Done Branching

I made this project from a really nice pattern I found on Knitty called Branching Out, by .......It seems like a long time ago that I started, using some handspun baby camel that I was really excited about at the time. I finally cast it off today. Whew!

Lace was a stretch for me. I learned a bunch - how to "read" my knitting better - it forces you to be able to tell by looking where your yarn-overs and knit-two-together-slanting-lefts are and how they are different from a slip-two-knit-one-pass-two-over. It's really hard to back up if you need to un-knit something, and it's painfully slow (for me anyway) because you really have to pay attention.
Nope - no watching the 10:00 news while you're doing this! Actually, if I did it more I might have been able to memorize the pattern and actually just knit, without checking the chart over and over, but for me I needed a quiet, uninterrupted half hour or so to get one repetition of the pattern, and I just don't seem to have very many of those in my life. Uninterrupted half hours, that is....
It probably should have been longer, but when the camel was gone I stopped. With great celebration, actually, truth be told.

There are a bunch of mistakes in it, (don't look too close) but I'm really pleased with the way it ended up. It's soft, it's pretty, and it was a challenge.
Whew! Can't wait to wear it!

Keep on Sockin...

Fell in love with "Manos del Uragauy" last weekend. Knit on Pearl in Jackson had a whole rack of this luscious stuff - marino with a little silk, hand spun and hand dyed in the most rich colors. No two skeins are alike, so you just find some that look okay together. Supposed to be a non-profit org to "bring social and economic opportunities to rural women". It's hard to know - but they sure make some nice handspun.

Vanessa Siampe made the verigated grey one, Blanca made my two red pattern ones, and the blue says sombody Zapata. I couldn't stand it, and had to start a sock from one. Interupted rib leg, I haven't decided how to do the heel yet.

Vesting

My first try at an actual garment here. This is half of a vest back from a pattern in the Twisted Sister's Sweater Workbook, it's called "rectangles" because that's all it's made out of. It's knit up and down, and started in the center back and worked toward the armholes. Kind of fun.








The yarn is from this roving I bought a while back at Lambspun in Ft.Collins. It's 40% marino, 40% alpaca and 20% silk. The mix was called "Coral Abundance". It's beautiful, and spins nicely - makes one of the most professional looking yarns I've ever made. I'm a little worried that I didn't get enough, so as the vest progresses I may have to get creative, since I think once lambspun is out of a particular blend it's tough tamales.




This is what it's supposed to look like when it's done. I'm crossing my fingers!!!