Summer!

All of a sudden its full blown summer! While I don't really like the 90 degree heat, summer also means its time to bring out the sandals. I love my sandals, I don't know how I can go the rest of the year all cooped up in shoes and socks (regular socks, not handknit socks!). Anyway, here is a pair of my favorite summer shoes with a new FO:

Marigold Socks by Pamela Wynne (I love reading her blog. Have you seen her new pattern? Just beautiful!)
Koigu KPPM
US 1.5 needles

I started these a while ago (November) and got major second sock sydrome ... I'm not sure exactly why, once you get started on these they really seem to knit up fast (the pattern is interesting, yet there is still a good amount of plain knit rows). Probably, part of it was that these are toe-ups, which I'm not as comfortable with and so have to sit down with resources in order to start. I like the concept of toe-ups, that you can use up all of the yarn (which I did), the way the toe is formed, etc. But they seem to be more of a pain - the cast-on is a bit more tricky (I like this explanation of a provisional cast-on). Plus, I'm just not good with short rows, I can never get them to look neat. Maybe I just need to get more familiar with them.

And, because I am pleased with myself for getting a chunk of these WIPs done before my move later this month (including all of my single socks), I allowed myself to cast on another project:

An Adamas Shawl.

I love this blue; its bright, but its so pretty. And the yarn (Lacey Lamb), its so soft and light and just summery! This is my first major lace project, I've knit simple lace projects before, but never so complex and never with this fine of yarn. I think this will look great with a dress I bought for the summer weddings this year: Its orange and red (across the color wheel from blue!). But that means I need to get it done this summer....

And, thank you all for the nice comments on the Hourglass sweater ... its nice to know that I'm not wearing my knitting goggles (you know, everything you make looks wonderful because you have put so much work into it and subconsciously you can't admit it when things don't work out...)

A good knitting week

As pleased as I was with my Pomatamus Socks, I am even happier with this:

(I'm attempting to pose like the model in the book here)

Hourglass Sweater by Joelle Hoversonin Last Minute Knitted Gifts
Dream in Color Classy, Beach Fog - About 3 1/2 skeins (probably less)
US 8 Needles

(I went to a park to take these pictures, and got a little bashful after about 2 mintues of taking pictures of myself with the timer, so wimped out and just took pictures of it on the grass)

The Dream in Color Classy was wonderful to work with. I did this as part of The Loopy Ewe's Dream in Color Sweater Knit-a-long, and before the KAL there were only a few sweaters in this yarn (look now), which surprises me just a bit. It seems like a very good sweater yarn, soft but sturdy, not with a huge fuzz potential, and the colors ... I had a hard time deciding, but blue is my favorite color so it was mainly between the different shades of blue (there are at least 3 different ones, I think). I'm planning my next project in this yarn already, I think a Tree Jacket in Strange Harvest.

I did 3 extra yoke decreases to not have as much of a boat neck, and I added contrasting yarn for the hems (they were a lot of work, so I had to show them off!). I used Malabrigo worsted Frosted Grapes leftovers - Its so nice to have that lovely Malabrigo softness along my neck and wrists! I only cast on 54 stitches for the sleeves, and decreased once to 52 stitches, so the arms don't flare as much as the pattern. I alternated skeins every other row to avoid pooling. Where the yarns switch there is a bit of pull on the stitch (I don't know if this is avoidable or not), but I ran these joins down the insides of the sleeves and along one side (the sweater is knitted in the round, so if anything it just looks like a really neat seam). My favorite thing is definitely the finishing on this, the hems were a pain but there really are what makes this sweater perfect. And I'm really happy with the fit and style (I'm always drawn to the J Crew plain crewneck sweaters, every year I am tempted to buy one, but now I can make a better one!)

I've never done a knit-a-long before, it was a good experience (well, any experience with The Loopy Ewe is, the customer service there is amazing - Sheri really does an unbelievable job leaving little notes with the orders, getting the orders out very quickly, giving free samples of things or a little gift in each order). I don't think I would be done with this sweater now had it not been for the deadline (June 1, I cast off May 31st). I had swatched as soon as I got the yarn in early March, but didn't really get working on it until earlier this month (it was a quick knit, luckily). Of course, now its in the sweater box for the summer, its going to be great to pull it out in the fall (its hard to believe its summer already!).