All Habu...All The Time...

Before we get into Kit-110 details, I wanted to share with you a super kawaii Christmas present that I got this weekend.
My sister made me a green and black Habu Kusha Kusha scarf! Totally worth the wait! This scarf is made from silk-stainless steel and merino wool. She didn't felt it; she figured she would leave the age old question 'to felt of not to felt' up to me. Also, rather than follow the instructions to the letter, she added some stripes...which I also love.

The scarf itself is soft, warm and light as air. I keep forgetting I have it on. Kinda looks like sea-kelp, no? Love it! Thanks, sis!

And now for the great unveiling...

Backstory

Pattern: Habu Textiles Kit-110: Mohair Pullover; purchased at Habu Trunk Show at Wildfiber
Yarn: Habu Tsumugi Silk Combination A-110 1/0.9 and
Habu Kid Mohair N-52 1/20
Needles: US 7 and 8
Exposition: She loves it, and that's all that matters!

As far as knitting from a schematic goes, it's pretty easy once you understand all those little numbers. The construction was straightforward...although I did run into my personal bonehead moments, I won't blame them on anything other than not paying attention.

The edges of the sweater are silk and the body and sleeves are mohair. The Habu Kid Mohair is soft, light and pretty easy to work with. I did drop stitches, but that goes back to not paying attention. There was practically no stray fiber floating about as I worked with it and it remained intact after the rows and rows of frogging I did. The completed garment is so light and has such a pretty halo to it.

The original sweater we saw at the trunk show was a pretty light green, but gf decided on pink, edged with a darker red/brown. When I first saw it, I wasn't sure about the combination, but against her skin tone, it's perfect. The pink stands out and the edge blends in [which would be the exact opposite effect on me].

I'm really proud of this garment. It turned out beautifully and it looks great on. Yeah! I'm so happy it's done!

Ahhh...

Its done.
Details and photos to come.

Happy MLK Day, everyone!

In This Episode, Christie Consults A Higher Authority...

When we last left our intrepid knitter, Christie had just finished the Habu sleeve #2, assembled it on all one needle and was getting ready to start raglan decreasing to the finish line.

Then she read the instructions. And looked at the schematic. Re-read the instructions. Pulled out the Rosetta Stone to interpret the schematic. Read the instructions and translated it to left-hand knitter speak. Knit. Frogged. Read the instructions again. Compared the instructions to the schematic. Pulled out a calculator. Considered the difference between right handed and left handed when it comes to knitting in the round. Read the instructions. Frogged back a little further. Knit a round. Looked at the instructions. Calmly folded the instructions, the sweater, zipped it all away safely in its little bag and went to bed.

You see the problem stems from the instruction verbiage. The instructions indicate how to decrease on the left side of the raglan line and the right side of the raglan line. No biggie, except I have to consider that I'm left handed [so at times I need to zig rather than zag] and I would be damned it I frogged any more of that damn mohair. I would get it right the first time or not at all.

So the yesterday morning, I called Habu in New York. The woman on the phone said it was a new pattern, so she would have to ask the designer directly; could I please email my question and she would get back to me with the answer? So I did just that. I received my answer today...and it was fairly clear. Fairly. I think I will still have to swap the left of raglan line for the right of raglan line decrease because of my left-handed-ness, but at least I have an little bit better of and idea of what is correct.

Any other left-handers out there feel my pain?

Since I had a day off from Habu while I waited for the answer, I picked up Patti. I left her all alone back in October and haven't knitted a single stitch. It was so enjoyable to use a yarn of substance! I wound up finishing the pleat and am an hour or so away from a completed front. I'm going to try to finish the front today then focus on completing Habu before the weekend. Even though it's a long one, I plan to have it done by Sunday afternoon birthday lunch with mom [she just turned 70!]. Wish me luck!

Habu Zen

What is on my organizational plate today, you ask?

I'm so glad you asked! Here are my 3 notebooks full of patterns that I have printed up from the internet. Quite a bit of paper taking up more space that I can afford to give. So, I'm going to free up some notebooks and let that paper experience the wonderful world of recycling. Bye bye!

And did I finally make peace with the Habu sweater, you ask?

Why, yes, yes I did! Gf and I were supposed to go to the driving range last night, but I postponed so I could knit. I told her that I could possibly have her sweater done by the weekend and I think that made it a little better.

I finished sleeve #2 last night, made a little adjustment to the body and was able to get the whole thing back on the needles before going to bed. What a relief!

That's 276 stitches, folks.

The Chinese Good Luck Kitty is impressed by my achievement over mohair adversity . I will be thanking him for his charms with some ceramic kitty kibble and catnip.

Notebook of Doom

I'm still a little crestfallen about the Habu Sleeve Snafu. Nothing a lot of frogging couldn't fix...or make worse...

Once I frogged back 60+ rows, I did a stitch count...I was 4 short. That answers the question of why I added 4 extra repeats. The reason I was 4 short? Dropped stitches. I almost went blind trying to find them, as you can imagine. I did a quick fix and now all 62 stitches are on the needles. The gauge is a little tight where the stitches are picked up, but it's loose in other places, so I think it will work out evenly.

And now...

THE NOTEBOOK OF DOOM

In my continued effort to be an organized knitter this year, I thought it would be a good idea to keep all my evil plans in one location.

So I found a cute notebook and am using it to gather all of my queued patterns. I also printed up a copy of my Ravelry queue and stash listing for quick cross-referencing.

Now if I could only get Habu off the needles so I could start something new!

Habu Snafu

So I had some serious high hopes for this weekend. Somehow it didn't turn out that way I expected.

Exhibit A: Habu sleeve #2.

My expectation was to finish off the 60+ rounds and have the entire sweater back on the needles to start the raglan decreases by tonight and have the whole thing done by week's end. 60 rounds over two days...no problem. I didn't devote a huge amount of time to knitting this weekend, what with blowing a whole lot of cash I don't have, killing my phone, erasing my entire address book off my computer while trying to sync my new phone and being generally crabby, I didn't have a lot of time, right?

Well, I did happen to get all 60+ rounds done when I noticed something strange.

Exhibit B: Habu sleeve #1.

Nice looking sleeve, wouldn't you agree? What a nice long pretty sleeve I've made.

Exhibit C: Habu sleeve #1 next to Habu sleeve #2.

For some reason, I decided to add an extra 24 rounds to sleeve #1...right in the middle. Those 4 orange stitch markers are the extra rows I knitted. Just for the fun of it. Because nothing makes me happier than wasting yarn, knitting in sleeves in the round, and frogging mohair.

JOY ABOUNDS IN SUPERSTARRA-VILLE.

It wasn't all bad this weekend though. I mean how bad can it be when you drop your phone, break it, get upgraded to the newer model and see Orlando FREAKIN'-SO DAMN ADORABLE Bloom at the Sprint store...right after a damn good meal of Sloppy Joes? I should have got his phone number...it would have been free mobile to mobile minutes. Not to worry. He lives in the hood somewhere. We'll meet up again, I'm sure.

3 Days In, So Far, So Good.

Well here we are, 3 days into 2008. Exciting stuff. So far, I've caught a cold, have a toothache and haven't made much effort to get to the gym...but am I they type of person to infect the world because I have fitness goals?

No, I certainly am not.

There are a few good things though! I finally finished the first Habu sleeve and will hopefully make short work of the second. Can I tell you how much I now hate knitting sleeves in the round? Talk about tedious! Especially on a thin mohair.
And the other good thing is that I have successfully willed one of my gray hairs to return to its natural black color...without the aid of hair dye. It was sheer willpower, people. Now if only I could convince the other 5 to do the same.

See what a relief it is once the holidays are over?

Along with my 2 step knitting goal for 2008, I've decided to follow in the footsteps of my friend Moni and join Project 365 on Flickr and Project Spectrum. I've enjoyed seeing everyone's Project Spectrum work and figure I can use it to inspire some photographs for Project 365. I'm looking forward to making 2008 a very creative year all around. The sky is the limit!

Do You Habu?

With the whirlwind of the past month, it's been a little difficult for me to get into my usual blogging/ knitting/ stalking/ commenting habits.

This week, however, I was finally able to pick up gf's Habu sweater. If you can remember, before the Paris whirlwind occurred, I had finished the body section and needed to start the sleeves. I did try to cast on during the flight to France, but in an effort to readjust my internal clock, I slept almost the entire flight. And while we were there...just didn't happen. As a sidebar, I realized when we got on the plane, that I had forgotten the Options needle tips in my knitting bag at home. If I had made significant progress and was close to finishing while we were gone, I would have found a way, but it certainly did annoy me that I had forgotten them.

So. Back to sleeve in progress. I'm working now with some dpns. Working with this light and airy mohair and dpns is kind of a pain. I'm making it work and have made quite a bit of progress. I'm still working the sleeve increases, and with a little time this weekend, this sleeve should be complete.

Sigh Of Relief...

Well, I heard back from the festival people and our accommodations are set for Paris. I also let my supervisor know that I would be gone for a week in a week and she was totally encouraging...but did let me know more than once that the US Dollar in Europe really sucks right now. Still, she said that I should go...which is the response that I was hoping for.

I think that it's fairly cold across the pond, so I'm kinda sad I've let Patti fall by the wayside while I've been working on gf's Habu sweater. Patti will probably be the project to come with me, but I have no expectation of finishing it while I'm gone. Although, 14 hours on a plane each way is a lot of knitting time.

Speaking of 14 hours on a plane rides, I'm really not looking forward to that wonderful jetlag experience, so starting today, I'm going to try to eliminate excess salt and sugar intake and flood my system with a lot of water. I've read that's how the celebs do it. If you have any jetlag tips, please, please...share!

Did I happen to mention that I finished the body of gf's Habu sweater and will be starting the sleeve tonight? The rounds were getting pretty fast toward the end, so I'm figuring a smaller circumference will be really, really fast. Let's hope. Birthday is a week away!

My, What A Photogenic Yarn You Are

I realized that I didn't post any pictures of gf's Habu kit yarn. What was I thinking? Who am I to not give the public what they want?

The sweater itself is a simple, in the round funnel neck with raglan sleeves. The body is knit with Ultra Fine Kid Mohair and it is edged with Tsumugi Silk Combination.

The sample she tried on was a dark green or gray [I think] mohair with a similar colored silk edging, but gf decided to go with this light pink mohair and a reddish/brown silk.

Unfortunately, this color almost disappears against my skin tone, but looks really lovely on hers. I wonder if she did that on purpose...


I can see why people love photographing this yarn. Isn't it so pretty?

There is definitely something to be said about splurging a bit and buying quality yarn. Compared to the fuzzier yarns I've worked with, this stuff is quality with a capital Q-U-A-L-I-T and Y. It has an amazing halo, but it doesn't release a lot of stray fiber. I haven't felt like I'm going to cough up a hair ball, which is one reason I have practically sworn off using mohair-y fibers. It is also amazingly soft, but not itchy, which is extremely important in gf's world.

When considering needles to use with this yarn, my first instinct was to use wood or bamboo, but my bamboo needle tips are pretty blunt, which proved to be a huge pain. I decided to use my Options nickel needles, which have surprisingly given me a lot of traction. I haven't had any problems with stitches slipping off.

Here's the progress so far...not too bad. At this point, the body is a quarter of the way done.

I've certainly been making decent progress, so now I'm just trying to keep up the pace.

Oh, and did I say thanks for all the encouragement? Boy, will I feel like I let the entire blog community down if I don't finish by the 26th!

I just can't let myself get bored of round after round after round after round of knit stitches.

And just one more picture from early Sunday morning. Wow, what pretty yarns.

We Interrupt The Regularly Scheduled Blog...

There is going to be little disruption to my regularly planned knitting. Two of gf's Habu kits came in and we picked them up yesterday.

Her birthday is October 26th, so I decided that a great birthday gift would be finishing one of the kits in time for her big celebration. So I brought along my Options needles so that I could start swatch and cast on during the drive home and while she got her computer checked out at the Apple store.

Wouldn't you know, the needles that I need were currently being used for something else? No, actually, it's not that surprising. So I cast on last night with the correct needles and am 5 rows in.

2 weeks...let's see if I can do it in time!