Yum! Alpaca!

The alpaca has been plied and the twist set. Who would have known that all the parrot-related items in the house would come in so handy when it came time to dry a skein of yarn!
Here is a picture of the skein in dried form with the second arm of the sweater I am working on with the finished arm sitting there mocking me.
I must say that knitting the arms are the most tedious boring parts of sweater making and what is worse you have to make two of them. I can't wait to get it finished so I can get back to the meat of the sweater and play with the cabling.

I ended up doing a two-ply of the alpaca. I figured more yardage would give me more options. My very rough calculations lead me to believe that I have over 100m. Now I just need to find a pattern.

A close up with a penny for scale.

Blowing snow

Well the snow has finally stopped falling from the sky, but that isn't stopping the wind from blowing it all over the place. A good evening to stay in and knit or spin a little while drinking a hot cup of black currant tea.
The above picture is the tangled yoke sweater which I finished in 16 days in the fall of '07 (it had a brief blog appearance here). I never got to wear it. When I first blocked it my aunt moved it when wet (I know; I have no clue what she was thinking) and it was all misshaped. That was when it may have fit. It probably would have been a tad too big but still wearable. I tried about 6 months ago to reblock it and well I tried the washing machine which didn't do anything bad to the yarn, it didn't shape well (spin cycles are the devil). It was also when I discovered it was way to big on me. I was shrinking when I made it and silly me made it for the size I was and not the size in-between size I was then or the smaller size I am now. My mother loves the fact that I'm not great with sizing as she is now the owner of the sweater (the second one of which no longer fits me).

I've come to realize how much I truely love this sweater and have after much consideration decided to give it a second go. I made the trip down to Romni and picked up the yarn. The weird coincidence being that the only colour they had enough balls that wasn't an awful pink colour was the exact colour used in the pattern. I wish they had one more ball of the pale blue I saw. I also looked at a lot of the completed projects on Ravelry and realized I like this pattern most when it had a bit of negative ease, so I am making the smallest size.

I have the body done up to the armholes (still considering adding a little extra length), one sleeve done and the second sleeve on the needles. The sleeves I've had to add a few extra inches of length due to the fact I have almost freakishly long arms. I've also already picked out some buttons!
On a completely unrelated spinning note.... I have finally finished spinning up singles today from the lovely alpaca fibre I received from Unravelling Sophia in the vintage swap! I'm going to let them rest today and ply them tomorrow. I'm still trying to decide between a two-ply which will give me a lot more yardage or a three-ply which will hide my thin and thick spinning (it's not that bad, but I tend to notice these things). I'm thinking it will have to be knit up into something that at least has a vintage look to keep with the theme. Any suggestions?

First non-lace scarf ever.......

..... to have been finished by these hands. It might help it was malibrigo; it also could have been the really cold weather that called for a scarf that can wrap around the neck and face. It was finished last night and didn't leave my neck the whole time we were at the Rex listening to swing, blues and jazz (except when other people were feeling it up).
The Purple Smoke Scarf
Pattern: my own (matches the toque and mittens)
Needles: 6mm 16" circulars
Yarn: Malabrigo Worsted in Alpine Pearl
Yardage: 2 skeins plus the leftovers from the toque and mittens (almost another full skein)
Notes: It is a very long scarf, much taller than me even with me raising my hand above my head. It is also very soft and yummy and I have to say the cable pattern I worked out immediately after I bought the yarn works very well with this colourway. A lot of people have been tricked into thinking it is a reversible cable pattern.

An update or two

Well the Sky is Falling sweater has come out of hibernation and I have been working on it again. I am up past the armholes and if I can dedicate some time to it, I will be working on the sleeves soon.
I am also making very good progress on the scarf and have finished the leftovers from the toque and mittens and just have the last skein to wind to a ball and knit up and it will be finished! It should be very warm on those cold, windy days. There is something to be said for worsted weight and scarves if you aren't doing lace!
Oh and this just went into the oven.......my first try at this cranberry banana bread.

First finished object of 2009

I've decided to try a new way for posting finished projects for the year of 2009 and so you know, I might actually post all finished objects!

So without further adieu here is the first finished project of the new year.
The toque of the Purple Smoke Winter set.
Pattern: My own (to match the mittens and scarf also of my own design)
Needles: 5mm 16" circular and dpns
Yarn: Malabrigo Worsted in Alpine Pearl
Yardage: less than one skein

Now I just need to finish the scarf!

Watch out for that giant lizard!

I spent New Year's Day at the Purple Purl's pajama party and had a blast. While there I got to see one of the women working on her Lizard Ridge blanket and fell in love. It uses Noro which usually I think is way too scratchy for against the skin, but is very gorgeous thanks to the way the colour changes. Although sometimes the colours are also way to bright for me personally to wear. But as a blanket well I'll already have a layer to protect me from the scratchiness and I can enjoy the colours without having to wear them. I will most likely need twenty-five of these blocks to make the blanket and I am having a blast whipping them off (as you can see two are already done). Another great thing about this blanket is you don't have to buy all the yarn at once since each square should be a completely different colourway. The goal is to hopefully have this done by January 2010. It just may happen as this does make great TV knitting.
And to help ring in the New Year, here is a picture of Piper enjoying one of her most favorite treats (it's chicken and if you think I can have some without sharing, think again). On January 2nd I have officially had her for one year!

Happy New Year!

Wishing everyone all the best in 2009!