. The greens are really much more vibrant than they look here.