Finished Breeze Socks

I finished my breeze socks on Tuesday. They were a wicked quick knit and the pattern was interesting enough not to get boring (not knitting a leg at all probably helped a lot with that as well).

I probably should have knit them out of a less warm yarn. It's knit picks pallet which is wool I think and therefore they're too warm for summer. Maybe they'll be ok spring/fall socks. But still, the yarn is soft and the socks are comfortable to wear.

I love the heel on them too. So much more fun to knit than the usual boring heel flap. I like that the cable pattern carried through.

Hanami is going well. I'm enjoying knitting it quite a bit. I'm a little iffy on if I'm doing it right. I keep coming up with 2 extra stitches every few rows and I'm not exactly sure where they keep coming from. The first repeat is a little messy, probably from my off counting somewhere, but the second repeat is looking nice so far and since I'm not a perfectionist I'm gonna let it roll until I get a few more inches in and can get a better idea of how it's going to turn out. It's getting easier to read the pattern as I knit it and I can kind of tell how it's supposed to look now. I'm surprised I'm enjoying this as much as I am. I didn't really think I was going to be a lace knitter but so far so good. Then again, I'm only about 5 inches into the thing so I may be singing a different tune by the time I get to charge G.

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.

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.