And the winner is…

The entries are in, I’ve read all about anniversaries and marking occasions of all kind and it’s time to announce the winner of the Knitting Pretty in DC Blogiversary Giveway!

That’s right the winner is comment number 16, Kitten With a Whiplash!  Congrats!  You’ve got the yarn prize pack plus a surprise coming you’re way!  To see the whole process of selection documented click through on the photo above.

And thanks everyone for sharing all your stories.  They were all really great and some were very touching.  It’s just a reminder that marking an occasion of any kind can be such a special experience.  And that anniversaries are a way to mix something significant in with the day to day.  It might just be another date to every one else, but it’s an important day to you.  So here’s to celebrating!

Shetland Silky

So you have until the end of tomorrow to enter the giveaway, but in the meantime I have something to show you.  Another real live FO!  More shawls of course, I seem to be obsessed (me & the rest of the knitting world).  I’ve actually been doing pretty well with my power through and finish goal.  And as a result I’ve got my Shetland Triangle for your viewing pleasure.

Pattern: Shetland Triangle (ravelry)

Source: WrapStyle

Yarn: Sundara, Fingering Silky Merino

Needles: US 5

Started: May 29, 2009

Finished: July 5, 2009

Find it on Ravelry here.

Oh my goodness did this shawl turn out beautifully.  I can’t really take much credit though, it’s all about the yarn.  I do truly understand why people pay the money for Sundara FSM.  It is well worth the splurge.  It definitely ranks high in the Quality of Yarns I’ve Worked With hierarchy.  The combo of silk and merino make it amazingly soft, and yet it isn’t the slightest bit splitty, unlike some other silk/merino blends I’ve worked with.  The sheen of the yarn is incredible.  It captures light in ways my eyes barely even believe.  If I had done nothing besides wave it around in the sunlight all day yesterday I would have been happy (fabulously, I got to do that and have a lovely day off!).

I’m sure plenty of you reading have already made a Shetland Triangle, since it’s so popular, but I’ll share my thoughts anyhow.  It’s a nice simple lace pattern.  Unlike most lace (at least for me) it’s chit chat friendly.  I can knit this pattern and talk as well as listen.  This is because, while the chart looks slightly different, most of the repeat is the same two rows.  And it’s a short repeat.  So once you quickly get the hang of it, you just keep going.  No brainer.  In fact, I never even xeroxed the pattern out of the book.  I just looked at the book the first night & memorized it and walked around with no pattern.  Even the edging chart was so easy that after doing the first half of the edging chart at home with the book I took off for work and finished the edging chartless.

I made the shawl considerably larger than the pattern called for.  Sundara FSM packs a hefty 500 yard wallop & and I wanted to make a significant dent in it.  I ended up doing 13 pattern repeats, which gave me a pretty sizable shawl.  It measured around a 68″ wingspan while blocking and post blocking it’s about 62″x30″.  It’s definitely enough shawl to wrap around a decent amount.  I used about 85% of the yarn and I’m left musing about what to do with the 70 yards I have left.

And what’s even more exciting than how beautifully this shawl turned out, is that I have a new toy which helped me show you how beautiful it is.  My parents gave me my birthday present early this year since they’re leaving to spend the next two weeks in Italy.  I unwrapped a beautiful blue & green box to find my very own Nikon D60!  How did they know?  It’s possible I might have dropped some hints.  I have had the most fun playing with my new camera & I couldn’t be more pleased with the photos I’m getting as a result!

One!

This week was my one year blogiversary!  (Tuesday to be exact).  I missed posting on the day because of a massive sunburn I picked up at the beach.  But since I had a little something planned I didn’t want to let it go by unnoticed.

When I first started knitting pretty in dc, I just wanted a way to show all my non-knitting friends what I was up to.  But as I worked on it, I really began to enjoy the project and wanted to put more time into it.  The positive feedback from people I didn’t even know was a pleasant surprise and only helped boost my momentum more.  This lead to a desire to publish designs and use the blog as a creative outlet of more than one kind.  And eventually this helped launched me into some of the life changes I’ve been mentioning lately.  Who knew something that started so small, could become so major.  And so much of it is due to all of you, who check in with me here whether I’m posting every other day or every other week.  It is lovely to know you enjoy my work, and I love sharing it with you all.  So, as a way to say thank you to all of you who have checked in with my little blog in the last year I’ve got the second official knitting pretty in dc blog giveaway!

Here’s what I’ve got for you: 3 skeins of yarn, the highlight of which is a skein of one of Three Irish Girls limited edition Sock Yarnista colorways called Icing Blue on the Kinsale Merino Tencel base (stashed here).  This is a lovely bright robin’s egg blue sock yarn with a ton of shine from the tencel.  It’s only available to club members, so it’s not one you’ll find in the regular Three Irish Girls line up.

Also included in the prize pack: a skein of Koigu KPM in color 2200, a lovely bright reddish orange, and a skein of Berocco Ultra Alpaca Light in 4828, sometimes called Plum mix (stashed here & here), plus a few little surprise goodies.

So here’s how it works.  Leave me a comment about a memorable anniversary of some kind.  It can be any kind of anniversary, a great birthday (it is after all the anniversary of your birth), a anniversary with an SO, the anniversary of an important event, or of a great job.  Any memory you have of a marking of some kind of anniversary.  From the comments I will select a winner via random number generator (one comment per person please!) and I will alert you all of the winner a week from today (next Thursday).  Good luck!

The Ulmus and the Radius

Look at me!  I have an FO & pictures so I can actually show it to you!  It’s been too long since my last FO post, but since I’m devoting June to finishing (mostly) I’m hoping to have even more to show you soon.  For now I’ve got my Ulmus shawl that I made for the Fans of Through the Loops group on ravelry.

Pattern: Ulmus (ravelry)

Source: Through the Loops

Yarn: Malabrigo, Sock & Claudia Hand Painted Yarns, Fingering

Needles: US 4

Started: May 10, 2009

Finished: June 9, 2009

Find it on Ravelry here.

Kirsten has come through with another great pattern for the Ulmus.  It’s a beautiful design and wonderfully written.  The main body of the shawl becomes good mindless knitting once you get the feel for it and then the lace spices things up a bit towards the end.  And it has good stashbusting potential for those of you who are into that kind of thing (not me, I of course bought more yarn for this project).

I did actually start out with a different color combination before I went with this one.  I had initially chosen two colors of Malabrigo Sock in Lettuce and Eggplant.  In the balls the colors looked lovely together, but in the pattern it was too much contrast for my taste.  I went hunting for other options and settled on these.  I’m so glad I did.  While it’s a rather unexpected color combination for me, I think it’s really beautiful and I love that I ended with a result that is unlike anything else I own.

The shawl comes in three sizes and I chose to make the Medium.  Before starting I did swatch & check gauge, but I must have loosened up as I went because once I blocked, the shawl came out to the dimensions listed for the Large.  It’s bigger than most of my shawls, but it’s been fun to play with how to wear it.  And I managed to work it in a few days before it started to get quite hot and humid around here.  Oh, and did I mention how great it feels to be finishing things?

Splurge

So I went a little crazy during the Sundara LE updates in May.  I guess I’m building up my Sundara Sock stash.  my rational was that I could use it for some gorgeous shawls or other non-sock items, since my sock yarn stash could last me years.  But I got some very pretty yarn and now I can show you.

Yarn: Sundara Yarn, Sock

Color: Garden of Delight

Dye Lot: LE Postings May ‘09

Amount:1 skein at 350 yds

Purchased at: Sundara Yarn website

stashed on ravelry here

Yarn: Sundara Yarn, Sock

Color: Gone With the Wind

Dye Lot: LE Postings May ‘09

Amount:1 skein at 350 yds

Purchased at: Sundara Yarn website

stashed on ravelry here

Yarn: Sundara Yarn, Sock

Color: Fancy Free

Dye Lot: LE Postings May ‘09

Amount:1 skein at 350 yds

Purchased at: Sundara Yarn website

stashed on ravelry here

Not surprisingly the Garden of Delight is my favorite.  It’s such a fantastically fresh shade of green.  But I love the others too.  Sundara’s colors have so much depth to them, it’s hard not to love nearly every shade.  Which is good, it make me step outside my color comfort zone and choose things I probably wouldn’t much of the time.  Always good to widen one’s horizons.

Also you might have noticed my new banner (also featuring Sundara Sock).  I took a week long photoshop class last week and made myself a few options.  This is my favorite of  all of them.  I had a great time in the class.  It was a blast to learn some new skills and experiment with what photoshop has to offer.

As Promised

So last time I posted I promised to show you some pictures of actual knitting and here I am pulling through!  I hope to include a few more projects, but hey, here’s at least a glimpse at what I’ve been working at.  I’ve been shawl obsessed of late, so the two things I have to show you are of course shawls.

Here’s a little close up of my Ulmus that I’ve been working on for the KAL over in the Fans of Through the Loops group on Ravelry.  I’m getting close to finishing.  As you see here, I’ve started the edging.  At this point I’m about 15 rows into the edging, making me 19 rows from calling this an FO.  It’s turning out truly beautifully.  The pattern is fantastic.  The main body of the shawl is just a 2 row slip stitch pattern in stripes, which is great to do while chatting with friends or watching TV, and just when you start to get bored with that, the leaf themed edging comes in.  It’s really been wonderful to work on and as I believe I’ve said before, I always enjoy a good KAL.

Sometimes I love photos with too much contrast.  I know not everyone will agree with me, but this would be one of those times.  As you heard, this yarn was a special treat, and so was starting this project.  My week had been a bit of a bummer, so on Friday night I gave into the my startitis with reckless abandon and cast on for this Shetland Triangle.  I have been incapable of finishing things lately, and starting new projects right left and center.  I had no business starting this, but it sure did make me feel better.  And it’s a total dream to work on.

Some friends mentioned devoting June to finishing, so I’m going to try and do just that.  Since I didn’t finish a single project in May and have far too many to say on the needles, it would be a good idea.  I’ll let you all know how it goes.

How Rewarding

So much has been happening lately that it seems like forever ago that I finished the GRE & ordered myself a little reward. In fact it was about two months, which how long it takes for Sundara Year in Color offerings to show up after being dyed to order.

Yarn: Sundara Yarn, Fingering Silky Merino

Color: Poppy

Dye Lot: Flowers From my Mother’s Garden, March ‘09

Amount:1 skein at 500 yds

Purchased at: Sundara Yarn website

stashed on ravelry here

What better way to reward oneself than by ordering yarn you would normally feel incredibly guilty buying?  I’ve been wanting to try the FSM for sometime now, but it’s not normally budget friendly for me to spend $50 on one skein (even if it is a hefty skein).  However, when rewarding myself for hard work, I occasionally allow splurges of this nature (to be clear I recognize that this is psychological, if I spend $50 on 2 skeins, I have still spent $50, it just seems like it goes farther and so I feel less guilty).  This one is from the Flowers From my Mother’s Garden offering from March 2009.  It’s called Poppy, and is a bit lighter than I expected (although the second photo is more true to color), but still seriously pretty.  I long ago hatched plans to make a Shetland Triangle with this one.  Conveniently, the dyed to order nature of the Year in Color set up delayed this yarn until a week ago, allowing it to function as a reward for my news as well, thus saving me from buying another $50 skein of yarn (although not saving me from picking up a few things with lower price tags from the recent Sundara Limited Edition updates).

I know it’s been awhile since I’ve posted any photos of actual knitting.  I promise I have been knitting, just not getting good photos (or actually finishing much).  But I swear I will show you some soon!

Some News

So I have some news, that I’ve been holding back for a little while now.  All through the process it was hard not to say why I was so busy, but I also didn’t want to talk about here until it was real.  But now it is, so…

I am going back to school in the Fall.  I applied and I got in and now I will be getting a Master’s in Textile Design.  And this change will be taking me to Philly (now you know why my quick trip recently).  I’m so excited about these new things.  I spend so much time thinking about the next steps.  But in addition to my excitement, there is a lot I’m sad to leave behind.  One of these things is my beloved DC.  I have built a home here and it will be very hard to move away.  That said I’m determined to make my experience in Philly a great one, so any info about the city, your favorite spots, your favorite neighborhoods, is much appreciated.

In the meantime, I’m planning to spend my summer relishing in all the best bits of DC during its most action packed season.  Which leads me to something knew for the blog.  Since my blog is after all called Knitting Pretty in DC (a name I plan to keep, since DC will always be my home in my heart), I’m going to start a blog series where posts are devoted to all my favorite things and spots in DC.  A Best of DC if you will, and a version that is all my own.  I know that I’ve talked about these things from time to time already, but I think making a formal series out of will be a great way to say goodbye (for now).  So stay tuned for more knits and some DC highlights too.

Spinning (Sort Of)

Yesterday was a really perfect day. It was absolutely gorgeous out here. And Liz, my best friend ever, is in town for the week, which is pretty rare. So we spent the day hanging out, first at Big Bear Cafe (best coffee in DC if you ask me, and totally solid in the atmosphere department), knitting and munching. And then we went back to my house, where she helped me work out some of my drop spindle problems. Later the boy and I made this for dinner (yum!), and then watched the first half of There Will Be Blood. I always love it when we cook together, and the curry was so yummy. A great day all in all, but here’s more on the spinning…

I’ve tried to use the drop spindle a few other times, once after watching a youtube video, once after watching a whole tape, and a handful of other times. None of them yielded results other than frustration. In the past I had drafted the roving some ahead of time, but was trying to draft more as I went along. This wasn’t going very well. I would end up with the twist traveling up into the section of roving that hadn’t been drafted out yet. And then I wouldn’t be able to draft it anymore because of the twist, etc. Ultimately I would give up. Liz just learned to spin on a spindle recently and had been told to predraft fully, so she got me going that way and guess what, it worked! It might not be the speediest system once you really have the hang of it, but for now it works for me.

Because in the end I actually spun some yarn. It’s just a wobbly single for now, but it (mostly) looks like yarn. And that’s enough for me. This triumph was just one fun part of a wonderful day spent doing things lovely things with lovely people.  I feel like a very lucky girl when days that good come along.

Sheep & Wool

Maryland Sheep & Wool was a week ago and I can now manage to think about it without shivering. My Mom and I went on Sunday & it poured basically the entire time as I’m sure many of you can attest. I was pretty chilly and my feet were soaked, but I managed to have a good time none the less. And pick up some pretty awesome loot along the way.

Because of the weather I didn’t take many pictures.  I did get a group shot of Ysoldawith some of my creepy internet friends, but it didn’t come out too well so I’m withholding it for personal use only.  By the way, she was very sweet about us swooping in for a photo and telling her about how much we liked her designs.  And she was very tickled that my friend Betsy was wearing her Coraline.  I also got to meet Lolly, a co-mod and lovely lady.  I could have gotten a picture with her since we were in the main barn, but I failed to think of it since I was mid-gyro.  But regardless it was so great to meet her in person.

Since I’m largely without photos of the day, I’ll just show you everything I brought home.

Yarn: Brooks Farm, Riata

Color: 9R

Dye Lot: M13

Amount:3 skeins at 375 yds each

Purchased at: Maryland Sheep & Wool, Brooks Farm Booth

stashed on ravelry here

This was my most awesome acquisition at Sheep & Wool.  I took home a sweaters worth of this lovely yarn in a color that is oh so me (in fact I only really bought variations on blue & green yarn that day, not that this is unusual).  I have been having so much fun entertaining ideas for what I might make with these lovelies but it will be a while before I get to it.

Yarn: Tess’ Designer Yarns, Cultivated Silk & Wool

Color: –

Dye Lot: –

Amount:1 skein at 200 yds

Purchased at: Maryland Sheep & Wool, Tess’ Designer Yarns Booth

stashed on ravelry here

My main goal for the festival was to stash dk and worsted weight yarn.  It’s what I never seem to have in stash when I’m looking to start a project.  I didn’t completely stick to this goal, but I did pick a few lovely things that fit that bill, like this super soft and shiny yarn.

Yarn: Tess’ Designer Yarns, Superwash Merino Lace

Color: 871713

Dye Lot: –

Amount: 1 skein at 500 yds

Purchased at: Maryland Sheep & Wool, Tess’ Designer Yarns Booth

stashed on ravelry here

The Tess’ Designer Yarns booth used up the last chunk of my budget on our way out the door.  I am pleased to say I did still come out $7 under budget!  I picked up this skein with something specific in mind.  After getting home, I decided to use something else for that project and now I’m thinking about using the lovely Spring Things pattern with this little skein.  I love the super bright green!

Yarn: Tess’ Designer Yarns, Petite Silk

Color: –

Dye Lot: –

Amount:1 skein at 450 yds

Purchased at: Maryland Sheep & Wool, Tess’ Designer Yarns Booth

stashed on ravelry here

My last purchase from the Tess’ booth was this little guy.  I just could not say no to blueish-purple lace weight.  It’s shimmer lulled me into submission while it’s brilliant color coaxed my hand into picking it up.  I was so tempted to buy a second skein to increase my options, but it would have busted through my budget, and I’m proud of myself for sticking to my guns.  Besides there really are plenty of shawls one can make with 450 yds, and even more options if you just make shawlette versions of patterns that call for more yardage.

Yarn:Kipparoo Farms, Raggles

Color: –

Dye Lot: –

Amount:1 skein at 165 yds

Purchased at: Maryland Sheep & Wool, Kipparoo Farms Booth

stashed on ravelry here

My Mom has known Annie from Kipparoo Farms long enough now that I consider her a friend of the family.  She’s an awesome person and a great dyer (a great shepherd too!).  And I saw this little gem.  I loved the mix of natural and subtle colors and it fit within my stashing criteria so I let it come home with me.  I know I’ll find just the right project for it sometime soon.

Yarn: The Unique Sheep, Tinsel Toes

Color: Mirkwood Gradience Set

Dye Lot: –

Amount: 4 mini skeins totaling 360 yds

Purchased at: Maryland Sheep & Wool, Cloverhill Yarn Shop Booth

stashed on ravelry here

Beyond just my goal to stash heavier yarns, I had a more specific goal not to buy sock yarn.  This was the one exception I allowed myself since it was a gradience set that would make up for our mostly unsuccessful attempt at gradient dyeing.  Besides I don’t plan on using it for socks anyway.

So those are the beauties I picked up.  Not so over the top, but not really restrained either.  I really need to try and slow down on the yarn buying for awhile, but something tells me it’s not likely to happen.  But as I like to remind myself in these moments there are far worse addictions to have than yarn.  So I might just cut myself a break.