Finished Object Friday

Longer on the Inside scarf. It looks a bit odd because the scarf's on some steps and the picture's sideways to take up less space. It's an illusion knit which means that if you look at the scarf straight on the TARDISes don't appear. It was fun. I'm in the midst of another project that uses up the many leftovers.

It's Capalday!

Well, it is in the UK and that's what counts to a Whovian. I've been waiting almost a year for Peter Capaldi to take over the TARDIS as the 12th Doctor. Dinner was a bit of a challenge to plan. The only clue there was for a 12-themed meal was kidneys. Ewwww, no. I settled on fish fingers (that's fish sticks in the US) and bow tie pasta with alfredo sauce (renamed Alonso sauce for the occasion). Dessert is tea and Scottish shortbread.

My knitting project will be the Longer on the Inside scarf. The two remaining yarns arrived today. If I could hop back in time, I would've done the scarf in fingering weight because it's a tad too heavy for a Georgia winter. I don't have a TARDIS so I'll be happy that I've got all the correct yarn and that I can knit it on Capalday!

What to wear with a Jayne hat

Oops

The yarns for my Longer on the Inside scarf are coming from Idaho, Nevada, and Massachusetts. Idaho arrived today:

The yarns were supposed to all be Cascade 220 Superwash. In my frenzy to find the last couple of colors, I screwed up. Two of them are non-superwash. The texture's a bit different between the two kinds. I might use them anyway. Hmmm, maybe somebody on Ravelry has those colors that they want to sell or trade. Stay tuned.

Update:I had the good sense to check things out on Ravelry. The Superwash is more of a light worsted, so the two yarns really aren't compatible. I found a place that had both of the colors. I don't think I would've run across it otherwise. It's called Coveted Yarn.

Another Whovian scarf

I finished the smaller of the gargoyles.

He's sitting on a rock, by the way, not laying an enormous egg. I think those teeth are supposed to be pointing up, but it was hard for me to see on the pattern.

I worked on the back of my sweater for awhile, then had to take a computer break. That's where the mischief always starts. I spotted a new pattern by Franklin Habit. It's an illusion scarf called Longer on the Inside. If you look at it normally, it's a nice stripey scarf. If you look at an angle, Tardises appear. I've been wanting to try illusion knitting, so I attempted to purchase the pattern. Ravelry froze. I'm sure it was all my fault. Eventually it thawed out and I have the pattern.

Then the yarn drama began. I thought it would be too indulgent to make it in the Cascade 200 that the pattern called for. I spent a long time comparing the Cascade 220 to possible Wool of the Andes equivalents. I filled up my shopping basket at Knit Picks and saw the total. It wasn't terribly much cheaper and the colors weren't that great a match. Shopping basket was emptied and I then went on a Cascade 220 hunt. I got all the colors, but they are from three different shops. If you add shipping, it would've been better to stick with KP. What a silly knitter.

Now for something completely different, a groovy new knitting book is on the way. It's called The KNITSONIK Stranded Colourwork Sourcebook. Knitsonik aka Felicity Ford is the author. The theme is designing colorwork based on things you see that might inspire you. It's a Kickstarter-backed project so I get updates periodically. The latest on had pictures. Wow. Even if I never actually use the book, it'll be worth having just for the photography. The colors and patterns are amazing, too. It's a good think that it won't be available for a few more months or I'd be off hunting down more yarn.

Whimsical vs. Practical

It had to happen. I'm a third of the way through a sweater. It's practical. I will actually wear it. It isn't geeky or goofy in any way. The needle on my internal whimsy meter moved all the way over to max whimsy. This resulted in an online shopping trip.

I'm blaming it on SpillyJane. She's been knitting some gargoyles. This reminded me that I've got both a medium and a large gargoyle in my queue. I decided that I must make them as soon as possible. That's what most of the yarn's for. The colorful stuff is fingering weight. It got me free shipping so it is actually practical.

Speaking of SpillyJane, she's about to come out with a mitten book. I'm a big fan of her designs so I'll be watching for the book to appear.

Sweater in progress

This is the first time in a while I've been awake and there's been any daylight at the same time. I took a quick pic of my sweater in progress. Looking at a picture of something I'm knitting is better than actually looking at it. Here's the left front I finished last week:

I'm knitting two rows from one ball of yarn and two rows from another. There are a few spots that look faintly stripey, but overall I think it'll be okay. The fronts will come from one set of two, the back from another, and the sleeves from a third. I hope it'll be okay.

I started a sweater

I bought some yarn last year to make a sweater. I was afraid to start it. I made a sweater with yarn from the same dyer and the color varied from skein to skein. I didn't discover it until the sweater was done. The sweater looked awful and I had to toss it out. I didn't want a repeat performance but I did want to use the yarn. I switched patterns from a mostly solid to a mostly lace design. I'm working off of two balls at the same time: two rows of one ball then two rows of the other. So far it looks okay. I haven't totally abandoned my WIPs.

• Bits of Color socks: There will be 12 patterns coming about every two weeks. They use up leftovers. This is the first one. The white was supposed to continue after the pattern, but I didn't like using the yarn. It's a 50/50 merino/tencel blend and lacks the flexibility of wool. The color's nice, though.
  
• Whovian messenger bag: I was going to paper piece a TARDIS quilt block for the back. I tried it and discovered that I don't have the skill level for doing teeny tiny little bits of fabric. A new idea popped into my head for something else that's mostly quilted, uses some little embroidered pieces, and will be much easier.
• Firefly mittens: I found the pattern and it appears I gave up on them when they came out way too big. I restarted them on 000 dpns and the size is good now. I alternate working on them with working on the Bits of Color socks.
• Name of the Doctor scarf: It's on hold until I'm in the mood for double knitting or until I finish up some of these other projects.
• Bunny slippers: Some of the pieces still need more felting/fulling. I'm tempted to toss the pieces in with some laundry and hope for the best.