A design idea I submitted for the sequel to Sensual Knits got selected. It was something that I completely made up on the spot at work and submitted pictures of my sketches that I took with my phone and emailed myself. It got picked! One of my knitting designs is going to be published. *flaps hands*

Problem is, I think I might have designed something a little... advanced for me. Not advanced for me to knit if it was from a pattern, but to design myself, whoo boy. At least I have until March to come up with the pattern and finish knitting it. I'm sure I'm supposed to keep it under cover until the book is announced/published or whatever, so I'm not going to say anymore about it than I think I'm getting paid a pretty penny for it considering it's my first published design. And it's 10 million hotdogs awesome.


Building up to the omg jump up and down excitement of this whole "I'm going to be in a book!" deal, I got some yarn from Kate for Fishmas this year. Kate has a tendency to buy me yarn that is much longer than it should be. It's like her yards are as long as Chris' minutes. Previously, she bought me three skeins of yarn that was 200 yards a skein, and I used it to make her a total yarn eater project (the Manitou Passage Scarf). Not only did I only use two of them to make the scarf 6 feet, but I also made her a matching hat and I STILL have some left over.

The yarn she got me this year was 6 skeins of super-bulky Tahki Taos, 60 yards a ball, in Jungle. 360 yards of yarn. I looked through Ravelry and the books I owned, and figured that the Carrie Cropped Cardigan from Fitted Knits would use about the amount of yarn I had. I'm not normally a fan of cropped stuff, but I have a couple tank tops that would go with the colors and I figured it's just a shrug that buttons in the front.

I swatched on Saturday, but I couldn't get gauge with the right needle. I moved up to a 17, but got the same gauge as with a 15. I decided to just knit a size bigger than I needed and everything would work okay in the end. It did. Not only did it work okay, but Sunday evening, right before midnight, I cast off a full length sweater jacket, going past my bum. I'd added more increases to the front to encompass my bosom, and decided to make it a little longer anyway. I was expecting it to come right above my navel, which would show off the lacy bottoms of my tanks nicely, but no. I'd used two balls on the body, one each on the sleeves, and still had two left when it came to lengthening the bottom. I added some lacy eyelet-vents in the lower back to add shaping and match the eyelets in the bell sleeves.

The finished product is wonderful. I'm going to buy a couple buttons after work and do the finishing touches, and then I'll add pictures.

And I think I'll make Kate buy me yarn when we go on the Yarn Train to PDX.

I really really really really really want to knit Cherie Amour in the new issue of Knitty. SO bad, that I've already bought yarn and swatched. The only thing keeping me from taking this pattern by the throat is the watermelon top. I WILL NOT START a sweater before I finish the one I'm working on. Ground rules. Technically I'm not supposed to have more than one WIP in the first place, but I get impatient.

I want to be working on Cherie Amour by the weekend, and since Kate wants me to make her a skirt she can wear to Endfest on Saturday (dammit why did I agree to this before I realized how late in the week it was already?) I need to be knitting my ass off. So I stayed up until 3:30am working on it. Progress: the front is done, minus the finishing touches. All I have left is the back and the finishing.

Can I do it? We'll see.

No pictures for you though.

I posted them in my other journal without a lock

But more closely on topic for this journal, I bought lots of yarn while I was there and more importantly, did LOTS of knitting too.

The hot pink fuzzy coat from hell is taking shape. I've got the body completely done, and I'm making progress on the sleeves. Problem with the sleeves is, my yarn gets a LOT shorter when it stretches, and it's hard to measure their length when you're sitting in a car.

This was my progress when I was in Santa Cruz:







I did get a little bit of the watermelon shirt done, but not enough to take a picture of.

I bought pretty yarns:


The entire haul


Schaefer Laurel (two 400 yd skeins) in Katherine the Great


Blue Heron Egyptian Mercerized Cotton (one 1000 yd skein) in Raspberry



Maggi Knits Maggi's Linen, 5 120 yd skeins in hot pink, 2 in variegated orange/olive greenish-brownish

And two blue cascade fixations for a CHRIS THONG. Har. He'll wear it too, I'll make him.

I'm bad, bad, bad, I know. I haven't updated in a while and I've been knitting a lot. I finished the TTV (but I don't have FO pictures; hey, I said I was bad):





It ended up being a little bit longer than in that picture. I tried it on when I was halfway through the bottom ribbing, and with all my alterations it FITS PERFECTLY.

Item: Third Fourth time's the Charm
Pattern: Turtleneck Tube Vest, Fitted Knits
Needles: 6 and 4, 24" circs
Yarn: KnitPicks Shine Worsted, Ebony
Time to Complete: About two weeks?
Unusual Knitting Location(s): Cast on at a camp ground by Crater Lake
New Skillz: farking RLI's *spits* Also, first time I added this many modifications
Notes:

Alterations I made:

• After the increase rows were finished, I worked 4 more rows (2 RS and 2 WS) with no increases before casting on the stitches for armholes. I did this to avoid the bottoms of the armholes digging into my armpits and it worked PERFECTLY.
  
• When the stockinette on the front proceeded past the fullest part of my bust, I worked decreases on either side every other round until I reached 39 stitches on the front. I'm busty with a tiny waist, and without doing this I would have looked pregnant.
  
• I didn't start knitting the bottom ribbing until the stockinette had reached a satisfactory distance from my bosoms, and I did ribbing until my last skein ran out.

See also:
WIP post

I made quite a bit of progress on the Hot Pink Coat from Hell in the few days I was working on it (No pictures yet, I said I was bad). I'm completely dreading picking up stitches to do the lace panel on the outside (I CAN'T SEE THE STITCHES WITH THIS YARN!!!) and it's not a very portable project being a giant cone. So when we went to Kate's family's cabin last weekend, I brought my watermelon yarn and cast on the Drop Stitch Lace tank:





I'm working it in the round as opposed to two pieces and then seaming. I like the circle :3 And it goes fast. Wheeeeee! One problem with the bottom-up construction is I'm paranoid I'm going to run out of yarn, but I'm sure I'd be able to get more without too much of a problem.

If it's not obvious, I'm on a Fitted Knits kick. Finished the shrug, halfway through the tube vest, and I've already got the yarn for the drop-stitch tank. So what's next? I think I've fallen for the Long Coat with Chevron Lace:


One problem stands: yarn. This coat needs a LOT of it.

Here are the specifics from the book:

Gauge: 10 sts and 13 rows = 4 inches
Size 13 needles
Suggested Yarn: Cascade Tuscany Grande, 1755 yards

I have a 50% off discount for Joann.com right now, and the only yarn I liked that MIGHT get the right gauge was some Red Heart. I'm checking some other online places too, but it's hard to find super bulky yarn anywhere.

Red Heart Casual Cot'n Blend Yarn in Preppie or Black Grape
Spinnaker

More than anything, I'm figuring I'll probably end up making a nice fuzzy coat out of one of the giant cones I bought from theladywyvern, but I'd want a scale first so I can figure out what my yardage is. I'd hate to get 75% done and run out of yarn. Ew.

UPDATE

EUREKA





I seem to have gauge from the bit I did. The one problem I can see this yarn bringing up is that there is NO STITCH DEFINITION WHATSOEVER. But it's soft and pink and I got a GIANT cone of it. I *think* this one is Squish, but it could be Cush.

I've been in love with the Turtleneck Tube Vest ever since I bought Fitted Knits, especially since it seems like it would be instant gratification.

This thing has been giving me nothing but trouble. It starts out with my visual thinking having problems understanding the instructions for LLI and RLI (lifted increases). I need pictures for most new stitches like this, otherwise I don't really understand how to do them. It also doesn't help that there seems to be a typo with the LLI instructions (you should be knitting into the stitch TWO rows below, right? Right???) Anyway, started this at Crater lake last weekend, so I had no access to internet things to help me out. I ended up ripping out all my progress when I realized I'd been doing the LLI's wrong. Then I ripped out a second time when I realized I'd done the RLI's wrong. Turns out I wasn't doing the RLI's wrong at all, they just knit a little looser thatn LLI's and look fine when you're wearing the garment. I didn't know this yet, since the stitches look fine the first couple rows before they loosen up. But I'd ripped out and restarted only to have NO difference whatsoever.

Observe:


LLI vs RLI


I reknit this bit THREE TIMES

I worked on washcloths out of shrug yarn leftovers until I ran out, and spent the rest of the drive home eating. Mmmmm food.

When I got home, I looked for visuals on how to do the RLI correctly, and found.... nothing. Maybe knittinghelp.com calls it something else, but I didn't find it on there. I decided to just accept it the way it was and hope that the stitches look fine after blocked and while being worn.

I was beginning to get worried that the garment wouldn't accommodate my ample bosoms, so I did the increases for the medium size, then worked a few non-increase rows so the armhole doesn't dig into my armpit (I HATE that!). Then I did the 18 cast-on stitches, and spent all yesterday on the body. After I'd gone through an entire skein, I tried it on. And it was way too big.

wtf.

I was a dork, and forgot that those 18 cast-on stitches WOULD be the accommodation for my ample bosoms.

For posterity's sake, this is how far I got before I ripped out to restart for the FOURTH time:



I love the yarn, I love the pattern, but I'm am NOT enjoying this cursed top.

Item: Ugly Retro Shrug
Pattern: Two-Tone Ribbed Shrug from Fitted Knits
Needles: 6 and 4 24" circs
Yarn: Cotton-Ease
Time to Complete: Less than a week
Unusual Knitting Location(s): CRATER LAKE
New Skillz: Uh.... Make 1 Purl was new?
Notes: I was a dork, didn't count my rows right, so I ended up a couple rows short, and had to redo the ribbing to get the right number of stitches. This yarn does NOT knit tighter with smaller needles, and I ended up having JUST BARELY ENOUGH green to finish the ribbing.


Almost done!

See also:
WIP post


The only reason I'm posting this now is because I'm supposed to be working on my Lab for tonight. Hence the icon

MMMMMMMMMMMMMMM. Started it the day after I finished those damn socks (Sunday) and wheeee look at me go! I'm going to call it a two-skein wonder because I'm amazed I had enough yarn for it. I got two skeins of cotton-ease from a swap, and decided they'd be perfect for this shrug. Cotton ease is significantly thicker than the Cascade 220 the pattern calls for, but when I went down a couple needle sizes, it seems like it's working out JUST fine! I'm more than halfway done after working on it for barely four days.

Two-tone ribbed shrug from Fitted Knits in Lion Brand Cotton-Ease.