Happy Honeybee

As I promised I will share with you how fixed the two mistakes on the Honeybee.
while blocking I saw that there was a dropped stitch in the last section before the border on each end of the stole. Fortunately through gentle washing and non aggressive blocking these didn't get too far and didn't require much in the way of laddering back up the complicated lace pattern.

I caught the lose stitch and pulled through the yarn from the row above using a small crochet hook. Basic dropped stitch repair method... nothing fancy here.

Then I took a short piece of the same yarn and threaded it through stitches on the row it belonged on as well as the loose stitch and continued on weaving it through that same row.
Kinda fudging a little but I'm pleased with how it turned out.

Then to finish I wove in the ends of the scrap yarn and trimmed.

Not too bad considering.


Then when I finished repairing both of the dropped stitches I did a final photo shoot.



and now for the money shot ;-)




I just love everything about this stole. The yarn, drape, color, size, various patterns.
I won't kid you by saying this was a piece of cake. This really was my most challenging project to date but I am so happy with it and loved wearing it on Thanksgiving.

Final details.

Pattern: Anne (Knitspot) Honeybee stole
Size: Petite size ... not the tall.
Yarn: Habu Tsumugi Silk in the Curry colorway (3 cones)
Needles: US4 Hiya Hiya circs

Oh, and I just finished the Hypotenuse scarf for my brother-in-law.
Just need to weave in the ends, wash and block. I'll share pictures when it is done.
Let's just say this is a perfect holiday gift project.

Projects, projects and more projects.

Honeybee has landed. As planned I finished my honeybee stole last Thursday evening and when I returned home on Sunday I washed and blocked it. I took some not terribly pretty pictures of it being blocked but of course they are still in my camera and not uploaded yet. I'll do that tonight and edit to add. While blocking I found 2 boo boo's. They are both in the last section and on both ends and strangely in roughly the same row... don't know what was going on there. When I carefully lift it from being blocked I'll fix them and we'll be off for our first flight of the honeybee tomorrow for Thanksgiving. I'll also post photos either tomorrow or Friday of it during the fix and ready for it's debut along with the summation and review of this latest project. How's that for a few mixed metaphors ;-)

Hypotenuse happenings. I took this with me this weekend to Sacramento to work on and it's over the halfway point. This really is the perfect project for the last minute (week or so) holiday gift. Looks like I should have this one ready for blocking this weekend which will leave me free to focus on the Juno Regina stole which I haven't worked on since the initial cast on and repeats. More pictures coming soon.

More Projects ...
Oh, and I cast on the Grinchy Grouchy socks... I couldn't help myself... pics later this week.

Things have been pretty busy at The Knitting Hutch. I swear the Habu kits are going out as quickly as they come in and sometimes faster than they come in. These really are great kits and I enjoy making them too. I'm hoping to catch up on the New Arrivals page this weekend in between starting to decorate for Christmas and of course a little knitting.

Thanksgiving Day plans. Each year we rotate who will be hosting which holiday and this year it is my niece Samantha and her husband David's turn for Thanksgiving. This is great
as it means less driving (they live in Hollister too) and less cooking (well, not really since her oven is on the fritz and I'll be cooking that for her). I'll also be making my family's favorite carrots with bacon and fresh cranberry sauce. Check back tomorrow for pictures and recipes. I'll also be watching the Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade. This along with spending time with my family and eating is what makes the day fun. I really enjoy this time of year and the opportunity to stop and reflect on everything that the year has brought so far. Some good and some not so good but there's always something to be found in all of these to be thankful for... to be continued tomorrow.

What are your plans for the Turkey (or Turkey substitute) Day?

Starts and Finishes

It's been a wonderful, wet weekend here and I've basically stayed in and puttered around the house getting caught up on things and of course knitting.

I never posted a final set of pictures of the pair of Traveling Pumpkin Vine Socks so here they are. I wore them on Halloween with a pair of mules I found that I love... fun!

Much progress made on the Honeybee stole and I will post pictures when it's completed this week.

I also came down with a severe case of 'startitis' and just had to start 2 new projects.

The first one is all Miriam's fault. This week knitty.com posted 3 'surprise' patterns for Fall and one of them is from Miriam.

The Juno Regina Stole

I'm using 6 balls of the darkish brown Fingering weight alpaca by Frog Tree I just got in.

It is a fairly simple asymetrical stole and I'm enjoying it.

The other item is Anne's Hypotenuse scarf that will be a Christmas gift for my brother-in-law.

I'm using some Cascade 220 in Jet Black that I had in my stash. Really simple and quick pattern that would work with any worsted or even sport weight wool.

Do you also find yourself coming down with a case of startitis with Fall here?

I'm back...

Well I'm back and I've been meaning to post since I returned home on Saturday evening.
I'm finally caught up on housework, shop work and work work and am taking time to post a few highlights.

It was really interesting staying in my Grandmother's house last week while I was at a class for work. I was able to enjoy a relatively short commute of 25 minutes compared to my usual 1.5 hours each way. The class was very good and I've been busily applying what I learned this week which totally makes it worth it. One of my goals while there was to 'stage' all the Christmas decorations that were all boxed up in the garage through out the 1st floor in preparation for a Holiday Boutique we're doing on the 17th. Boy howdie there are a lot of Christmas items... a lot of which we hadn't seen before. I'll be taking pictures of the boutique and will share those after that event. So if you happen to be in the Sacramento (Florin) area on Saturday Nov. 17 stop on by.... email me for details.

There was knitting last week as well. I completed the Traveling Pumpkin Vine socks just in time to wear for Halloween (pictures and final details this weekend).
Great progress made on the Honeybee Stole too! As of last night I am on the 6th repeat of the bee swarm section ... Translation - I'm on the home stretch and still on schedule to have this puppy (um bee) done for Thanksgiving. but wouldn't you know Miriam goes and has another wonderful stole published today on knitty.com (Juno Regina) and I will be up really late tonight casting this one on (see below what I'll be using).

Shop News:

New Yarn - Frog Tree Alpaca in Fingering Weight. I received a shipment of this in 10 colorways. The one below is Aubergine and is a really pretty, soft purple. This is what I'll be using for my Juno Regina Stole.

Yarn Restocks - There was also a shipment from Claudia to restock a few popular colorways of fingering, sport and lace silks.

New FUN items:

I've seen these tape measures around and thought they were so cute and had to get them in.

There are 5 different designs in stock and I'll have the page up by this weekend.

Have a Happy Friday tomorrow!