Hanami Cast On

Cast on for the Hanami tonight. I skipped the beaded cast on because I'm lazy and didn't want to wait on buying beads. I've got my first inch knit and so far it's been relatively painless. I think this pattern won't be so terrible to knit. It's relatively simple, mostly just yos and decreases. No knitting acrobatics to speak of so far. The Dream in Color Natural yarn is really soft and will be lovely to wear but it's bleeding on my hands as I knit so I'm a little concerned about that seein' as how I'm going to be wearing it with a white dress and all.

In other news, I finished up my first breeze sock on Friday (cast on for it on Sunday) so I knocked it out in less than a week. I'm about 2/3 of the way through the second one and hope to finish it up maybe this weekend. I'll take it with me to Connecticut to have as my mindless knitting for when I don't want to focus on Hanami.

Well enough alone

I just can't leave well enough alone. I kept browsing through Ravelry patterns for wedding shawls and found one that I had fallen in love with before but forgot about. The Hanami is beautiful and delicate and I think it's the one! Naturally I didn't order enough yarn for that pattern so back off to the Loopy Ewe I went to get yarn for Hanami. It took awhile for me to pick out a yarn. I browsed Loopy and Knit Picks and kept waffling between getting purple, a neutral or a wacky color. That stole is so pretty in any color it made it difficult to decide. In the end I decided on Dream In Color It's Natural Purple Rain. It better be worth the price. Now I have to wait even longer to get my yarn to start my shawl. I hope I can actually knit this thing in 4 months. It looks kinda big.

Wedding Inspiration

I've been contemplating the idea of knitting a shrug for myself for my wedding. Just a little something to wear after all the formal stuff was done to keep my arms warm once the sun goes down. I really liked the Dream in Color shrug but was iffy on if it was really what I wanted. Then last week I saw this post on the off beat price and absolutely fell in love with this bride's shawl. First of all, that blue is gorgeous! And second of all, that shawl doesn't look old ladyish at all (which is something that's held me back from knitting them before). Something like that would be absolutely perfect to wear for my wedding so yesterday I browsed around on ravelry for ideas. I came up with two shawls that I liked a lot that looked like they were within my capabilities.

I really like Ishbel and Haruni. I ordered yarn to go with each pattern, Dream in Color Absolute Magenta (in smooshy, not classy but the smooshy link is gone now) and Malabrigo MB Cuarzo. I haven't settled on which one I will knit with what yarn. I got purple because my bridesmaids will be wearing purple so that would match. But I don't want to be super matchy matchy so I got a crazy color too just in case I just decide to be an odd ball. I'm thinking the Haruni would just be the tits in that Magenta color. But could I actually buckle down and knit that thing by September? I'm sure a talented and disciplined knitter could knock that bad boy out in a matter of weeks but it'll probably take me from now until September and I might be finished with it if I'm lucky. Ishbel looks easier and probably a quicker knit but it doesn't quite have the wow factor that Haruni has.

In other knitting news, I'm working on a new pair of socks. I know, I know! They're like my comfort knitting. I can't think of anything else to knit so I always go back to socks (because really, knitting scarves and hats in May would just be silly). But these are cute little ankle socks that will be 1) quick to finish and 2) might actually see some use this summer. They are the Breeze socks from knitty. I started them yesterday and I've already turned the heel and started the gusset decreases! I like this whole 'not knitting a leg' thing with socks! I might actually have a sock by the end of the week.

Harry Potter Jaywalkers

So I finally got around to finishing my Harry Potter Jaywalkers. The pattern got kind of boring the second time around and I'm still not in love with the yarn so I didn't knit on them as often. I maybe picked them up once or twice a week and knit a few rounds here and there. But they are done. I did the second pair on a slightly smaller needle size so the second sock fits much better. I didn't bother lining the starting point of the yarn up so they're definitely fraternal twins.



The weather is warm now so it will be awhile before these guys see any use. Maybe by the time cool weather comes around I'll warm up to them a bit.

Now I need to find some small, warm weather appropriate projects to knock out to get my average back on track. Taking 2 months to knit a sock totally threw me off track for doing 1 project a month.

Warm weather knitting...

So I normally start slacking off on my knitting about this time of year. And I kind of have recently. I'm only a 1/3 of the way through the second Harry Potter Jaywalker. I should just buckle down and finish it up but I'm a little bored by it so it's hard working up the gumption to get it done. I would work on another project but I'm not exactly sure what to knit for warmer weather. What do people work on when you don't need warm cozy knits to bundle up with? I'm stumped!

I could maybe make a leap and knit some sort of garment. Maybe a light weight top? I do want to knit some sort of shrug for my wedding but that involves buying yarn that isn't in the budget right now and won't be until next week. What to work on in the mean time? Does anyone have any fun warm weather patterns they like to knit? Please share! I'm in desperate need for ideas. Socks really won't cut it either since I won't be wearing them much until it gets cold again. My favorite thing about spring is NO SOCKS. Yay!

I guess I'll keep working on the jaywalker 2 rounds at a time until I finish it. Maybe sometime next month. Or the month after.

Harry Potter is a Jaywalker

I finally finished the first Jaywalker. Really, it should've been done over the weekend but I jacked up the toe decreases and had to rip it out and do it over. Usually when that happens I get annoyed with the project and will put it down for a day or two which is what I did. Then it took me another day to finish it up and get around to grafting the toe. I think the fact that I was rather uninspired by the pattern and
the final look of the sock didn't help.



As you can see the zig zags did finally show up. There's a lot going on in this yarn. The sock itself is kind of big too. I can wear it, but it's a little looser than I like. I knit the smallest size w/the recommended needle size so I can only assume Grumperina just has huge feet. Most other sock patterns I've done call for casting on 64 stitches or so. This one is 76.  What's that you say? Gauge swatch? Surely you jest! Seriously, Grumps just has big feet. You can take my word for it.

I just cast on for the second sock. I'll do the same cast on number but I decided to go down to a size 1 needle to see if that helps with the fit any. I think these socks will have to grow on me. So far I'm not in love.

Not knitting related at all.

This has nothing to do with knitting but it's something I felt worthy of documenting. I've been doing weight watchers since late July. As of this past Thursday I've lost 36lbs. Today I actually decided to take a progress picture just to see if I can tell a difference. I have a hard time seeing it in day to day life and just looking in the mirror. I think it's safe to say that I can finally see it.

Pre weight watchers, July 4th weekend at my cousin's wedding.



Today, before going on a nice walk in this beautiful 65 degree weather. 36lbs gone. My head is positively tiny!



I've still got a ways to go, probably another good 25-30ish or so to goal but even if I don't lose that much I'm still really proud of how far I've come.