harloty goodness

harlot
Originally uploaded by trillium knits.

Besides all the beer, there was also the charming Yarn Harlot. She's even funnier in person than on the page and screen. Who knew she could do such a great Jamacian accent? (We were treated to a slightly more detailed version of the home renovation story, after someone asked if she had any more projects planned.)

I got all warm and fuzzy when she was talking about the great donation total from knitters to Doctors without Borders. The key to getting people to donate money, she explained was getting them over that mental hurdle that a small act, repeated many many times adds up to big change.

There was a pause as she let that sink in. Does any one in this room have a visual aid of this concept? she then asked.

Word.

finishedmonkeys

finishedmonkeys
Originally uploaded by trillium knits.

I finished my monkies on the way home from Victoria. I love these so much they will only be worn with sandals ;)

beerandknitting

beerandknitting
Originally uploaded by trillium knits.

This is the cliff notes version of last weekend. Beer and Knitting. Good times. I'd say together at last, but well, they're an old married couple by now really.

Originally uploaded by trillium knits.

Doesn't this totally look like a mugshot? :P

Yes, I knitted a crown out of crepe paper. It was kind of annoying to knit especially at the start, but it went surprisingly quickly for all of that.

Everyone at the party squealed when I put it on him, which made it more than worth the pain. I would totally make this again, especially a smaller version for a child.

Other Knitting

Besides the finished monkey sock, there was much other assorted knitting. I started (again) Gordon's jolly roger sweater. It's a yoked sweater bottom up ala Elizabeth Zimmerman. I did the bottom cable border and a few inches of body and finished up the first 100 grams of wool. I'm really liking the 220 superwash, it seems softer than the regular Cascade 220. It's not much to look at yet but at this rate will only take a few weeks to knit up, depending on distractions.

I also knit up a super secret knitting project that I'll post pictures of later in the week, on the off chance that the recipient has discovered this blog. One hint, it was not knit with yarn.

and now some gorgeous Thursday night knitters!




Knitters are really the best people.

Oh speaking of which... I don't think I've mentioned it yet but my next big sweater project is going to be Kilronan from Alice Starmore's Celtic Collection. It's still in the planning stages right now. I'm keeping my eyes out for a good yarn to replace the now discontinued pattern yarn.

In the process of researching the yarn online I met yet another wonderful knitter, Marjorie of the Prime time knitter blog. She gave me lots of great information on the original yarn used and a couple of great suggestions on other yarns that were extremely helpful. I didn't find what I was looking for at any of the yarn sales this weekend, but I have high hopes of leaving the fiber fest next weekend with at least a hats worth of a contender or two to try out.

monkey1

monkey1
Originally uploaded by trillium knits.

How do I love thee Koigu, yadda yadda.

I finished my first monkey sock on the ferry this morning. What a great little pattern. By about half way through the sock I'd memorized the lace pattern so it just flew by.

I love this green to pieces, it's hard to capture with the camera, the color changes are so subtle and pretty.

monkeys!
Originally uploaded by trillium knits.

I bought this Koigu back when the google shopping cart was starting up and giving 10 dollar off discounts at various online stores. So I got 2 yummy skeins for ten bucks, including shipping. This yarn has been calling me for the longest time, monkeys seemed like the perfect project for it.

I started these at knitting yesterday afternoon on size zeros, but after the first pattern repeat I realized they wouldn't fit over my heel. I started over on 1.5's last night and they're perfect.

finished
Originally uploaded by trillium knits.

Yay! my sock buddy socks are complete. Oh dear gods what an adventure. Usually socks give me very little trouble. I mean they're small, there's no seaming, what's not to love??

These guys however were a bit of a trial. For those who haven't used it yet, this yarn, Seawool from Fleece Artist, is a dream. It's beautiful soft and shiny, but it's also kind of short. I was somehow distracted by the fact that the hank was 115 grams and didn't really pay much attention to the length of the yarn. I did weigh my first sock about half way through, but apparantly my old kitchen scale really sucks. I finished sock one and was finishing up the cuff of sock #2 when I realized with growing horror that I didn't have anywhere close to enough yarn to finish the second sock.

After a short freak out, I frogged back a full repeat on the cuff of each sock and crossed my fingers. (Let's now skip over the part where I reknit the heel of the first sock entirely off center from the lace pattern and had to frog back yet again. Thanks. :P)

It came down to the wire last night, but I had just enough yarn to finish. Phew!

Note to self, make toe up socks from this yarn next time!

I washed and blocked them last night and they're out drying in the morning sun. Hopefully they'll be dry by the afternoon so I can show them off at Knit night.

rustedroot

rustedroot
Originally uploaded by trillium knits.

Here's a picture of my finished Rusted Root. I still haven't blocked it, lol. I think I already posted this, but just in case.

Yarn: Cascade Pima Tencel
Needles: size 8 knit picks options for the body, size 6 dpns for the edging.

This yarn is soooo soft. I keep petting it. I cropped out my head because of an extreme bad hair day, lol.

Yet another sock

lssock
Originally uploaded by trillium knits.

This is the lifestyle yarn knitted up into a basic toe up sock. It was a really fast knit with the slightly thicker than normal yarn. The twist on this yarn made it a pleasure to knit with. I really haven't seen another yarn like it.

Sockapalooza update

seawoolsocks
Originally uploaded by trillium knits.

I've been a knitting floozy of late, but still making decent progress on my buddies socks.

I really like this zigzag pattern. It's nice because I can set these down at any part in the repeat and easily tell where I am when I pick them back up.

The sheen of this yarn is quite enchanting. I'm going to need some shiny socks too!