WIP Wednesday Strikes Again!

I'm always very excited when these precious days come along where I'm actually keeping up with my blog.  As my readers know, it's a pretty rare occurrence.  All it takes is one bad hair day to throw me off track and leave me scrambling to catch up.  At no time is this worse than on Wednesdays when I have 25 or 30 bazillion projects to tell you about.  And while I put a lot of pressure on myself to get a lot done on all 30 bazillion, it's a pressure that I love and thrive on - WIP Wednesday makes knitting very exciting for me.  So, without further chitterchatter, let's get busy - there are TWO new WIPs, and two restarted WIPs!

Pattern: Basketweave Baby Blanket
Yarn:  Red Heart Baby Clouds
Colorway:  Pastels
Purchased at:  Joann
Needles:  #15
Made for:  Da GrandSON!
Date Started:  9/11/10
Progress:  10%
I started babyknitting in earnest last weekend, casting on for THREE baby blankets.  Two of them will be in the Baby Clouds yarn.  I bought a ton of this yarn about five years ago when the twins next door were born, however, shortly after they were born, my husband was very ill, and I didn't get the blankets done till they were six months old.  In that time, I'd bought even more of this yarn because I liked it a lot and was going to make myself a blanket, too.  I'm not a Red Heart fan by any means, and I know a lot of people have trouble with this yarn - but I love it.  It's a little splitty, I'll admit, but so very soft and durable.  How durable???  The twins will be five on Friday and they're still using their blankets (I made them pretty big...)!!!  I got a peek at one of them the other night, they're still soft, and they really don't look bad for five year old blankets made from cheap yarn.  This is the same pattern I used for their blankets.  I doubt I'll finish this one as quickly as I did one of theirs which I knit about 95% of while my husband was in surgery...knitting as sanity saver.

Pattern:  Citron Shawl (Take 2...)
Yarn:  Crystal Palace Mini Mochi
Colorway:  Jungle
Purchased at:  The Knitter's Mercantile and somewhere else...don't remember where...
Needles:  #10
Date Started:  4/9/10.  Frogged 9/1/10 and restarted 9/2/10
Progress:  40%
My goal was to have this shawl finished two weeks ago, but fate intervened.  When I joined the last ball of yarn, I realized I probably wasn't going to have enough to finish the last pattern repeat and the ruffle.  So I did 3/4 of the last repeat and started on the ruffle...then I realized I wasn't going to have enough yarn to finish even the ruffle.  I put in a lifeline a pattern repeat back and frogged to that point to see how it would look if I added the ruffle and ended there.  It didn't look good.  Worse, it felt pretty stiff and heavy.  So I frogged it and bumped up to #10 needles from #7s.  I like this much better.  The fabric has a nice drape, it feels like it will block nicely, and it's a little bit bigger.  If I don't get five whole pattern repeats in, I don't think it will make as big a difference.

Pattern:  Pine and Ivy Shawl
Yarn:  My Name Is Yarn
Colorway:  Moss 'N' Berries
Purchased at:  My Name Is Yarn
Needles:  #3
Date Started:  3/30/10
Progress:  30%
I'm still slogging away on this one, though it is getting easier as the decreases progress, and I know the reward of the finished shawl will be well worth all I've gone through to knit it.

Pattern:  Cradle Me Blanket
Yarn:  Lion Brand Wool Ease Sportweight
Colorway:  Blue Bell
Purchased at:  Joann
Needles:  #7
Made for:  Da GrandSON
Date Started:  8/9/10 in Bernat Softee Baby.  Restarted in Wool Ease Sportweight 9/11/10.
Progress:  10%
I think I mentioned that I wasn't pleased with the stitch definition of this pattern with the green Softee Baby.  When we found out last week that R is having a boy, I remembered this yarn was in my stash.  It's a little too soon to really tell if the stitch definition is much better, but I'm loving the rich, denim blue instead of baby blue.

Pattern:  A Dreamy Spiral Scarf
Yarn:  Twilley's of Stamford Freedom Spirit
Colorway:  Green
Purchased at:  The Knitter's Mercantile
Needles:  #8
Date Started:  4/28/10
Progress:  15%
This was one of the last projects I cast on during my spring bout of startitis.  I bought a ton of this yarn on clearance and have two balls left.  I'm hoping this scarf uses both of them!  Fun little project.

Pattern:  Evenstar Shawl
Yarn:  Knit Picks Shimmer
Colorway:  Bayou
Purchased at:  Knit Picks
Needles:  #3
Date Started:  3/3/10
Progress:  55%
If you look closely at the top of the first picture, you can see the *very small amount* (I'm trying to psych myself here) of edging I still have to knit.  Really, it's VERY small - I started on a 60" circular needle and now all the stitches that are remaining fit easily on a 24" circular.  The second picture is another glamour shot of the beads.  You can also see a couple mistakes.  Oops.  This project is not perfect.  It's my first major lace project, and there are about four small errors that I know of.  We'll see how glaringly obvious they are once this baby's blocked...

Pattern:  Cozy Baby Throw
Yarn:  Red Heart Baby Clouds
Colorway:  Tutti Frutti
Purchased at:  Joann
Needles:  #13
Made for:  You Know Who...
Date Started:  9/11/10
Progress:  40%
This is more of the Baby Clouds yarn I mentioned above.  I found the pattern on some cheap boucle yarn from Joann and liked it a lot, so I decided to make a smaller baby blanket with it. 

Pattern:  Merope
Yarn:  Malabrigo Sock
Colorway:  Rayon Vert
Purchased at:  Temptations
Needles:  #4
Date Started:  7/10/10
Progress:  70%
Almost 3/4 of the way through this one!  I'm still wary of the color yarn I used but am hoping it all blocks out well.  I really enjoy how easily this shawl has been to knit. 

Pattern:  Videvik Shawl
Yarn:  Lost City Knits Oak Barn Merino
Colorway:  African Violet
Purchased at:  Lost City Knits
Needles:  #4
Date Started:  8/25/10
Progress:  10%
Isn't this gorgeous?  I love how this pattern is showing up so clearly.  And the yarn is so soft...I'd be further along if I didn't keep stopping to pet what I've just knit.  Best part of this shawl so far is the extra-squishy cast-on edge which is done by holding two strands of yarn together.  Perfect!  These bottom-up shawls go so slowly, but I am making steady progress.

Pattern:  Boneyard Shawl
Yarn:  Knit Picks City Tweed DK
Colorway:  Tabby
Purchased at:  Knit Picks
Needles:  #8
Date Started:  4/15/10
Progress:  45%
Speaking of ever-so-soft-n-squishy...the bigger this shawl gets, the more I love it.  I have six balls of the Tabby City Tweed DK, and I plan on using them all in this shawl.  I'm only on my second ball so far.  LOVE this pattern and the yarn.

Pattern:  Olive Entrelac Neckwarmer
Yarn:  Manos Silk Blend
Colorway:  Moss
Purchased at:  Temptations
Needles #6
Date Started:  8/14/10
Progress:  60%
I love entrelac, and I especially love it in this yarn - so soft and shiny.  I've even overcome my "Oh, no!  It's camo!"  reaction to this yarn and am hoping to find some cute brass buttons...maybe in the shape of acorns...to finsh this off perfectly. 

Pattern:  Grey Button-Up Neck Warmer #2
Yarn:  Rowan Tapestry
Colorway:  Lead Mine
Purchased at:  Temptations
Needles:  #9
Made for:  a Christmas gift
Date Started:  9/13/10
Progress:  10%
This is the last of the holiday knitting.  As I mentioned yesterday, I decided to go ahead and show these projects since I'm so far ahead of the season that anyone who reads my blog and who is going to receive one of these will probably have forgotten about it by Christmas.  This neckwarmer pattern is a classic.  I can knit it in my sleep.  And the subtle color variations between the two strands of Rowan Tapestry give the piece an almost 3D effect (and even without the glasses!). 

So, there you have it!  The only project I didn't work on this week was the rug, but I'll catch up with it next week.  Stay tuned for Friday - I have three FOs blocking at the moment, including a true mystery project.  As in it's a mystery when I made it and why it ended up in a bag in the back of my closet when all it needed was blocking and ends woven in.  And tomorrow, I'll show you some awesome yarn I have just percolating to be cast on for a couple more (a bazillion and TWO!) projects.

Happy knitting!!