From LYS to FO in 48 hours

Alanis Morissette would call this situation ironic. She’d be wrong, but whatever.

Two days after forming the Pre-Process Knitters Ravelry group (95 of us and counting!), I’m posting a finished object completed just two days after I bought the yarn its made from. If I didn't know this was a one-off anomaly in the space-time continuum, I'd have to kick myself out of the group.

Last Sunday I picked up this gorgeous skein of Mmmmmmmalabrigo yumminess:

Malabrigo Rasta, Arco Iris Colourway
And on Tuesday evening, I had a finished object. And even more crazy-making: I had cast on during my lunch break. Yep, the actual knitting time was less than two hours.

It helps, of course, that project was the Instant Gratification Scarf by Cyn at Half-Assed Patterns. It's a ridiculously quick & simple pattern using the twisted drop stitch. I'd made one before, but this one is so much nicer, thanks to the utter gorgeousness of the Malabrigo.

Yesterday at knit night my lovely yarnies Leone and Monica were kind enough to model it:






The one skein of Rasta made a nice, big (10 x 270 cm/4 x 106 in) scarf. Bigger than Leone's face when rolled up, in fact.

It's a big 'un
I'm not sure who the scarf is for; there's a bit too much yellow in it for me (I love yellow, but put it anywhere near my face, and I look like death warmed over). But I'm thinking of making another one in a different colourway.

Project Details (Raveled):

Pattern: Instant Gratification Scarf by Cyn (Ravelry link)
Yarn: Malabrigo Yarn Rasta, Arco Iris colourway, 1 skein
Needles 10 mm/US 15
Cast On: July 27, 2010
Cast Off July 27, 2010
Modifications: Not really a mod, but I cast on eight stitches.
Notes: Easy, peasy, lemon squeezy! Much nicer than my first one, thanks to the gorgeous Rasta. The pattern is perfect for a highly variegated yarn.

I should 'fess up here and say this quick turn-around from LYS to FO isn't so remarkable: I went into the yarn shop planning to buy some bulky yarn for this pattern. It's for the Harry Potter House Cup, you see; July's Ancient Runes class involved making a project based on a letter of the alphabet assigned to you by the professor. Piggy got 'I'.

You might be surprised how few yarns or patterns there are beginning with 'I'. And you know I'm not about to crank out an Ishbel in 48 hours.

Pre-Process Knitters of the world, unite!

Yesterday, rather on the spur of the moment (I may have been about ready to defenestrate myself in order to end the mind-numbing boredom that my work, or rather lack of it, inspires, but don’t quote me on that), I started the Pre-Process Knitters Ravelry group.

If you’re one of the kind souls who’ve visited this blog a few times, you’ll likely know that I am the self-appointed Queen of the Pre-Process Knitters. If, however, you’ve stumbled upon it for the first time, and have absolutely no idea what I could possibly be talking about, you might want to check out the post that started it all.

If you really hate reading long, self-indulgent posts (although if you’re still here, you clearly don’t), you could just skip to the quick self-test up there. Come back when you’re done. And hurry, ok? The rest of us will be talking about you behind your back while we wait.

Oh, ok, fine. I’ll give you the 25-words-and-under version here, then:

Pre-Process Knitters suffer from intend-on-itis; we tend to participate in more project planning, shopping and discussion than actual knitting.

Right. So, now you should pop on over to Ravelry and join the group. You don’t need to be congenitally pre-process; occasional sufferers are welcome, too. As are pre-process crocheters and spinners – the more the merrier.

You have nothing to lose but pages from your queue (i.e., gaining FOs). Or maybe not. No pressure, really.

Piggy's in love

Well, it might not be love, exactly. More like an infatuation. Potentially, if I’m not careful, an addiction. I should probably walk away now, before the situation spirals out of control and I become unable to focus on anything else.

The name of my new love: Milo. Milo is Australian. And very attractive, but not ostentatiously so, if you know what I mean. Ruggedly handsome and yet not afraid to show a feminine side.

Easy-going and dependable, but not boring, Milo really is a dream.

Of a pattern.

Milo is, in fact, a rather sweet vest for babies and young children – sizes range from newborn to six years – designed by Georgie Hallam. It is equally suitable for boys and girls, making it an ideal choice for baby shower knitting when the mum-to-be doesn’t know (or chooses not to reveal) the baby’s sex.

Piggy's first Milo
Knit in the round from the top down, Milo is seamless – happy, happy, joy, joy! – and features a single off-set cable. Five cable options are given – the one above is the Aran braid – and it would be quite easy to substitute another 12-stitch cable of your choice.

This first Milo was knit for Tadpole, my fellow Malabrigo Junkie and Ravenclaw rchrispy’s baby-to-be. He is due in October, so I chose a warm wool.

Project Details (Raveled here):

Pattern: Milo, by Georgie Hallam (Ravelry download here)
Yarn: Elann Peruvian Highland Donegal, Colony Blue colourway; approximately 1.33 skeins/133 metres/145 yards
Needles 3.75mm / US 5 KnitPicks Harmony fixed 16” circular
Size: 6 months
Start to Finish: July 3-10, 2010
Notes: Swatch FAIL – I knew I should have swatched in the round, but I was lazy and didn’t. So I ended up with a smaller garment than intended, but it should be fine for baby. I used the Aran braid cable. Otherwise no problems at all – very clear pattern and easy knitting.

For my second Milo, which is not quite finished yet, I’m using a cotton-soy blend better suited for summer. You'll see it soon.

And I anticipate a few more Milos to come. I really am smitten.

Good things come in threes (recent stash enhancement, part 2)

First up, a skein of handspun from megknitficent. Here’s what I know for sure: it’s gorgeous and the fibre came from Pigeonroof Studios. If I recall correctly, it is about 200 metres of Blue Faced Leicester, but don’t quote me on that; I’ll get back to you.


I helped out at Meg’s recent wedding, and she gave me this lovely skein – one of her first for this year’s Tour de Fleece, I believe – as a thank you. Any time, Meg! Erm…that’s not right…just one wedding, please. I doubt that will be an issue, as Meg's new husband is definitely a keeper: he's giving up time (and luggage space!) in their upcoming Italian honeymoon so Meg can spend the day at the Wollmeise shop.

Today's other two pretties were birthday presents from my pals beentsy and MrsQuimby. Kind and super-generous souls both.

From beentsy, a skein of Wollmeise Twin in Arlene:


My camera hates purples for some reason. This yarn is far more beautiful than I've captured here. Stunning purples and rich brown.

The camera did slightly better with this pretty skein of Socks That Rock Lightweight, from Q:

This is the Star Sapphire colourway, and it's a lovely, lovely blue-purple.

As always, I have absolutely no plans for any of these beauties. And that's ok by me.

A Shavian Chapeau (actual knitting content!)

I told you it was coming. And not just knitting, either, but an FO to boot! Check it out:



I know what you're thinking. You're thinking you're not sure just what to think. You can see it's a hat. That's not the problem. The problem is with those...erm...shapes on the hat.

Those would be letters, piglets. Put together to make words. In English. Yes, English. Just not in the Latin alphabet we English speakers are used to.

I'll explain, but first, let me give you a better look at the words:

flying

pig

knits

I'm not making this up, guys. A dude named Kingsley Read did.

In 1958, a contest was held to find an alternative writing system for the English language. Why? because George Bernard Shaw didn't like the Latin alphabet. No joke. Shaw thought it a 'great waste of time, energy and paper'. So in his will he set aside £500 for the contest. Read's submission beat out more than 450 others and he claimed the cash. But his creation, a phonetic alphabet, was named after the the long-dead Shaw.

Here's what it looks like:



screenshot from Omniglot.com
So at this point you're probably wondering why Piggy would go to the trouble of knitting a hat with the name of her wee blog in an obscure alphabet almost nobody understands?

This is a good question, I grant you. And like most of the crazy stuff I knit, this hat was done for the Harry Potter Knitting/Crochet House Cup on Ravelry. For Ancient Runes class in June. It was the only class I managed to complete last month; I'm embarrassed to admit I spent an enormous amount of time on this project. I'll spare you all the gory details, and just say that the text was done in duplicate stitch. Oh, and the standard details:

Project Details:

Pattern: improvised -- your basic beanie
Yarn: Blue Sky Alpacas 100% Alpaca Sport Weight, colourways 500 and 529
Needles: 3.25 mm/US 3
Raveled here

It's a weird one, to be sure, but I'm pleased with it. Heck, I might even wear it! I'm now really quite interested in Shavian, and hope to improve my skills. Yeah, I'm geeky like that.

You can learn more about Shavian here.

I want ALL the yarns! (Recent stash enhancement, part 1)

Diamond Luxury Mulberry & Merino in Fuchsia. Seriously bright, happy, Piggy pink fuchsia.

Nom, nom, nom Pesto Wollmeise!

Blaue Tinte (Blue Ink). Love, love, love this blue.

Rainbow Kauni. Won in the Yarn Floozies' raffle for the Canadian Cancer Society.

Dyed in the Wool Handmade Fingering Sock in Smoking Jacket. A rich, sophisticated colourway. So how come the first thing that pops into my head when I type it is this?:

I heart old-school Cookie Monster. ‘Cookies are a sometimes food’ is just wrong.

Baa Baa Black Sheep...

Yessir, Piggy's got wool. That's not really noteworthy, of course. After all, as I may have mentioned before, I have a stash that literally wakes me up in the middle of the night, as precariously stacked Ziploc bags full o' fibre topple onto the kitchen's linoleum floor. (I live in a wee studio apartment, remember -- my kitchen is just a few feet from my bed. And my living room. And bathroom, for that matter).

But I digress.

I'm talking about new wool. Recent stash acquisition, friends. But that's for another post. (Largely because I've yet to take pics of most of my new lovelies. But whatever.)

This post is about the other thing I've been acquiring in decent numbers recently. Bags. Three of 'em, in fact. Ok, four. But that doesn't work with the title of the blog, and I really hate coming up with titles...so work with me, piggies.

First up, a sweet and simple drawstring bag from JennieGee on etsy.


A motto I live by. Erm...the second part, anyway. I need to work on that first bit. Anyhoo, this is one of her larger bags, and it holds a fair bit: a few skeins of yarn, plus the other two (ok, three) bags.

Next up, a bag I commissioned from Dancing Sheep, who is absolutely made of awesomesauce. Plus the fourth bag, a matching notions pouch Sheepie made for me as a gift.


How cute is that fabric? Seriously, I defy anyone not to love these piggies.

And last but not least, the newest addition to my collection, made by my pal beentsy:


This nifty wee bag -- just the right size for a sock or two -- is made with some of the gorgeous hand-dyed fabric I won in Liz's blog contest a while back. Isn't it lovely? Thanks, Liz! And beentsy, of course, who kindly saved me from wrecking the fabric by sewing it myself.

Piggy’s back. With mojo, even

Well, mojo lite, anyway.

Many thanks to everyone for your well wishes – and apologies for any concerns – during my rather lengthy blog break. Everything is ok chez Piggy, I assure you. And now I have a fair bit to talk about. Some of it even fibre-related, too, if you can believe it. (Believe it.)

What’s that they say about being careful what you wish for?

I’m not sure what would be better – one whacking great post that goes on and on (and on and on), or assaulting your blog readers with a barrage of smaller posts in quick succession. I suspect the latter, so that’s what I’m going to do.

Ok, so for the first volley…

Piggy’s got a job!

Yep, I am no longer a burden on the state. Until November, anyway, when my temporary administrative position with a certain Federal Government ministry ends. It’s hardly the job of my dreams (or anyone’s dreams, really, unless they are frightfully easily amused), but it’s far from terrible, and I’m grateful to have it, as it means I can stop being a burden on everyone else, too. One friend in particular, who has been incredibly generous – to a fault, really. (Fortunately said friend does not read the blog!)

More soon, including a ridiculous amount of stash enhancement, and some actual knitting content.