My undying affection for Color Affection.

You may not know this, but I still knit. I do. It's slow going at times, and I've found that attempting anything fancy - cables, lace, counting in general - is just not do-able right now. So I've been cranking out the garter stitch, both flat and in the round.

Color Affection is one of the latest projects to take knitters by storm. It's a wonderful way to use your sock yarn stash without actually making socks, and the construction is simultaneously simple and smart, which makes for hours of entertainment.

I used Arucana Ranco Multi in an orange-ish pink, Colinette Jitterbug in Cinnabar, and Yarn Chef in Eggplant. I used a little more than half a skein of each, but I don't have enough left over to use them for another Color Affection. I do have enough, however, to make some matching socks. If I wanted to. And I'm not sure I do.

This shawl is constructed using short rows. You start at the top middle and make a semi-circle. Once you add in the third color, you start short-rowing, which creates the long, graceful curve to the left. It's great for staying on shoulders, I think, and long enough that it actually covers them.

I don't know if I'll actually keep this one. I love it, but I have very little occasion to wear shawls or scarves. Also, I'd like to make at least one more, maybe in blues...or green...

Brainwave, and a finished shawl.

I just had a brainwave - I have 2200 yards of Madeline Tosh Merino Light in a lovely purple in my stash. I think it would be perfect for the Dockside Cardigan. I was planning on making something else with it, a pullover, I think...ah, yes, Olive. Hmm. Decisions, decisions. The Madeline Tosh is a singles yarn, while the Heritage is plied, and if I'm going to wear the cardigan a lot, I may want to go with the plied so it doesn't pill and show as much wear... I'm also thinking that the Heritage would lend a little more structure, which a curved piece like this needs. So yes, Heritage it is, I think. In one of the purples. Your comments were so helpful - thank you so much!

On to a finished knit. I finished this one a few months ago and never got around to blocking it. Really, it just looked like a wadded up piece of ick. But then it hit the water and BAM, did it grow.

This is Flamboyan, by Stephen West. I had hoped it would be a more interesting knit, but once you get to row kabillion and knit knit knit and then switch colors and purl purl purl, it's a little much. The ribbing at the bottom was particularly painful, especially when I had to rip back a few rows because I was going to run out of yarn for binding off. All that said, I think it turned out very nicely, and my mom seems to love it.

I wasn't quite sure how to block it - there weren't any instructions on that - so I went with a Farasoe shape (so it would rest nicely on the shoulders). This way, I was able to use my blocking board so that the point was at the short side, and then the shoulder pieces were able to go the entire length of the board. She can wear it as a shawl or as a scarf, which is great. I do love making shawls, but I'm not much for wearing them, so I'm glad my mom likes them.

By the way, I used Sundara superwash sock in Brambleberry (the brown) and Roasted Persimmon over Green Apple (the red). I have 1/5 of the red left, and used all the brown. I really like Sundara's colors (I got these through the Seasons club a few years ago), and they didn't bleed at all during the soaking. The price tag is a little too much for me - it's not the be-all, end-all yarn for me - so I probably won't be buying any more unless I see a great deal in someone's stash. I do, however, have enough Aran Silky Merino to make a Lady February...

FO: Orange Slice

When I'm working on a secret project (generally a gift), I don't let myself blog. I'm afraid - no, convinced - that I will spill the beans too early. So please excuse my absence - I'll show you the latest secret project later this week, since I was able to gift it over the weekend.

In the meantime, let's take a look at the shawl that literally colored my life for a few weeks:

I loved Citron from the first moment I saw it on Ravelry, and I had this orange yarn from handpaintedyarn.com lying around. It was a perfect match, so I cast on my three little stitches and started. Six weeks later, I cast off more than 1,000 stitches and was left with orange hands, an orange pantry door, an orange couch, orange light switches, and a very orange bathtub. Bleed much? Oxiclean got the dye off the couch, but the shawl-shaped pattern in the bathtub had to be scrubbed out with Bon Ami. (Let's not even talk about how long it took me to figure out why everything I touched turned orange). I ended up soaking it twice and then soaked it an additional time with vinegar, and that finally did the trick.

My shawl is quite a bit bigger than the one in the pattern. I ended up doing eight repeats, so it's much, much more shawl than kerchief.

I love the ruffled parts, even though they were such long rows, and the ruffle at the bottom is so sweet. I thought about beading the bind-off, but I was ready to be finished and didn't feel like fiddling with tiny beads and an itty-bitty crochet hook. I do have my limits.

A congress of crazies

Penny is staying with us for the week while my parents gallavant through wine country. She and Gracie finally rumbled for the first time today - after four days of complete calm, I was worried that Penny was too distraught to rumble. Today's rumble began with Gracie jumping off our bed and straight into action. It was very Michael Jackson-Bad of her. After the rumble and a good walk, Penny is now sucking on Gracie's bed. She always sucks on dog beds when she's upset. Have you ever met a dog like that before? It's weird, and she's taught Gracie how to do it, too. I feel like I'm living in a circus.

I'm still upset about my vest - too upset to rip it out. But here's something pretty.

This is my tweedy Noro shawl, actually another pattern by Kirsten Kapur (Andrea's Shawl). I dragged this through airports, train stations, funeral homes and various apartments during our cross-country jaunt to meet the fiance(e)s. I cast off in DC and couldn't wait to get home and block it.

I am so in love with this shawl. I only wish it were bigger. I made the largest size, and it drapes across my shoulders nicely, but I can't truly wrap myself in it. I want this thing to be a blanket. With most shawls, you could just keep knitting until it's as big as you want it. Not with this one. You actually start at the edging, determining your shawl's size at the get-go. The nice thing about that is your rows get progressively shorter. The bad thing is that you can't get sick of it and just decide you're done. (Not that I got sick of it. I could have knit this for another three weeks and been perfectly happy.)

I used Elsbeth Lavold Silky Wool in a very deep brown and some Noro Kureyon I scored from Jimmi's stash, alternatiing yarns every two rows. Since you edge the entire shawl once you're finished with the body (that's the nice little picots as the top), I was able to carry my yarn up the side and not worry about it showing.

The colors in these picturse are a little off - I just can't find a great spot in the house to photograph large objects. The flash washes out the brown - they're pretty true in the upper right-hand side (and this was after color-correcting!). I have tons of yarn left - I only used 1.5 skeins of the Silky Wool and 1.5 skeins of the Noro. I would love to make a vest with the same stripes, but as yesterday's post shows, maybe I'm not a vest kind of person. But if it was the right vest...

Another Milkweed

So I made another Milkweed. This may be my go-to gift pattern. It's easy, it takes just one skein of sock yarn, and the results are pretty awesome.

It was hard to get a good picture of this, as it's pretty much the same tone as my blocking board. I did things a little differently this time and added an extra repeat of charts B and C to make it bigger, and ended up running out of yarn on the last chart. That was fine with me. When it comes to sock yarn, I'd rather run out than have too much left over.

I used Blue Moon Fiber Art's Seduction in the Sedona colorway, which has been marinating in my stash for a few years. (I bought it during my trip to The Fold a few Thanksgivings ago.) I wasn't so sure of the colorway in the skein, but it turned out so nice in garter stitch. I found the yarn to be kind of splitty, which was disappointing, but it blocked out very nicely. I think I'd use it again (but not for socks - too delicate).

This was a gift for one of our hosts, the charming and very gracious Allison. I wasn't sure what she'd like as I'd never met her, but I figured that if she was smart enough to fall in love with Paul, she'd be smart enough to appreciate a handknit. And she did, even wearing it while we were visiting. Of course, I was too embarrassed to ask for a picture, so here's a shot of me wearing it the day before we left town.

Someone needs to teach me how to take better pictures of myself.