Camouflage Knitting

Are you familiar with the concept of camouflage knitting? Try this. The next time your at a knitting group look around and see how many people's clothing match their knitting. It happens all the time. I see this at spinning events too.

I once had a customer in the shop who was struggling with her yarn selection. "I don't know," she told me, "I like these colors but I don't know if I'd ever wear them."
"You're wearing them now."

I had to laugh today when I looked down at my knitting and realized it was the precise same shade of mauve as my shirt.



This is Monica in Cotton Classic. I am making two for Wes's cousin's daughters in LA. We stayed with them (family of four) in a one bedroom condo! They deserve a nice gift.

Tailored Scallops is almost dry on the blocking board.



I know this photo makes it look like it's also the exact same shade of mauve. It isn't. It's a slightly browner shade of mauve. I'm flexible that way.

I Am a Wrecking Machine

Last night while finishing up the last front of my Tailored Scallops I broke another Denise cord. That's two on just this project. In fact, something has broken on my Denise needles on nearly every project I've ever used them on. I'm just a brute I guess.

Knit Your Cares Away

I started a Hemlock Ring Blanket for a shop model. It's a really fun knit. The beginning is a small bit of lace--nothing too complicated and then you feather and fan until the cows come home. I chose to start with a circular cast on using magic loop. I get really frustrated trying to keep four dpns from slipping or twisting when doing a circular start, especially on big needles (US10) like this. I quickly switched to a 16" circular. As I knit I noticed my blanket looked like an angry skull face.



It also strongly resembles the trash heap from Fraggle Rock.



It looked a little nicer once I got it on a 32" circular.

Moving On

Thanks for all the get well wishes. I have a mighty assortment of welts and bruises but I'm getting around just fine. I'm in denial about the dishwasher. The last time I lived somewhere with no dishwasher was the summer of '91. For now I'm just letting the dishes pile up in the sink.

So what else have I been up to? Even though it's barely had a mention on the blog since I started it, the Tangled Yoke is slowly creeping toward the finishing line. I am a few rounds short of a full tangle on the yoke. I believe this photo of a crumbly, gray mass explains why I haven't been taking a lot of pictures of my progress.



Since this project is far, far from portable, I cast on a new pair of socks.



This is Evelyn Clark's Go With the Flow socks in STR Chapman Springs colorway. I started these socks once before and ripped them out. These are going splendidly and I'm not hating the variegation. I started working on them yesterday while on the way to a quilt show with Molly. It was my first quilt show. It was really interesting to see all styles and skill levels represented. I found that I am always drawn to the hand-quilted ones. I bought a few fat quarters in 30s reproduction prints while I was there. I got some of these at the Sew Expo a few weeks ago. Love the 30s stuff.



I also bought one piece of vintage fabric.



When I pulled it out to photograph I realized it matched the large-scale floral in Blossom I got for the border on my Four Square quilt.



There were two quilts based on Dear Jane at the show too. I came home and finished a block, Dad's Plaids.



This one has reverse applique and regular applique. I think I'm improving since the last one.

I also knocked off two tiny new sewing projects. A needlebook and a camera case with a quilted lining for my new camera.

Joining the March

After seeing Brainylady's post and Nicole's follow up I feel inspired to get this load of nearly finished knitting out of my life this month.

1. My simple gloves have just three fingers left to knit.
2. I need to complete the yoke and edging on my Tangled Yoke.
3. The handspun baby cardigan just needs one more sleeve and some edging.

I finished the Noro shawl/scarf this morning. Why did it take me so long to knit 460 yards of simple, simple lace? I can't explain it. Then I overshot the finish last night and ran out of yarn while binding off. I ripped back a few rows and reknit the edging and bind off. It's on the blocking board. (Sadly my blocking wires are MIA. The edges aren't all that straight on this.)



I had this much yarn left.



No waste here. Makes my frugal heart feel good. I've already picked the baby cardigan back up. Just a little bit more and I can cross another item off my list. I love crossing things off lists.

Taking the Long Way

I started the Tulips Cardigan as a quick diversion. It was a chance to use my handspun and knit a small, simple project. I ran out of yarn. So instead of finishing the sweater last night I had to make more yarn. I dug around a little bit in my office and came up with leftover Dazzle yarn and this merino/tencel that I spun up two years ago and have never had a clue what to do with. I took my newly acquired cabled yarn skill from Madrona and set to work. I added extra twist to the two finished yarns then plied them together. The result is not great. Dazzle was a little underspun and the merino/tencel is a little overspun. They don't hold together well as a cohesive yarn. Oh well, too bad! I used it anyway for the bottom edging.



I used a second class sample three-ply skein to start the first arm. The color works pretty well with the rest of the sweater but it's going to get a ugly by the second sleeve I fear when all those orange/reds start coming into play. Oh well, too bad!

Here, I'll distract you from my ugly sweater with a picture of my adorable, but now enormous, dog.