knitting diary: catching up

Even when I had a digital record of my knitting, I kept an analog journal of my knitting projects: my successes and failures, the modifications I made to patterns, patterns I wrote myself, and project ideas.  My sister gave me my first knitting journal, and it filled slowly over fifteen years of knitting.  I started a second journal last spring, my experience on Ravelry shaping how I set it up.  There's an ever-changing queue, an analog stash record, and a log of all the projects I have finished with notes--all hand-written.  I also spent last summer creating some pattern and needle binders, filled with printed out patterns and organized needles.  Apparently I'm living the Luddite knitter's dream.  Haha.

Here's where I admit, though, that taking pictures of finished projects isn't as exciting as it used to be, when I had a delightful screen full of photos of past projects about which to reminisce.  Recently I've given away a couple of things before I even thought to photograph them.  And I've got a backlog of finished things from this very productive (knitting-wise) summer that never made it onto the blog.  Thanks for your patience as I capture them for posterity!

I finished a hat and a pair of socks as gifts for a relative at the end of August.  The hat was sort of this pattern, with the rest made-up.  The crown shaping, which was totally improvised, worked surprisingly well.  Yarn is this, purchased here.  It was great to work with.

The socks are Hermione's Everyday Sock pattern, worked toe-up, in this yarn.   Despite the alternating skeins, the yarn pooled something crazy.  And it was kind of sticky to work with.  I don't think I will use it again.

The red shawl is the Autumn Blush pattern by Joji Locatelli.  The construction was ingenious: really inventive, but easy enough to knit while watching TV.  (Fr G and I watched Chernobyl while I knit most of it.) I added some rows to the middle section to make it longer, and I should love it.  I do not.  It's the yarn, which through no fault of its own Does Not Work.  The colorway is emphatically Not Me, even though I thought I could swing it.  I also do not love that it's superwash yarn.  I foresee a re-knit, using something like this or this, or something equally woolly.

My last shawl of the summer is my current favorite.  I loved everything about it.  The pattern is one I've been wanting to knit for a long time.  I used an entire skein of a yarn that's been sitting on my shelf for ages: Wonderland Fibers Dinah in the colorway dormouse.  The yarn was such a pleasure to knit with--it has a subtle sheen and just the right amount of twist--that I decided to order some more, only to discover it has been discontinued!  I ran out of yarn toward the end and didn't have enough for the last few rows, but no matter!  It is lovely just the way it is and has already gotten quite a bit of wear.