Shetland Fine Lace

My greatest goal as a knitter is to achieve this beautiful lace.

A Sockventure!!!

I started on my very first pair of socks a while back, like the third week of September maybe? And I am knitting on size 2dpn with sport weight yarn and a cast on of 60sts. Stepping stones socks is the pattern I am following, and I am so far marginally pleased with the results of my work. I am using a local, hand spun and hand dyed yarn in a lavender color that I picked up a long time ago, when I was first looking into yarns that were not acrylic for the very first time. Before this yarn graced my stash with its presence, the only yarns that lived there were Red Heart, Caron Simply Soft, and Lion Brand Hometown. I have to say, Simply Soft and Hometown are not bad quality yarns, and I still have so much Hometown that I do enjoy producing things with it. Hometown does get shaggy when washed though. HOWEVER this beautiful lavender ball is the symbolic torch that brought on shopping in specialty yarn shops, knitting with Addi lace tip turbo rockets, and karbonz double pointed needles. It lead to lace samplers, mittens, and hats. I am no longer a beginner knitter. I dare say, I am no longer an easy knitter... I am INTERMEDIATE. Soooo the first socks on a meaningful, symbolic yarn--- yeah, what could go wrong?
Don't answer that. I did not jinx myself. The socks will be fine.

A Cat Cuddler; don't do this at home.

When a pattern shows you a yarn and needles, but no gauge, do the math yourself. Save yourself time and heartache and stupid aching hands. Also when you frog it the first time, don't go back for more torture without math and research!!!!! I made this disaster from scraps and things that I really would not want to wear, so I'm not sad about wasting yarn or anything... it just was a waste of time! And now I have a psychedelic rug hanging around my house. It's so weird.

Knitting Intarasia

About a week ago I picked up my trusty size 15dpn and cast on 36sts of bright, obnoxious acrylic yellow. I garter stitched three rows and switched to a green that has a decent amount of blue, and next to that yellow looks Kelly green. I did quite a bit of Ravelry searching, searched Lion Brand, and Yarnspirations and came across http://www.yarnspirations.com/nordic-hat.html this Nordic hat. I did a variation on it. It looks pretty cute, but the top is weird because I decreased too quickly. But, any more rows and it would be too big, and I really didn't want to take out any rows.

Update: it worked beautifully. Gifted and now loved by my best friend, Julia, the hat was a bit tough finishing but ultimately a success. It was not to big, but just right!