The last of the STR from Sheep and Wool - Mediumweight in Seastone

And yes, I am aware that three of the five colors I bought were blues and greens (Plus the green Footzey Foo heavyweight I used for my Red Dwarf Socks). It was slightly less obvious when I was also picking up pinks and purples for Roxy, but what can I say? I am drawn to them. :D

I was hoping to be able to post a triumphant FO picture of my Molly sleeves today, but there was an Incident. I cruised through the second sleeve on Wednesday and managed to actually finish it. I slipped it over my arm to admire it (Pride goeth before…), and I looked at the cuff. Huh. That’s really, really big. Way bigger than I expected. I took it off, and compared it to the first sleeve. It was SIGNIFICANTLY wider. I stared at it. I looked at every pattern row, trying to figure out where I went off-pattern. Finally, I found it.
Do you see where the arrows are pointing? I anchored those light green loops in the wrong spot on sleeve #2, which gave me 12 of them, instead of 8. (…aaaaaand there’s the fall). So, yeah. The ENTIRE cuff was half again as big as it was supposed to be. I had to rip the entire thing out, back to that green row, to fix it. (17 rows, if you are wondering.)

On the upside, now that the rows are 2/3 the length they were, they move a LOT faster. I’m back up to the orange row just before the pink I was on when this picture was taken. With any luck (and less foul-ups), I’ll have a FO by the end of the weekend.

Have a good one, all!

Yes, I know. I missed Handspun Monday this week. I’m lame.

So, anyone care to take a stab at what the WIP of the week is here? Yup. Molly’s Sleeves. I really, really hoped I’d have them done for this week, but I just didn’t quite make it.

The sleeve on the right is done, except for attaching the half-circle at the top and weaving in the ends (gulp). The sleeve on the right has half a round of pink, 2 rounds of lilac, a round of orange, and a round of blue left to go, plus the attaching and end-weaving. As I recall from sleeve 1, the last couple of rounds went fairly quickly, so I’m thinking I should be on to weaving the ends this weekend, and then attaching them to the denim jacket. For the curious, this is the one I got. It’s in the washer right now - it was a little stiff and I wanted to soften it up a little.

Other than that, um, not much going on around here. I’m still babysitting 2 or 3 days a week, which cuts into the knitting/crocheting/spinning time. I do still have a few more things from MDS&W for Yarn Pr0n Fridays, and then I’ll be going back through the stash to find some new stuff. I need to get pictures of a lot of stuff for my Ravelry stash pages, so I’m going to use that opportunity to get some classic pr0n, too. :)

STR Heavyweight in Rose Quartz

So, I’ve been surprisingly faithful to one project since last week’s WIP Wednesday post. In fact, other than swatching for the Mystery Stole 3 KAL (more on that in a minute), I’ve only worked on my Molly Weasley Sleeves.

Last week, I showed you this picture, but like I said then, that wasn’t an accurate depiction of where I was on the project. This is a little more accurate picture of where I was:
Since then, I’ve gotten to here: (And yes, I know this is a crap picture. I’m babysitting, and therefore can’t really get everything up to Kris’s studio with the good lighting.)
I’m hoping that I will be able to finish this up sometime this weekend. I have 4 more rounds left to finish the sleeve on the right, there, and then I need to catch the other one up and finish it. Once that is done, I have to weave in the ends, and voila! On the recommendation of some of my knitting group buddies, I found a denim jacket at Old Navy’s website, and I’ll be attaching the sleeves to that instead of a sweater. I think they will look really cute with the denim.

And the Mystery Stole - thank you all for your input and opinions. Most of you agreed with my feelings, which was that the Charcoal (which I had labeled as “Steel” in the pictures… *sigh*) was the better color. The bead opinion was pretty split, and I wasn’t sure which I liked better, either, so I swatched:
The bottom repeat has the #901 beads, the middle repeat is without beads, and the top has the #912 beads. You don’t see them? Yeah, me either. It looks like they matched the yarn color a little TOO well. Bummer, because I really liked them. That’s ok, though - I like the way that the #901’s look. And I like the fabric I got on the US3’s, so it looks like all I need to do now is wait until the first clue comes out! Think I can get the sleeves done by then? Here’s hoping!

ETA: And I completely forgot that I wanted to mention this! I saw on Annie Modesitt’s blog (while looking for something else) that her husband Gerry has been diagnosed with multiple myeloma, which completely sucks, to be blunt about it. She has a pattern posted for the “Red Carpet Convertible”, and she is using the sale of that pattern to help offset some of the expenses of Gerry’s treatment. (If you remember the stories of the knitted Emmy dress last year, this is that pattern). So, if you have a couple of bucks, why not pop over there, pick up a gorgeous pattern, and help a knitter who is in a cruddy situation.

So, I have 4 potential options for the yarn/bead combo for my Mystery Stole. I’ve got Zephyr silk/wool in two different colors, and 2 different colors of beads. I hoped that when they arrived, I’d have and instant “Aha!” moment and known which one to use. In truth, not so much the case. So, I’m turning to you for opinions.

Here are your options (I’m posting two pictures so you can see each of the beads next to each of the yarn colors):

So, what do you think?

Oh, and if you are reading this in Bloglines, the poll doesn’t show - if you want to vote, you’ll have to click through to Blogger. Sorry about that!

To refresh your memory, when last we saw my lovely new Hitchhiker wheel Zaphod, he looked like this:
And now? Well, after a Saturday afternoon with Carrie and her new Hitchhiker Ford, Zaphod looks like this:


And yes, the back of the wheel says “Don’t Panic!” What else would you expect it to say? Be sure to check on Carrie today. Zaphod’s semicousin (They share 3 of the same mothers, don’t you know.) should also be making his debut today.

And because Zaphod was being painted, I didn’t get a chance to do any spinning on him just yet. So, I dug out some in-progress handspun from the stash for today’s post. This is some Gypsy Girl silk roving that I picked up at MDS&W last year, being spun on a (*gasp*) drop spindle. I couldn’t tell you the last time I spun any of it, though.
And yes, Carrie, I DO still have “So Long, and Thanks for All the Fish” stuck in my head.

And JavaJem - sorry that these are back on Photobucket. I’ll make the switch to fulltime Flickr eventually, I swear. :) Stuff that is going in Ravelry may start getting doubled up to both of them until then.

And more STR from The Fold - Mediumweight in “Algae”

Thanks for all the, erm, kind words about my WIPs. And the beads for my Mystery Stole arrived today. Both colors are really pretty. Once the yarn gets here, I may have to ask for some input on which combination to use.

Ok, I THINK this is all of my current WIPs, but I’m not swearing to that. :)

Current project, not a current picture.

This is the “Molly’s Sleeves” pattern from Jo at Fruitcats.com. I am making it in Valley Yarns Longmeadow, which is a cotton/microfiber blend. I really like the yarn, and the pattern is great, too. The plan is to have these done for the HP7 book and HP5 movie releases. It’s crocheted, so it’s moving pretty well. This picture is actually from attempt #1, which was on an E hook. It was too small, so I moved up to an H (The F wasn’t enough of a difference, and I didn’t have a G). It’s working out well now, but I haven’t gotten picture just yet. :)

Next, my almost-completed log cabin blanket for our friends’ little guy. Three more stripes, and it’s DONE!
Of course, once it is done, I have to make the three Norbertas to go with it… They all have to be done by the end of July, when we’ll see Ed and Karin and get to meet Sam.

I’ve been working on my ribbon Clapotis as my car/SnB project.
I’m on the second hank of the three that I picked up at MDS&W - this is Tess Designer Yarns Microfiber Ribbon. Love the look, love the feel, love knitting it. Haaaaate winding it. Total PITA. :)

And, like everyone else in the blogosphere, I’m making a Chevron Scarf.
It’s a little further than this now, but it’s just more of the same. :D Claudia Handpaints Superwash Sock in “Eat Your Veggies” and “Caribbean Blue”.

These socks are based on the Diamante pattern, just without the cabling. (Kris vetoed it)
As such, they are incredibly boring to knit and have been sitting at this stage since, oh, St. Patrick’s Day, I think. Knit Picks Memories in “Cape Cod”.

And I’m sure you all remember this one. The Palette Fair Isle Cardi.
Wool sweater + summer = hasn’t been touched in a while. I might pick it back up once I finish the “deadline” knitting so that I can have it done for the fall.

HushHush. Ummm… yeah. Just sort of got put aside because of the miles of stockinette staring at me. Valley Yarns 3/2 cotton in “Tea Rose”. It’s gonna be pretty. Someday.

And Kris’s Shamrock Henley. No idea why this got set aside. I think it was in favor of the cabled sweater for my Dad for Christmas. I should probably get moving on it again one of these days…
So, there we are. My WIP pile. Hopefully there will be some progress to show next week. :)

ETA: Aw, crap. I just realized that I did miss two projects: the Market Squares bag from “Bags: A Knitters’ Dozen” - I can’t even tell you offhand where it is at the moment - and my Simple Knitted Bodice. I don’t have a decent progress shot of either of them, so you’ll have to wait until next week for those.

And yes, I do have a crap-ton of WIPs. *blush*

So, to go along with the brand-new “WIP Wednesday” and the ongoing “Yarn Pr0n Friday”, Carrie has suggested that Mondays become “Handspun Monday”. So, here is my very first contribution:

This is some Jacob Humbug (which I think means the mixed colors, but please correct me if I am wrong) that I picked up from Flying Fibers at Maryland Sheep and wool. I didn’t get a picture of it before it was spun, because I started playing with it when we got back to the house Saturday night after day one of the festival, and it was completely spun up by Sunday night. This was the first time I have spun something and felt really good about how it was coming out. It’s about a fingering weight, although I need to re-count my wraps to see how much yardage I have. It’s not perfect, but it’s overall the most balanced thing I’ve ever spun. I credit Cristi for helping me to figure out how to get my scotch tension set up a little better, which made my Ashford spin SO much easier!

And you can all laugh at me for this one, but I’ve signed up for the 3rd Mystery Stole KAL, hosted (and designed) by Melanie over at Pink Lemon Twist. I’ve drooled at her “Leda’s Dream” and “Scheherezade” patterns, and as they were the first and second Mystery Stole patterns, I can only imagine that this one will be equally as lovely. I’m still debating what yarn and beads I’m going to use, but I’m sure you’ll see it here once I make that decision and as the stole progresses.

And if you are wondering about the title for this post, I’m writing this as I watch the Tony Awards. I adore Broadway, and you’ll frequently find me listening to some musical or another on my iPod. (I’m no mtwelovett, but I do have about 5 and a half days worth of showtunes on there…) There are a lot of shows that I can listen to anytime, that I can sing along with at the top of my lungs in the car, that I simply adore. The one song, though, that gives me chills every time I hear it, is “Being Alive” from Stephen Sondheim’s Company. I love the performance of it by Patti LuPone from the Sondheim Celebration at Carnegie Hall back in, erm, 1990-ish. Tonight, Raul Esparza performed it, and it was amazing. It’s such an incredible song, and he did just an incredible job with it - so much emotion and passion. CHILLS, I tell you. I hadn’t ordered the cd of the cast album for this revival because I already have the ones from the original and the 1995 revival, but after that, I’m getting it.