A.Co Knits

June 20, 2009

Lace Love

Filed under: Uncategorized — alcohen @ 8:43 pm

I finally finished my Kiri shawl! It was supposed to be a Mother’s Day present for my mom, but instead I finished it right before Father’s Day. My Father’s Day socks for my dad are not nearly done yet, but they will be eventually.
Here’s the shawl unblocked:

And here it is blocked:

And here is my mom wearing it:

I love the lace! So addicting! And now I’m working on a lacy Girasole blanket for super-secret recipients! I’m finishing up Chart B (the pic shows me transferring my stitches to a circular needle) and so far it’s going great. As everyone has already said, the pattern is so well-written and fun!

More progress pics to come!

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June 4, 2009

Comfort Knitting

Filed under: Uncategorized — Tags: Fern Stitch Socks, Herringbone Rib Socks, Kiila, Sock Yarn Blankie, Socks — alcohen @ 8:58 pm

This week I had my wisdom teeth out, which meant that there was a lot of sitting around watching TV and knitting. Since my last post (which was millions of years ago), I have finished a few projects, started one or two, and made some headway on others. Also, I’ve put myself on a stash diet for the summer. By immersing myself in my current stash and working on finishing stuff, I’m hoping to curb my buying habits and save some moolah. Let’s hope it all works out!

So here’s my FO report: two pairs of socks!
First, my Fern Stitch Socks in Koigu KPPPM.

I heavily modded these to adapt to 60 stitches. I also used a mini-flap and a garter stitch short row heel a la FluffyKnitterDeb. I love the way they turned out!
fern-stitch-007

My second pair is Kiila, the mystery sock from SKA designed by Yarnissima. They are made with Dream in Color Smooshy, which is one of my favorites, but the yarn got a little unsmooshy after being wound into a ball. My other Smooshy didn’t feel at all like this. Anyway, I love the way these fit, though I did have to modify them a bit.

I’ve also been working on my Kiri, Stripey Knee Highs, both of my sock yarn blankies, another charity blanket and some other projects. I started Herringbone Rib Socks for my dad for Father’s Day. I can barely stand knitting them, but I need a present for him, so I’m being diligent.
knitting-002

Here’s how my Sock Yarn Blankie is coming. I have a Full sized bed, and I’m hoping this will fit on a King sized bed. I’ve even started the I-cord edging in black.
knitting-007
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Hopefully in the next few weeks there will be little to no buying and lots of knitting to make up for it!

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May 11, 2009

It’s been a while

Filed under: Kiri, Shawls — Tags: Fern Stitch Socks, Kiila, Kiri, Under the Sea Socks — alcohen @ 8:59 pm

Today was a very knitty day. My charity knitting group (which I’m going to be the president of next semester!) had Knit for Peace Day, where we were supposed to be knitting for Heifer International. Not too many people showed up, so we just ended up knitting on the quad. Then, tonight my friends and I watched Back to the Future while knitting. My roommate is attempting to knit Cherie Amour, which I am assisting her with. Here’s a photo of her in action:
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Also, I never posted an FO post for my Under the Sea socks, but I feel like it’s kind of unnecessary, since I hated them so much. Here they are:

I’m now working on two pairs of socks and a shawl for my mother. The first sock is a heavily modded Fern Stitch sock from More Sensational Knitted Socks. The second is Kiila, the SKA Mystery Sock. And the shawl is Kiri, which is almost done!

And here’s a close up of Kiri:

Next time I’ll blog about the garter stitch short row heel (no holes!) and the mini gusset!

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April 23, 2009

Resisting

Filed under: Uncategorized — Tags: Stash — alcohen @ 2:12 pm

So, as I posted a month or so ago, I broke my stash diet because I felt like I had knitted a significant amount out of my stash. But after that, I went completley hog wild! So I’m going to reinstitute a stash diet…not a complete one, but one for yarns I don’t absolutely have to have. Also, I want my bank account to stay above a certain level, and stash buying is not conducive to that!

My knitting mojo has waned a bit recently, but I have made good progress. I’m half done with my Kiri (pictures to come soon!) and steadily working on some socks. I really want an instant gratification project, and I’m so tempted to cast on DK weight ankle socks, but I don’t want another project floating around. I’m going to Montreal this weekend, and I’ll focus on getting my Under the Sea socks finished, and maybe then I’ll cast on new socks. But I’d like to get some stuff done too! It’s hard because I have such a lovely stash, and I’m constantly wanting to use it all and make beautiful things with my yarn. But alas, I need to finish stuff so I can have free needles to cast on more stuff!

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April 20, 2009

Wow

Filed under: Sock Yarn Blankie — Tags: Kiri, Sock Yarn Blankie, Under the Sea Socks — alcohen @ 4:49 pm

I just counted up my sock yarn blankie mini-skeins that I got through trades and other means, and including the next swap package I’ll be getting, I have 169. Of course, a couple are doubles that I’ll probably reswap, but that’s a lot of scraps. I currently have 6 Ziplocks full of them. I love the blankie swaps, but I think I should slow down, because I’ve been so occupied with other stuff that I’ve only knit a couple squares this month. Even if I knit two squares a day, it would take about 3 months to get through what I have now. And I’ve only got a month of school left, so I won’t trade anymore until my blankie stash gets down to a reasonable size (I’m not even counting all the squares from unused sock yarn skeins that I have sitting around-that would probably bring the count close to 200!).

In other news, my first Under the Sea sock has been done for a couple days. I keep procrastinating on casting on sock number two for some reason. I’ve been working on Kiri, and it looks really good. I’ve memorized the pattern and it’s pretty relaxing!

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April 8, 2009

Socks are a dangerous thing

Filed under: Coriolis, Fern Stitch Socks, Kiri, Knee High Socks, Shawls, Socks, Under the Sea — Tags: Coriolis, Fern Stitch Socks, Kiri, Knee High Socks, Socks, startitis, Under the Sea Socks — alcohen @ 2:55 pm

Honestly, my addiction to sock knitting is waaaay out of control. But I can’t help myself. At least socks are portable and useful!
I finished my Coriolis socks last week. They are raveled here with all the details!

I’m now working on my Under the Sea socks. I’m past the heel on number one, and I actually like how the short row heel came out. I used Cat Bordhi’s wrap and turn method and it concealed the wraps beautifully!

I’m also making a pair of knee highs in Regia Nation, which stripes wonderfully.

I’ve done a little bit of work on my Fern Stitch socks as well, but not enough to warrant a picture. For my non-sock project, I’m still happily plugging away on Kiri. It’s probably the best beginner shawl because it’s so intuitive. I’m looking forward to pinning it out and seeing the gorgeous lace!

I’ve ordered more laceweight yarn so I can make some more shawls-oh great, another addiction!

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March 30, 2009

Startitis rears its ugly head

Filed under: Kiri, Manchester Jacket, Shawls, Sweaters — Tags: Kiri, startitis — alcohen @ 8:24 pm

Thanks to everyone for the great response to the Entrelove Wrap! I’ve already sold a couple patterns and hopefully soon people will start making them and posting pictures (I think it’s so cool when other people make my patterns!).

So, a few days ago, I told myself that this would be the Year of Finishing. Yet somehow, I have started a lace shawl and plan to start a couple new socks within the next week. Startitis is making me break my promise to myself, but I guess I’m such an ADD knitter that I simply need to have hundreds of projects going at the same time.

The lace shawl in question is Kiri, and I’m using the Dream in Color Baby that I just got in the mail today (Sonny and Shear was having a sale on all Dream in Color yarns, which are my favorite, so I decided to buy this):

It’s more wine color-y in person (flash will do that to ya!) and it is completely gorgeous. I’m loving the lace, which is weird considering how I usually don’t like lacy-type stuff.

I also bought some Cascade 220 for my Manchester Jacket:

I guess you could say I went on a yarn-buying binge, but honestly, I was planning on buying yarn for that jacket for months and the Baby was on sale. So not really a binge. Maybe just a slip-up. But I’ve been pretty good about using up stash, since I’ve used up about 1000 yards this month. So buying more isn’t exactly terrible…plus it was kind of a “congratulations” gift for myself after getting the pattern published.

Hopefully next time I blog I will have at least one FO to brag about…

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March 26, 2009

Exciting News!

Filed under: Entrelove Wrap, Shawls — Tags: Entrelove Wrap — alcohen @ 2:33 pm

The crochet pattern I designed with my mom, the Entrelove Wrap, is now for sale! This is my first pattern that I’m offering for sale, and I’m so proud of all the work my mom and I have done. The pattern itself has an illustrated tutorial of how to do the stitches, so even if you’re new to Tunisian crochet, you should be able to follow this pattern!

You may recognize it from the banner at the top of my page:

This wrap uses Noro Kureyon Sock Yarn to achieve the color variations, but you could easily substitute any other self-striping fingering weight yarns or a worsted weight if you wished. This could also be adapted to be a scarf or a blanket too!

For those on Ravelry or

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March 25, 2009

Knitting Just as Fast as I Can!

Filed under: Blankets, Coriolis, Sock Yarn Blankie, Socks, Under the Sea — Tags: Coriolis, Sock Yarn Blankie, Under the Sea Socks — alcohen @ 3:50 pm

So, as the last entry said, I’ve caught the mitered square bug. I can’t stop. Today I had to force myself to work on my Coriolis:

Look, almost done with number one! I’ll finish these tonight and cast on number two. I want them done by next week, but that might not be possible.

And here are my Under the Sea socks, which I can’t work on because the needle is broken (Kollage is sending me a new one and told me how to try to fix this one with superglue. I might try it anyway):

You can’t see the lace well in this, but the color is so pretty that I had to share.

But my heart really belongs to this:

It’s going to go on a different size bed, so that’s why it looks so huge on my tiny dorm bed. But I love it to death, even though it’s difficult to work on since it’s so huge (I’m only doing 31 sts at a time, but the actual blanket makes me hot when I knit on it).

Soon there’s going to be a fun pattern release over here at A.Co Knits. Get excited!!!

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March 22, 2009

Miter Love

Filed under: Blankets, Clapotis, Scarves, Sock Yarn Blankie, Socks, Under the Sea — Tags: Clapotis, Sock Yarn Blankie, Under the Sea Socks — alcohen @ 7:14 pm

I just got back to Vassar after Spring Break, and the first thing I did was organize/unload some of my yarn. I also almost immediately picked up my Sock Yarn Blankie to do another miter square. Oh, how I love miters! And two weeks without them made me really sad (also because I got one of my swap packages at home, so I had all these lovely scraps but the blankie was at school, so I couldn’t knit them into it). I have at least two more swap packages waiting here for me, and a nice Raveler sent me four little balls of yarn that she didn’t want. So I got those today, which made me happy. There’s something really endearing about little balls of sock yarn, but I can’t quite explain why.

I’m almost done with my first Coriolis sock, but I have no picture to show for it. I was also working diligently on my Under the Sea socks from the Loopy Ewe sock club, but my Kollage square circular needle broke! I’m going to email them to see if I can get a replacement (this is my first time using them, and I’m usually not too hard on my needles-I’ve never broken a circular before).

But never fear, I do have a Finished Object to show you. Here’s my Clapotini, sported my my mom and blocking out on the floor:

Pattern: Clapotis
Cast on: March 3, 2009
Cast off: March 16, 2009
Yarn: TJT Unraveled Yarn in Panera (specially dyed for us!)
Needles: US size 5 straights
Mods: Made it less repeats to make a scarf-sized version.
Raveled

My mom loves her new scarf, although she did forget to wear it to our knitting group-but she’s worn it everywhere else! I liked making it, and would definitely do the pattern again in a little while (but maybe just another scarf version, because the full version is daunting).

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