Category Archives: Knitting Adventures

Guessing Game

After much deliberation and all sorts of ideas, I decided to be true to myself and do my own thing for the Knitting Olympics.

I am going to knit only Ropes or if you prefer the official name: sev[en]circle from the opening ceremony of the Winter Olympics tomorrow night until the closing ceremony on February 28, 2010.

To make it more fun, I invite you to come (and send your friends over too) and place your guess how many Ropes Cowls I can knit during those 17 days?

The person that will come closest to the number of my finished cowls* on  February 28 (not including the 2 I already knitted and the one that is currently on my needles) will receive a package of goodies from me that may or may not include one of these Ropes! :)

Please leave your guess in the comments of this post.
As I may want to discuss my progress here, I will leave the comments  open until Midnight of  Tuesday, February 16, 2010 (12:00 am est) which will be the deadline for placing guesses.

Please only one guess per person. Thank you :)

If more than one person will guess the correct number of finished cowls* or will be at the same numerical distance from the final number, I will randomly choose one winner either with the help of one of those online number thingies or the good old hat.

So lets play!

*Please note – we are guessing the number of finished cowls I will have at the end of the games not the number of actual ropes I will knit.
Each of my cowls will include as many ropes as are needed to make it a nice wearable cowl, my guess is that most will be around 7 ropes (as in the original pattern) but some may include a few more (if I use lace yarn it looks better in my view with a few more ropes) or maybe only 6 if the yarn is heavier  (I don’t think I will go to very heavy yarn that will require less ropes).

p.s.: Do you think this is going to be the start of a new game in our Knitting Olympics? :)


A Knitter of Small Things

Yes, small things keep falling off my needles:

Yes, I know it is blurred, this is why I like it!

I know it is blurred, this is why I like it!

Yes it is the colorful [sev]en circlesin that pocket

Yes it is the colorful seven circles in that pocket

Unfortunately the camera’s battery decided to die on us before the poor cowl got its turn on our model’s neck and since then we didn’t have the combination of sun and wakeful model to take that photo,,, I don’t think you particularly care to see my neck again so these photos will have to do.

I knitted this sev[en]circle with leftovers of a Japanese yarn – Diakeito Diamusee I used to knit a sweater for Sam a few years ago.

The colorful shpitz = שפיץ you see up there is the baktus I knitted for Sam as a last minute Christmas present:

I think the girl like to model, although she denies it of course

I think the girl likes to model, although she denies it of course

And another one:

This Casbah is knitted into such a pleasure, so soft, amazing!

This Casbah is such a pleasure to knit and the shawl, so soft, amazing!

This one was a quick pleasant knit. I used Laura Chau Milkweed pattern and Hand Maiden Casbah sock yarn.

My third sev[en]circle is already on the needles, this time I am using the new lace weight Noro – Sekku, it is looking very promising but I think I will need at least 10 circles with that yarn, we shall see.

Do you think I need intervention?

This morning I thought I will have my own olympic challenge (actually it was Kym‘s idea, but I read somewhere she decided on something else), maybe I should knit only  sev[en]circle during the Olympics to see how many I can make. Do you think this will cure this silly addiction?

I am debating between that or deciding my challenge will be to finish my Sabbatical or maybe to go with the crowd and knit a whole new cardigan from start to end,,, I have Snowbird in mind for this option. (Unfortunately the designer of Snowbird doesn’t have a web site so I had to link to Ravelry only).

What do you think I should choose?



Decisions

After a lot of thought and too much knitting on an iffy project, I almost reached a decision. I am quite sure my Pas de Valse really wants to be a Sabbatical!

Pas de Valse that doesn't want to be,,,

Pas de Valse that doesn't want to be,,,

Now I know why I hesitated and didn’t cut the yarn when I reached the shoulders but instead, used the thread from the center of the cake,,,

After delaying the grafting of those shoulders for awhile,  I swatched for Sabbatical and I think the yarn* will work well for it. I started a sleeve and will know more in a few days.

At least Pas de Valse brought this lovely into my life:

I love the color and the softness of the yarn

A hand knitted Jewel of a cowl

Do you wonder how? As I browsed Ravelry to find finished Pas de Valses I came across Bridgy and in her projects I found two such beauties, I checked the pattern: sev[en]circle and immediately fell in love. It was one of those instances when you have to cast on NOW, so I did.

My first idea was to knit it in my most favorite Koigu KPPPM – big mistake – all the colors seem to get lost in the folding circles. This Koigu certainly wants to be a hat or something. I then tried it in another Koigu – still not right.  Lucky for me,  my third choice of yarn proved to be a winning one: a lovely skein of sock yarn made of merino/cashmere/nylon I bought from  Mathieu the dyer at a small event in Port Hope, Ontario last November.  The real color is quite different (our current weather is not very photo friendly). It is more subdued and really lovely, I will try to take better photos when the weather will permit.

I know this cowl is only the first of quite a few such jewels that will come off my needles sooner or later.

* Oh and no , I didn’t forget to talk about the yarn I use for my cardigan, I want you to be very curious about it,,,  I promise to tell you all about this yarn soon!