One Geek to Craft Them All

So I’ve started the new job and the lovely epic commute. Its been anywhere from 2 hours one way to 4 hours. Not fun, but the job itself is a good thing and really that’s what matters.

This past weekend an old friend got married. It was on the water so I figured a shrug would be perfect. So of course I had a whole 5 days before the wedding. I had even planned to break the yarn diet except that it was Mother’s Day. Yarn stores closed. But I was able to find two skeins of an off white, wool from the Lion Brand Studio.

It was an adventure, knit flat, as I traveled the wilds of NJ. It didn’t help that I had only been doing the commute a week and hadn’t fully adjusted to my new earlier day. I would drift off,  think i missed my stop, and lots of other wild bus moments. But I kept at it. Even when on Monday there was lots of frogging as I tried to get the right dimensions.

I’m glad I used such a simple and easy to memorize pattern.  It was the Lace Knit Rib Shrug by Crystal Palace Yarns.  I did a simple garter edging, mostly because I did not think I would have enough yarn for full sleeves,  and would instead make  3/4 sleeves.

And I was able to finish it by Friday, with some wild, Thursday into Friday blocking, involving fans, and knitting the band onto a slightly damp project on the bus, I let it dry out in my cubicle and by the end of the night had weaved in ends, and bound off ready to head to the marina come Saturday.

Next up is a shawl or two, I may make one for the office and one for the commute if I can manage it. Both are air-conditioned and I get cold very easily. I’ve had my fingers start to turn blue, in a chilly office. And I tend to be the first to pull out the fingerless gloves and the last to put them away.

I’m tempted to use all that fingering weight yarn I got at the Hotel Sale but, part of me still wants a sweater hold out so we’ll see.

Days without a Yarn Purchase in 2010: 137

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Knitting lace, shrug

The Dalek has finally been finished and gifted. And just a couple days late.  Just in time to take in another request from a friend. But I have some lovely Royal Blue Karabella Aurora 8 so I think this will be my first Worsted Dalek.  It came out really well approx 5″ high. And the appendages are much stiffer than they were on the first two.

So while watching Ice Dancing I cast on for the shrug I designed and reading over the pattern I wrote? I seem to have made it to the end of the sleeve and had not decided what would be done next. Knit across then pick up stitches and knit down or increase until the back is reasonable. I ‘m leaning towards the second as I’m knitting flat anyway and it would be fairly simple to increase across. It will be interesting to see how to work the lace pattern into the increases.

I settled on some Malabrigo sock in Eggplant. It looks mostly gray to me but I have two skeins of it to bring my total to 880 yards.  I’ve ended up with about a 3 hour commute tomorrow, so it should give me time to make enough progress to make some decisions about how feasible this shrug is or if i will have to just pick up someone else’s pattern.

I’ve also picked up a lace scarf pattern for this journey, in case things go horribly wrong with the shrug i will have something else to work on. Also its a good way to finish off what seems like most of the skein of the purple used in the dalek. Granted I will also have a novel, my laptop for writer’s group that evening, and possibly my DS.  But I do have a bit of boredom fear.  It leads me to have lots of large bags, and more things than I could get done stranded for days.

Though I also need to work on the Flash pattern. Apparently there isn’t one in the Justice League Scarf. I Know I used the Green Lantern  outline as a base, but there seem to be no notes on the lightening bolt. And everything I’ve charted so far looks odd. Even when I tried to copy the pattern from the actual scarf.  I think I have a solution to it. But it needs to be charted and knit.

The paid time for the pattern is nearing an end 13 people have ordered the pattern so far. And I think I shall be doubling the donation to Habitat for Humanity for Haiti come 3/1.  Its more than I would have been able to do on my own. So I thank everyone who donated.

I was lucky enough to not have lost anyone, but their homes were a different story, and while basic needs are still having trouble being met, I hope that soon, food, water, and medical care, will no longer be the driving force, and instead it will be rebuilding.

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Knitting dalek, donations, flash, haiti, justice league, pattern, ravelympics, shrug