Cardigan update: Wanda Nell

As Nerd Wars and Camp Loopy and other shines distract me, the Wanda Nell cardigan gets pushed to the back burner a bit.
i still love it, I just never seem to make the time to actually knit on it.
It's coming out gorgeous though. I love it so much!
The colours are fabulous, the shape is, well, shaping up nicely, and that Wollmeise smell, well!
I really need to knit on this more.
Perhaps riiiight now.

Casting On: Wanda Nell cardigan

Something new on the needles today!
After the mixed success of the awesome-but-not-done Vivian cardigan, I'm changing things up with a gorgeous, fingering-weight cardi, the Wanda Nell by Jennifer Hagan.
I'm using Wollmeise in Wolke, a colour I've been in love with most of my life (I have a pen in that colour, and a dress in a couple shades lighter).
I think I want to add darker stripes and edging to it, but I'll see how I go.
It's a top-down, raglan cardi.
I swatched and measured and calculated. Hopefully, it'll all work out.
This will also be my Nerd Wars dissertation this round, drawing inspiration from BBT's Bernadette and her ubiquitous (and cute!) cardigans.

Raspberry Swirl achieved

Are you one of the many, many knitters who know about the magic of Wollmeise? That mysterious yarn of many plies, which has colours so vibrant they make people want to hoard a skein (or ten) of every colour, hue and shade?

Or are you one of the many who couldn't care less about that overpriced, cottony-feeling German yarn with the unpronounceable name?
Or worse, have you never even heard of Wollmeise?I admit, I got sucked in. There is something magical about the hype, about the colours, about the everything.You can't just *buy* Wollmeise. You have to be in the know. When this indie dyer updaters her website, you'd better be quick, or everything will be gone.

I had to try it.
And I scored the most glowing skein of pink, pink yarn. now what to do with it?
It didn't seem right to just knit any old thing with this magical yarn.
So I tried to find a pattern that would show off the yarn's beauty.

Being still reasonably new to sock knitting, I finally settled on a pattern just about head-high out of reach: Wendy Johnson's Bob and Weave socks, a gloriously complex pattern of twisted stitches.

It took *forever*.

I figured out that these twisted stitches and tiny cable crosses really didn't like being corssed without a cable needle. So I ended up using a locking stitch marker to hold and cross the many, many crossed stitches.

And then, one magical day, they were done.
And they were perfect.
The yarn, the pattern, the colour, the everything.But these socks are perhaps a little too rpecious. What if I wear a hole in their 100% wool goodness? What if I snag them, or felt them, or stain them?

So after months of painstakingly knitting the most glorious pair of socks, I'm not sure they'll ever leave the house.

They sure look good on my feet while I sit at the computer though.

Cloudy Days

The last of the Stephen West shawl club patterns, and it's a cutie.

The perfect project to bust some stash.

I'm using my leftover Another Crafty Girl in Squirtle, a colour I am insanely in love with, paired with leftover Wollmeise in Feldmaus. I didn't think I had enough yarn to complete the project, but I was hoping for wool magic.

Well, it didn't happen.
Fortunately, through the magic of Ravelry, I found some more Feldmaus in a destash, but unfortunately, it's much darker than what I had (and somehow not as pretty. It's much more mouse brown than nest brown).
But I could finish the shawl, and it's very wearable. It's really more of a sideways scarf, actually. It goes perfectly with a brown felt beret that is an autumn/winter staple for me.

Dark Vulpix

Cast-on

I didn’t have the needles called for, so I went down a size. I knit loosely anyway, and if the fabric comes out a little dense, that’s just fine by me.

Part 1

This is an addictive knit. In section 2, I had some trust issues because I couldn’t visualise what was going to happen, but I followed the instructions, and a few more lines in, it becomes clear what the overall effect will be.

I’m loving how the colors are coming up, dark and kind of goth. No idea what I’ll wear them with, but they look dramatic, no?

floats

Finished section 2. The colors and pattern together remind me of Voltron. O_o

In section 3, I started with the Japanese short rows as per the pattern, but I don’t have enough stitch markers I could use, so I’m switching to shadow wraps (as explained here) on the 7th stitch before each previous turn (so the same stitch is the wrapped stitch). I’m liking how it’s coming out.

looks like Voltron!

After section 3: 
Color 1 - 77g left 
Color 2 - 127g left

short rows

Started section 4. It’s hard to tell what the overall effect will be, now that the shawl is all scrunched up on the needles. I like the short rows, from what I can tell.

Final yarns left over: 19g color A, 29 g color B

Measurements before blocking: 
Centre spine: 37 cm 
bottom wing tip to centre: 115 cm 
wingspan across top edge: 207 cm/2.2 yrds

finished shawl

Measurements blocked: 
Centre spine: 53 cm/ 20 in 
bottom wing tip to centre: 128 cm 
wingspan across top edge: 220 cm/ 2.4 yds

What's on the needles?

 It's all about new things on the needles in March for me.
Some call it startitis, some call it stash-down, but for me, it was a matter of shaking things up.

I've still got projects languishing on the needles, like the colorwork mittens I started in Hakuba, or the intricately twisted, gorgeously bright pink Wollmeise socks.
Never mind my plain-ish ribbed striped socks.

But I started the Vivian. A complicated cabled cardigan out of a gorgeous Madelinetosh DK. The color is called Maple Leaf, but it reminds me of apples. You know, real apples. Not that fake apple red of coloring books, or the bright red of hand-turned pretty-but-tasteless apples. Real apples that taste of crisp fall mornings.
I love it.
I've already finished the sleeves and have made a bit of progress on the body.
The Vivian is supposed to be my birthday sweater. I splurged on the yarn and the pattern, and knitting it is all about me. I wasn't expecting the yarn to get this quickly to me, but the elves at the Loopy Ewe worked some miracle magic. So how could I resist?

I even swatched, and things are turning out great.

And then the new Stephen West shawl club pattern got sneak previewed. It's called Vulpix, after the adorable six-tailed fox pokemon.
I haven't been too wild about the patterns in the shawl club so far, but this one, I had to knit.
I love the way it looks, but I really got sold on the name. I'm a sucker for names, as we all know.
So I cast on a Vulpix in Wollmeise in Sanguinella and 47Ag. it's a very bright, in-your-face combo, kind of movie Goth or vampire-y. It's striking, but I'm not sure if it's really me. okay, I'm pretty sure it's not, but hey. Don't let that stop me!

So yeah, these two are taking up all of my knitting time.
Well, not *all* of my time. There's also a little something I'm designing right now, but that's a secret for another time.

Like Clockwork

Knitting shawls is popular, no doubt about it. There are stunning lace creations, squishy, brightly-colored winter accessories and everything from bold statements to classy cover-ups.
I've knit one shawl before that I loved deeply. Of course I knit it in early summer, so it hadn't seen much use until I travelled to Japan. There, it was a trusty staple while walking through fashion-fabulous Tokyo.

But I loved knitting the shawl, so I knew I wanted another one.
I'm not in a lace place right now, and lace shawls don't really fit with my wardrobe.
I like Stephen West's bold, geometric designs, so I knew I wanted to make another one. This time, in two colors.

After a bit of humming and hawing (too many great patterns!), I settled on Clockwork, with its garter stitch squishiness, simple stripes and slip-stitch steampunky detail.
And I was going to knit it out of two rockstar yarns, Malabrigo Sock (in Solis) and Wollmeise (in Feldmaus).
Could things get any better?
This would be perfect travel knitting. Beautiful yarns in pleasing colors, a simple yet gorgeous pattern and just enough size to see me through the trip.
And it sure did.
As an added bonus, I got to knit the first section twice, because I am brilliant and cannot remember directions for a whole row.
So I did only one set of increases, instead of increasing throughout the row, like I was meant to do. No wonder the first section knitted up so quickly!
Good thing I like knitting, so ripping back and reknitting wasn't much of a chore.
The yarn stood up perfectly to ripping and being re-knit, by the way.
Fabulous yarns.
And what can I tell you about the end result?
The shawl is squishy, it's large, and it's fabulous.
Unfortunately, it was also unfinished by the time we came back to Melbourne, so I haven't had an opportunity to wear it yet.

If you're looking for an easy-ish knit to use up two skeins of gorgeous yarn, you could do worse than try a Clockwork.
Mine used suprisingly little yarn all up, so now I have leftovers, almost enough to knit another one, if I so chose.

Japan! WIP Edition

Like all good knitters, I plan for my vacation.
Not just where the good yarn stores are (one of them in walking distance of our hotel in Tokyo, natch), but also, most importantly, what projects to take.

It's going to be cold in Japan. Really cold. Especially for softened-up, oh-noez-5-degrees-mornings Melbournite me.
So project number one? Mittens. More precicely, colorwork mittens, my first time trying either colorwork or mittens.

I'm making the Deep In The Forest mittens by Tuulia Salmela, out of some New Zealand yarn with possum fur in it (a present from an awesome Raveller) and a pale blueish alpaca blend. They're going to be warm and fuzzy.
They're going to be my plane knitting flying to Japan. Hopefully, the small circular bamboo needles will be allowed on board or I will be one cranky flyer...
My kind-of-mindless knit while in Japan (for evenings when the body is tired and the brain is meh), I'm making Clockwork, an arch-shaped shawl by the inimitable Stephen West. I'm making that out of a brown Wollmeise yarn that is the color of twigs (the ball reminds me of a nest, for some reason) and a beautiful Malabrigo in a color that reminds me of my mum's SeaSilk cowl.
And then there's project three, probably for the flight back.
It's going to be mittens, it's going to be colorwork, it's going to be in Another Crafty Girl's pumpkin orange and Tosh sock dark green. it's going to be designed by Laura, aka LaLa of the Knit Girllls podcast.
Apart from that? No idea. It's a mystery KAL!
I'm excited though, and I might just have to cast them on while resting from hard, cold days on the slopes, who knows? I'll play this one by ear. Or needle, as the case may be.

Is this enough knitting? Too much? It's going to be several weeks *and* the start of another round of Nerd Wars. Maybe I'll pack one more project. You know. Just in case...

What's on the needles this week? Socks!

Not that many things are on the needles as I'm trying really hard not to start anything new before going to Japan. Otherwise, how am I going to decide what to pack??

Still on the needles are the pink Wollmeise socks of braided twisted stitches of awesomeness.
It's slow going. The pattern is complicated, and even though I'm getting the hang of it, there's a *lot* of twisting going on.
The color is also fabulous and I'm enjoying them immensely.
A much easier project are my Kiellinie socks, my second attempt at fun ribbed snowboarding socks.
They're my easy knitting I can take to outings. They've gotten most of their work done at game night. Board games are perfect for sock knitting.
I'm going to have to give these some personal attention though as it's time to turn the heel.
I had some issues sizing these correctly, but I think they'll work out fine.
As always for me, it's going to be part mystery, part hope to see just how well they fit.
Fortunately, ribbed workhorse yarn socks are one of the most forgiving concepts.
And that's all for now. Once I get to travelling, the real cast-on fun starts.

Holy mother of pink, it's Wollmeise socks!

It's time for more socks.
After the black man socks of November were done and bound off, I was craving color. Craving it *big time*.

For a lot of people, when it comes to fingering weight yarn in religiousness-inspiring colors, there is only one answer.
The gummybears-wielding wunderkind from the snowy south of Germany, the Wollmeise. Her shop is famous for being out-of-stock, her fans are known to rabidly stalk updates, meaning they actually hang around at their computers at a designated time of the week to snatch whatever skeins of gorgeous yarn go up that day. This is not the time to be picky.

I love me some crazy, so one day, I played along, too. And then I did it again. Because you know what? It's kind of fun to hang out in the Wollmeiseholics Ravelry group beforehand, speculating what might be in the shop, then once the page goes grey, the frenzy begins.
Once the site returns, you're lucky to snatch a skein or two (or ten, if you're a pro).

I'm lucky.

So I had this gorgeous pink, pink, PINK skein of Himbeere (raspberry), just begging to be excitement.

Not everyone thinks Wollmeise makes good socks, especially the 100% base, because they wear through quickly.
I don't care. I want glowing pink socks. With cably, twisty details.

So that's what I'm knitting. super-pink socks from the toe up to become Wendy Johnson's Bob and Weave socks. And I'm loving them, even though I'm not even past the toe decreases yet.
The best is yet to come.