Monday, August 14, 2017

Fading Away

I forgot to tell you that I finally have a cedar chest!! A friend was selling one since she was moving East, and I didn't even bother to bargain, I paid my $50 and started loading it up. 
The outside shows wear, but it has history, and the inside (where it counts) is pristine. I love it.

Today was a laundry day and I did a few more rows on my Beyond The Wall MKAL  The rows are at a time-consuming length now, but I persevere. 


The 3.75mm circulars were proving too large for the So Faded sweater, so I ripped out and restarted; 3.25mm are the ticket. 



With 8 colours, my first fade would have been before the neck shaping ended, so after a consult with Julie, I finished the neck shaping, then started fading. I have adjusted the row counts on the subsequent colour sections and it's all good.
Except something went awry with the first fade row and I lost the continuity of the single stitch between sections.
 I kept knitting, thinking that it wasn't so horrible, that it was on the back shoulder, no one would see it. Who was I trying to convince? We all know what a perfectionist I am. So that got taken apart and I am much happier now!



This pic is 7 rows into the fade. The colours are so close that it is almost impossible to distinguish them apart. This is going to be the most subtle and awesome fade ever!!! Prism has outdone themselves on this gradient kit. 

Saturday, August 12, 2017

Uschitita

Uschitita yarn finally arrived at The Needle Emporium ! So happy that I had the day off; I stopped in Milton to pick up mi amiga Joan, and we enjoyed a good catching up on the drive.

I went with the mission of picking out a colourway for the What the Fade MKAL coming up at the end of this month. The purples called to me and with some help fromJulie, I put this kit together. Using black and white photography, I ended up switching the last two skeins for a more totally accurate tonal gradation. I;m a bit of a stickler for fading from dark to light ... unless you're fading from one colour to another.
Then Julie walked away to help customers and this one just sort of happened.


It may not end up being a What the Fade, it may be another fade or just stash, but I love them. 

This single skein of Hedgehog sock caught my eye - fairly screams Gryffindor, yes?

I put these for skeins of Hedgehog Singles together. 
Westknits is doing another MKAL come the end of September, and while he doesnt usually do fades, this caught my eye, but I managed to leave them behind.


My next project for Julie is a So Faded Sweater in a stunning green Merino Mia Gradient Kit from Prism Yarns  I wound up the first few colours and got started straight away last night!


On my way home, I ended up here:


I always seem to end up at Krispy Kreme when I go to Julie's. 

Since there was a Staples right there, I had the screen protector replaced on my phone. WOW!!! The original one was go cracked and abused that it's like having a new phone!! I also bought an external keyboard for the phone. I love it - it makes blogging so much easier! 
I have taken my flute playing back up; it's been a year!! I have missed it and am enjoying the playing immensely. My teacher, Myrelle, had suggested that I record myself playing, mistakes and all, so I did.
This is my favourite song (that I know how to play) and it is not bad considering that I've been not playing for awhile. https://youtu.be/Tt5NnEllCgw
It will give me a baseline for measuring my improvement.

Back to my So Faded Sweater before I head to work,


Friday, August 4, 2017

Beyond the Wall 2

So the Super Secret Project is a fait accompli, and I jumped straight away into my Beyond the Wall shawl.
I have finished Clue 2 and am headed into 3!! I should be caught up in time for the release of Clue 4 on Sunday. Go me!! 

I made time today to bake a pie using local berries. 
It was delish - the perfect tartness, cinnamon, and sweet. It's not going to last long - it'll be breakfast and snack and lunch ... you get the idea. 

I got new glasses!! Something a little different. 
I'm also trying out multi-focal contacts. I lose some sharpness on both near & far vision, but it affords me flexibility with sunglasses and the mid-range vision is excellent. I think I'll use them for beach days and sports.