(Mostly) FO: Haiku

It seems that all I needed was a leetle bit of encouragement to get this baby done. A carrot on the end of a stick as it were. Just posting my dilemma encouraged me to sit down and whack out the last little bit of garter stitch that was left on the body. One viewing of Batman and some down time with the girls, and there she was...

Boo's Haiku in all it's boxy glory.
Yarn: Lion Brand FIsherman's Wool that I dyed, oh...four years ago? using Wiltons cake dyes. One of my first ever dyeing experiments. I went overboard on the colors a bit - five was too many - and it's been sitting in my stash ever since. I used about 1.5 skeins.
Needles: US 8/5.0 mm straights
Start/finish: 7/7-8/9/09
Gauge: 4.5 stitches/9 rows per inch in garter stitch
Comments/mods: I whizzed through the start of this baby in no time flat, and stalled out with 3 inches of garter stitch left on the body. I guess my need for mindless knitting passed fairly quickly! But I was dying to start the next socks, so I got back on the horse and finished up in just a couple of days. Once the knitting was done, I paused briefly to wind the yarn for the next sock project, and then sewed up the seams and set in the sleeves. I have not yet put any buttons on, but that should be easy to accomplish before it gets cold.

I actually like how the pooling turned out on this, splitting into yellow/brown and pink/orange sections with the green bleeding over into each. Unfortunately, novice dyer that I was, I didn't quite rinse the yarn enough, and after each session with this stuff my fingers were a lovely fuschia color. That might also have contributed to the lack of progress for a while.

I was curious to see if I could get the sleeves to match, so I started at the beginning of an orange section for the cast-on edge on both and managed to get them pretty close. The next big debate was whether to have the pink/orange side or the yellow/brown side face forward. I like pink and orange better, so that's what faces to the front. The nice thing about this pattern is that the pieces are reversible, so if you don't like the color combo on the "RS" of the sleeve, you can flip it inside out, designate that the right side, and carry on your merry way.

I showed this to Boo when it was done and her response was...minimal, to say the least. She looked at it, looked at me, and wandered off to look for her animules. Hopefully she'll actually wear it this fall, and there's enough yarn left for a hat and mittens if she's really lucky.

Right. Lucky. Lucky in that she's short and her mother dresses her funny.

Dilemma (partially) resolved

Because having completed this:

meant I could do this:

If I play my cards right and sneak my needles through security at Heathrow, there will be much Glynis knitting tomorrow. Yee haw!

PS - I've changed my mind about the second WIP I need to finish up. Yes, the Estes Vest is mostly done, but I really don't want to haul around several pounds of wool on my lap in August in Vermont and/or Maine. So I will be trading off a shawl for a shawl: finishing Veil of Isis in order to start Aestlight. Seems fitting, and Isis is a heck of a lot smaller/less wooly.

My dilemma

Or, how do I clear up some of the WIPs before starting something new?

I am in the throes of extreme startitis. Or maybe it's just excessive lack of inspiration to finish my current projects. Of which there are many. There's my woefully neglected Ravelympics project from last summer. There's a winter vest that is waiting for some serious extension/grafting work that I'm ignoring. There's the never ending SYB. I've got an Aleita Vest fail in need of remedying before the fall so I can actually use it. And Boo's Haiku - the poor kid has watched her sister get handknits all summer with no payback. Where's the justice in that?

And yet I don't want to work on any of these. I've got a Cookie A bug, and Carroll is waiting for me to get going on Glynis in our knitalong. My recent handspun is crying out to be knit into a shawl for someone who could really use a warm hug now. And I spent one long evening last week not watching "Dollhouse" and fiddling with Ironman's colored pencils, some graph paper, and a huge pile of Palette in an attempt to come up with a good color combo for this. I'm doomed!

I think the only thing I can do is require that I finish something old before I start something new. I desperately want to knit on Glynis and Aestlight while we're back in the states next week, so I guess that means to finish two items. First up Haiku, and then...I guess the Estes vest is next easiest. It's almost done, but the thought of grafting together an entire vest's worth of cables is giving me heartburn.

Do you think it will be enough if the knitting is done? They don't have to be totally finished, do they?

Damn...

WIPs and a 2 hr FO

I seem to be on a bit of a straight needle kick recently. Usually I prefer circulars for everything that aren't socks (DPNs all the way for those), but my two active WIPs are both on straights. What's up with that?

Haiku, in Wiltons dyed Lion Brand Fishermans Wool, for Boo

Rivulet, in some handspun yarn that will show up in the blog on Friday

Last night apparently, I was in need of instant gratification. One skein of superwash BFL handspun, bulky weight, some size 10 circulars and DPNs, and one viewing of Pan's Labyrinth later, I had a new hat.

Technically I suppose, it's not quite a finished object, since it still needs a button, but how can you miss with a hat that takes one movie to finish?

Pattern: Robin's Egg Blue Hat by Rachel Iufer
Yarn: one skein (of two) of Superwash BFL handspun (blogged about here), less then 120 yds. The skein was 122 yds, and I've got a good bit left.
Needles: US size 10/6 mm circulars/DPNs
Comments/mods: a lovely, quick pattern that is perfect for handspun. I had a bit of a neuronal misfiring (aka brain cramp) with part of the directions, but in the end decided to trust the designer and follow the directions (sometimes I over think more then a little bit!). It turned out beautifully, and the yarn is so soft that I suspect I will wear this every day I can over the winter.

Now I need to find a good button. Think there are any button stores in London?