WIP Wednesday: Chinook Shawl and Fey Led

Writing:
Fey Led (Working Title) - Rewrites
Previous Word Count: 24,034
Current Word Count: 25,636 (Up 1,602)

Progress! And I should have more soon.

Knitting:
The Chinook Shawl is flying along quite a bit faster than I'd thought it would. I've finished the first color and I'm nearly done with the second color. One more row and I'll move on to the third color!




In other news - Follow up Eye Dr appointent says that I'm normal for me and that I have beautiful ocular nerves. (laugh) As Lynn said, not the most common of pick up lines that we've heard. I go back in 3 months for another follow up.

Covering Hands and Feet

  I generally don't think about gauge on my knitting projects because I'm usually so close it's not a concern. Despite almost never using the suggested yarn for a project I usually am pretty good at matching the weight of the yarn so it's still not a problem. I got a bit overconfident. See, when it's for a friend I check the weight of yarn versus what is called for about a million times. I have to be sure before I start because I want it to be the best. But this was a glove that I'd done four times before, it was going to be a breeze. It didn't even occur to me that the yarn was a thicker weight than asked for, this was what I had and what I wanted to use. It's no wonder at all that the fingers came out a titch too long.



  Luckily Lynn wanted them that way anyhow. He says they'll be perfect for the maybe 4 really cold days we have here in Texas and for the rest of the semi chilly weather he has the black ones I made that are a little lighter. What tickles me is that I used the left over yarn from Dragon's scarf,

  And speaking of experiments that work out wonderfully, (at least this time I knew it was an experiment) I finally finished my socks!



  I think it's the first pair of socks that I did correctly, as per the pattern. I love the striping and how they fit and the heel and everything! The pattern did call for a solid or slightly variegated yarn. I figured the stripes with the pattern would actually look really awesome. It's fantastic when I'm right!



  I think these are my favorite socks yet! I did get a lot of funny looks before I got the heel turned on them as at that point, since I'm doing toe up, they're just narrow tubes that are possibly have another purpose if you have a dirty mind. Though it was fun to see just how many people tend to jump to the sexy fun time conclusions. (laugh)

WIP Wednesday: Alpaca and Fey Led

Writing:
Fey Led (Working Title) - Rewrites
Previous Word Count: 24,034
Current Word Count: 24,034 (Up 0)

Yeah, I know. Fiona will probably want to kick my butt for the lack of work done. She can do that on Sunday ... Hell, Dragon will probably even offer to hold me down to make it easier on her; he's mean like that sometimes. *grin* But I was hoping to hear back from a couple more people who'd read the first half of the novel and see how things were going. I mean, to me it makes sense to make sure the foundation of the story is solid before I jump thousands of years in the future. She's just a slave driver though. *wink*

Knitting:
I finished the cute beret for a friend, it's finishing up it's blocking at the moment and when Miss Kid gets here tomorrow I'll see if she'll be willing to do model duty. She normally is. So I finally got to cast on for this gorgeous shawl that I've been drooling over since I saw it on the site and ordered the kit to make it. It starts out with this alpaca yarn right around your neck. Oh ... My ... Gods, it's so incredibly soft. The pattern is a bit intimidating as it's charted only, and only one repeat is charted. It looks like a lot so I had a mild freak out about that. But then I pulled myself together and told myself to shut the hell up so I could start with row 1.



The thing with being self taught is I don't have a teacher standing off to the side telling me that I'm not ready for that just yet. I just have to remember to just take it one stitch at a time. However I am having a couple of problems with it. 1. Alpaca is super soft ... and super slippery. 2. My metal needles are super slippery for speedy knitting 3. The yarn is incredibly thin!



See the yarn off to the side, yeah, that thin. Luckily I'm knitting with it held double so that helps a bit. See the split ring stitch markers on the other side? The yarn keeps getting caught in those. On the one hand I 'really' want stitch markers that don't have a split on them, on the other I'd need about 18 of them. Hopefully it'll get easier as I go along. Of course with all those in mind I decided that I needed another project that would require a little less concentration. So I present to you, the start of a capelet.



Again in alpaca .... Because when you're concerned about difficulty you should totally have two projects with slippery yarn! Nobody claimed I was sane after all.

WIP Wednesday: Graced Lace & Fey Led

Writing:
Fey Led (Working Title) - Rewrites
Previous Word Count: 19,146
Current Word Count: 24,034 (Up 4,888)

And now the first half of the book is done, so to speak. I've destroyed their world and it's time to start putting it back together. The pieces won't match up but it's up to them to figure out how to bridge the gaps.

Knitting:
I managed a great feat yesterday. I finished both the diagonal lace socks 'and' Lynn's gloves! So naturally I immediately cast on for another project. *laugh*

I give you the humble beginnings of a beret.


Now I just need to finish up the ribbing before Miss Kid gets here this weekend and needs those needles back for her wrist warmers!

WIP Wednesday: Lynn's Gloves & Fey Led

Writing:
Fey Led (Working Title) - Rewrites
Previous Word Count: 18,386
Current Word Count: 19,146 (Up 760)

Not a lot of progress but I'm experimenting with how I edit to see if I can find a way that is a bit more sense making for me.

Knitting:
I'm still not done with the socks. But I'm bored of posting pictures of them unfinished. So instead I'll give you something that's been sitting around and waiting for a while now.



It's a pair of gloves that I stalled on almost a month ago because I ran out of yarn. I finally picked up more yarn but I've been busy with the socks and haven't gotten the fingers of the glove finished. On the one hand he doesn't need them any time soon so there's no rush. On the other hand, I hate having unfinished projects sitting around. *laugh* I'll grab them after these socks are done.

Sparkly Yarn

Every yarn worker has that yarn in their stash. There's always the one that is super soft or completely enchanting in some other way. Mine was Southwestern Trading Company Sparkle in Twilight. I've spoken of my love on this yarn before so I won't repeat myself, other than to say it's all I'd hoped for and then some.

I wanted something small that would quickly dress up an outfit or be perfect for adding a bit of sparkle to an outfit on special nights. I finally found the perfect pattern.

It fairly flew off my needles. I was thrilled with how it worked up. It's a bit smaller than I'd expected despite following the pattern exactly. Either way I think it'll be perfect for what I wanted.

Pattern: Chastain Park Shawl
Project Page: Ravelry

I'd also wanted to make a shrug so I'd have options on dressing an outfit up a little bit and I'd get a chance to make something closer to clothing for an adult. So I went pattern searching again and found another great one. Once more it was a quick project, despite my dislike for the larger needles. There's just something about those that make me fumble fingered. Perhaps if I use a thicker yarn it'll be a bit easier next time. Anyhow, this came out very nice as well.

I suspect the models on Ravelry are a bit smaller than I am and thus I should have added to the length a bit, but I still like it for me. I'll probably make another one in simple black at some point and make that one longer.

Pattern: Shrug This
Project Page: Ravelry

Even though I followed both patterns exactly I still ended up with quite a bit of left over yarn. Now to figure out what else I can make out of this gorgeous stuff.