The Hex is Finished!

Okay, it needs a light blocking, but I couldn't wait to show if off:

(I'lI post more picts once it's all nicely blocked). I love, love, love this coat. I think it might carry me through a lot of the winter as well as the fall because it is quite warm. I probably should have made it in a neutral color, but then, a good bit of my winter wardrobe is neutral, so color is probably a good thing. I might put about three buttons on the hexagons right at the chest/stomach area. I think it would look nice.

The Specs:
Pattern: Hex Coat from Norah Gaughan's Knitting Nature (She is just wonderful, isn't she? This is my third completed NG and there may be a few more of her designs in my Ravelry queue which should tell you how much I love her patterns.) The only modification I made was under the arm where I added a gore (a diamond shaped extra piece into the seams). I always have trouble with fitting around the upper arm/shoulder. Even shirts that fit me perfectly otherwise are usually tight at the armhole, so I decided to add a little extra room there.
Needles: Size 6 and size 8
Yarn: Knit Picks Wool of the Andes in Amethyst Heather, I can't honestly tell you how many balls it took because somewhere over the course of two years off and on, I lost track. I think I originally ordered something like 20 balls (at least that's how many I count in this picture and I can currently find 6 extra balls. But I can't promise that I showed all the yarn when I originally bought it and I can't promise that there aren't more Amethyst Heather skeins around here somewhere.

Okay, now that this albatross is finished, I am glad I persevered. All that horrible moss stitch, but now I have a beautiful coat to show for it! Now back to my Magickal Earth shawl!

Hexagons!

All the moss stitch is done! The coat is all put together! All the ends are sewn in! All that's left are all the hexagons around the opening. I've done five out of about twenty or twenty-one.

The hexagons though are pretty fun to do. I'll actually have a finished coat soon.

Goodies!

Opal has been very busy with her etsy shop lately, spinning up some lovely handspun and making lovely stitch markers. I had to have these:

Couldn't believe they arrived already. I just ordered them Wednesday and they came all the way from Hawaii!

Anyone who has been reading my blog for a while might vaguely recall the next project. I started it around this time two years ago and have given it up twice so far when the miles and miles (seems like it anyway) of moss stitch just gets to be way too much for me. But, there's a chill in the air the last few days (truly seems a little early in the year for fall in Virginia!) and I decided this is the year it gets finished. The Hex Coat!


I pulled it out and realized that I wasn't actually that far from the armholes on the back. So now, I'm about to bind off the back and will only have to suffer through the sleeves. Of course, there are all those hexagons that go on front, but those actually look pretty interesting. Of course, we'll see how I feel about those once I get to the twentieth one.

WIP Wednesday and Kristi's Color Meme

Ah, fall weather. It's finally sock weather. I wore my wool socks for the first time since it got too darn hot on Monday. I love my wool socks :-)

I've just picked up stitches for the gusset on my sock. Meanwhile, I'm trying to do at least ten rows a day on Hex Coat. It's getting to be the weather that would be perfect for it. But knit 1, purl 1 really grates on the nerves much more than plain old stockinette. And I've still got about 90 rows to the armhole decreases. Here's the back:

I figure just ten rows a day. If I do more, great. If not, at least I'm making progress. Otherwise, I've got to finish something and socks seem about right.

As a designer, Kristi has a few questions about color. So answer her meme and hop on over to her blog and let her know.

1. What is your current favorite color?
Mostly purple, any purple, but I seem to lean toward the really true purples or red-purple/burgundies. And pink-purples. I also have been known to like any of the pinks or cooler reds.
2. Had your favorite color changed over the years?
Definitely. It even changes with the years. Some years I find myself wearing more blues, some pink. Currently, I'm on a purple kick with some pinks and reds thrown in.
3. Is your current favorite color one that is currently trendy? (Do you see it in the fashion rags or on the clothes rack or in the linen aisle right now? How about 5 years ago?)
I have no idea. I really wear the colors I like regardless of trends.
4. What is your favorite color combination?
Purple or pink and black or purple and pink.
5. Is that combination a popular one? (Is it use in prints you see in the stores and catalogs and magazines now? How about 5 years ago?)
Again, no clue.
6. What is your favorite way of using color in your knitting? (Are you a stranded knitter? Do you prefer simple stripes? Do you prefer just accents at the hems/collars?)
I tend to choose a lot of the cooler colors for my shawls (okay, a lot of pink and purple, but also blues and turquoises). I love how colors play together and would like to do some more strandwork and stripes, but in the past, I've chosen mostly solid color shawls, sweaters, and tanks. For socks, I will go much brighter and wilder than I would for a sweater. (I'm wearing my wild Austermann socks right now.) I love self-striping sock yarn. And handpaints. And Trekking sock yarn; I love how the colors are never exactly the same.
7. What colors look good on you?
Blacks, greys, purples, pinks, and some blues.
8. What colors look bad on you?
Orange, most yellows, most warmer greens.
9. Do you wear colors that don’t look good on you just because you like them?
I guess I finally found that I lean toward colors that do look good on me. I denied I liked pink and purple for many years until I realized that my wardrobe was mostly either purple, pink, black or grey.
10. What is your favorite neutral color? black/white/ivory/tan/brown/gray – if brown or gray do you prefer cool or warm versions of those or does it matter? And, how dark?
Black, with grey a close second. Cooler is better for the grey and light or dark both.
11. Is there a sweater pattern that uses more than one color that you’d like to make, but you wish to change the colors from what is published? If yes, which one? What do you not like about the published colors?
I love the Fair Isle Cardigan from Veronik Avery's new book. I think she uses the right mix of colors and the sweater has an overall cooler feel with the colors she's chosen, so I wouldn't change anything in that, but I also want to do the Faeroese Sweater from the same book. I think I would change the colors in that. I'd keep the black and white and sub purple for the blue and a medium to bright pink for the tan. I actually do like the colors in the book, but just like purple better.

More Hex Coat

In my last post, I said that I hoped I took really good notes so I wouldn't spend too much time trying to figure out where I was on the Hex Coat. I probably should have said that I usually do take really good notes, very meticulous, very detailed. My problem actually is that the notes usually get lost. I usually take the notes into a small notebook or piece of paper, etc. and it usually disappears during a project's hibernation. BUT... This time I lucked out. Tucked in between the pages of Knitting Nature I found my piece of paper that had the rows all marked out in preparation for the armhole decreases. So I was able to just start knitting and I finished the front pieces yesterday. So now for the back, sleeves and all the hexagons!

Hex Coat Resurrection

Well, I've dragged the Hex Coat out from its basket:

Now I've got to figure out which row I was on. Here's hoping that I actually took good notes. I hope to get it figured out and start working on it again this weekend. (That's if I can tear myself away from Viva Piñata, a silly little video game along the same idea as Sims except you're attracting piñata animals to your garden. It's really quite addictive.)