Home sick

Sometimes being a little bit sick is the best possible thing. I was feeling really rough this morning- bad enough that I overcame my usual guilt about staying home and called in sick. I really hardly ever call in sick- I feel like the threshold for feeling bad is pretty high to keep me away from the office, unless I'm actually contagious.

But by mid-afternoon, my stomach was roiling less, the headache was reduced, and I no longer felt tied to the sofa. I also ran out of American Idol and Dancing with the Stars on our DVR. I even finished the 11th repeat of that darn baby blanket. So I did the logical next thing- started cleaning. I vacuumed, did some windows (since it's the perfect dreary sunless day for it), and did some serious cleaning on the door from the kitchen to the back porch. I am not used to living in a real home- there are just so many things to deal with. In my past apartments, cleaning wasn't that big a deal- you can't have that many windows in an efficiency! Now... it doesn't seem to matter how much I do, it's still not enough. At least after my few hours of cleaning, I'm feeling like now I've made an effort to spring clean, and I can get back to knitting without guilt.

Still on the increases for Clapotis. Well into the last repeat of the baby blanket. 3 loads of laundry done. I'm thinking this is one very successful sick day- and I'm glad I feel better so I can get back to work tomorrow!

Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival

I thought about not going to MSWF this year. "I'm planning a wedding!" I argued. "I have things to do that weekend!" I contended. "I don't need any more yarn, holy crapamoley have you looked at my hideously messy extremely creative craft room!" I exclaimed.

Yeah, of course I went to Sheep and Wool. I didn't even stick to my budget (although I stayed fairly close to the budget I would have set myself, had I really bothered to set a budget). I took some terrible photos of my new acquisitions, which my photographer in residence has nixed. Apparently my practice of tossing yarn on the floor with reckless abandon worked better when the carpeting was beige. Now that I live in home with green carpets in the living room, apparently I should care about this and do something to improve my yarn photography. A pale sheet, for example, would be effective.

Obviously, I was far too excited about WINDING a ball of gorgeous yarn and CASTING ON for a (third) Clapotis to bother with finding a light-colored sheet. But I have been knitting with some Brooks Farm yarn since the Amazing Race last night, and I am in heaven.

The heavenly feeling is largely related to this Clapotis not being an enormous and annoying and why-isn't-it-completed baby blanket. I am at 10.5 repeats out of the suggested 14. It's pretty enormous. I'm thinking 12 repeats may just be the end of it, for me. I did knit the whole way to and from the festival- thanks to my wonderful friend offering to drive.

MSWF is a lot more entertaining to attend with another fiber addict who has totally different coloring from me, but similar tastes in knitting projects. We never had to fight about yarn, since we always were going for different colors. Except for the gorgeous handpainted lace weight, for which I gave in and became a total copycat. I hope we at least pick different scarf patterns for it!

In the end, I walked away with another bunch of Tess Yarn- worsted purple, destined to become a February Lady Sweater. Tess's new Baby Bunny, in Hot Pink!, which I think would be cute for a baby sweater, or maybe even socks. The aforementioned vari-colored lace yarn for a decorative scarf. Two skeins of a mottled green from Brooks Farm for my Clapotis (to replace the hot pink one I made in grad school- it's time to move on). And I found four skeins of a beautiful red laceweight, because I can never have enough laceweight. Or red.

Not a bad haul. And I enjoyed seeing the different breeds of sheep. Definitely a good weekend! Now... back to the increase rows of that Clapotis, before I give in and work on the baby blanket of doom.

An Annual Tradition

Last year I had the flu the week leading into Christmas. It was rotten. This year I don't have the flu (hurray flu shot!), but I did catch the cold that's been roaming around my office. All the herbal remedies and cold meds I've been taking haven't licked it yet, but it has given me a nice opportunity to slow down and enjoy the season. Albeit with a red and runny nose. I keep over-booking myself- and when I'm sick I just back out of everything (as politely as possible). And suddenly I'm faced with free time.

Free time to be festive. The gifts are wrapped on one of my chairs (being Jewish and treeless, a chair works). The ones headed off to the midwest have already been mailed. The new bright blue LED lights are strung up on the balcony, with these nifty white circles hanging beneath them. My house is Chanuka-festive, and I even found the candles that fit in my newest menorah before I go to light them.

Free time to watch TV. Last night I finally caught the first episode of True Blood, which I adored. And I am showing serious devotion to the significant other by not watching a bunch more tonight while I'm home alone. Instead, I'm watching the Muppet Christmas special. I'll never really grow up.

Free time to cook more- last night I was treated to a delicious Hungarian paprika-laced chicken soup. Spicy and perfect for my head cold. Monday I cooked The Pioneer Woman's stellar Pasta alla Vodka. Some people thought it had a bit too much vodka. I thought it was abso-fallutin-tastic. It made a great lunch the last few days, too. And tonight I tried a new recipe for vegetable stew with herb dumplings. I'm not sure it came out so much as stew as a very soupy veggie mixture, but I was extremely pleased with the dumplings for my first time ever making them. It was a pretty easy recipe, and very tasty!

Free time to knit. I've been working on my cashmere stole quite a bit. I'm halfway through the fifth repeat, of eight repeats total. Not bad! It's still luscious to work with the cashmere; I feel almost guilty it's so sinfully soft. I also cast on for a quick little gift, a new pair of Eunny Jang's Endpaper Mitts for a deserving friend. She picked out some really lovely colors and gave me a chance to re-remember the tubular cast-on. Which I enjoyed much more this time. In addition to the mitts and my never-ending lace stole, I've started working on a baby blanket again. Two of my colleagues from work are having babies in the spring, and I'm excited to have a real reason to play with sweet and cuddly baby yarns.

The only sad part of these few days of chilling at home after work, is that my camera has disappeared again. How am I supposed to document my works in progress without it? I'm sure it's in some purse somewhere around here. You'd think it would be easy to find everything in an efficiency apartment, but not so.

Crochet and I, not the best of buddies

I neglected to include one key photo in my recap of Thanksgiving knitting. Because it's embarrassing.

I know crochet isn't really any easier or harder than knitting. They are different. They are essentially dissimilar, though of course the general stick/string commonality makes me forget this. I know certain truths about both- knitting is my preferred obsession, but I like to crochet with thread and I love making fast afghans with crochet. I like to make baby blankets with crochet, since they use more yarn but generally I'm using cheaper yarn so I don't care! I know, call me a knitting yarn snob. I've knit my fair share of acrylic, and surely will again. Hello kitty hats.

That is neither here nor there. LOOK what I did. Oh the sighing.



I tried to conceal it a bit in this photo, but see all the ruched up fabric? The floppiness? The proof that has finally forced me to the inevitable conclusion that I can be a dolt? I evidently can't count. I trusted myself- I said "crochet is easy, look, I can do it without even looking! I can do it in the car! I can do it while playing a cutthroat card game with the tall drink of water and most of his family!" But no. I can't bloody count.

I may have to rip out a whole repeat. The shame. That's what I get for thinking of crochet as the "easier" hobby of mine, and the faster. I've got loads of extra stitches that weren't there when I began that beginning chain, oh so long ago. At least with knitting I'd have figured out my mistake long before now...

Productivity isn't always measured in FOs

Still zero progress on the sweaters I want to knit. But I've been productive! I'm zooming along on the crocheted baby afghan- first ball of yarn is just about finis, I'll be starting the second ball on the metro this evening. I've also made some progress on the super-secret gift, which is encouraging.

Tonight, my GesherCity Crafts Cluster is getting together with Moishe House Silver Spring to make little beaded "buddies" to give away. Should be a fun time, and I'm excited to check out Moishe House. Hopefully some other Clusterites will show up, but apparently there will be plenty of Jews around even if they don't.

I'm going to help (or at least offer my assistance) at a fair isle mini-class on Sunday. And also I will get further info for teaching my first for-real, paid class starting the weekend after.

Woo!

This weekend I mainly will be working on writing for work- and I'm ushering Saturday night. I'm hoping I can also take a few hours to go through my fabrics and patterns and select something to work on next week, on the sewing side. I already rearranged the clothing closet to be ready for winter, so it would be nice to take a more thorough investigation of my second closet. There's a lot of crafting supplies in there, and of course it serves as my holiday gift storage facility.

People laugh at me for getting serious about gifts in October. Usually I wait until November, but Chanuka starts December 4... I don't like to be caught unprepared! An unprepared Mikaiya leads to really crappy gifts. This year I may have outdone myself on a few counts, due to my careful planning ahead. I feel like I have to put forth effort, to make up for those years when I really didn't plan ahead (still sorry about that book, Mom... I'll never listen to the recommendations at Barnes and Noble again!!)

In related news, I'm trying to destash on Ravelry. Both yarn and books. I'm on a serious kick of getting rid of crap- Roommie and I have a spacious apartment, but I really wish my room looked more like a pleasant abode and less like craft hell. "Oh look, I can see the floor!" should not be monthly refrain. I've been freecycling a lot of clothes and random goodies, and generally preparing for the eventuality of having to move again. I even got rid of another two full boxes of books the other week- I can nearly fit all my books on two bookcases. How I have changed from grad school (I think I had four bookcases? Plus the built-in...) I keep conveniently forgetting that I shouldn't be buying yarn, but in my defense all my recent purchases have been for commissioned items.

I have been instructed not to do ANY commissioned items. A bit late for that. On the plus side, two of the projects will take about two days of knitting each, and they are for people I really want to knit for. The third is going to be a lot more time consuming, however.

Thoughts on relative difficulty and multi-crafting

I have not been working on my fair isle sweaters. Shame on me. Not even a gauge swatch. I've done this, though:



It's really quite large. I've already completed the first "V" section. The pattern is pretty simple, and this is my second time doing it- and my third baby blanket covered in Vs. I just love the "Victory" going through my fingers, I guess- there's something so natural about double crochet, chain, double crochet repeated.

I went to the "Un-Craft Fair" in Bethesda, held by the DC Craft Mafia. That was a blast- I was sad not to pick up a pirate onesie, but my cousin would probably not appreciate the admonition to eat one's "arrr peas and carrots." I did get a cute little pin (boyfriend purchased it for me), and I picked up a bunch of handmade soaps from a local crafter.

I also have spent a lot of time thinking about sewing. This is, in part, because I picked up a book at Border's after my knitting group last week and fell in love. It's this: Last Minute Patchwork and Quilted Gifts. Most of the projects are very simple, but completely elegant. Some look insanely easy, and some make me cringe at the thought of all that hand-quilting (this is the girl who STILL has not really begun quilting the wall hanging I made this summer, on vacation with my mom). And the more I think about these projects, and the ones I would really like to make, the more I think I'm going about certain things the wrong way.

I tend to buy pretty patterns, the more complicated the better, because they work with how I envision the end product looking. Which is fine, but realistically? I am a relative sewing novice. I may scoff at the super-simple projects I see on occasion, but the people who are making those very same simple projects are actually MAKING them. I have nifty patterns, some cool fabrics- even some of them cut and ready to sew- and yet I don't. I'm not saying I'm incapable of doing them- my RenFest skirt (two years in the making) is surely not difficult. It's a matter of setting the sewing as a priority, and knowing I can do it and do it quickly. I need some confidence builder projects, to remind me that I do know my way around a sewing machine, and the basic tips and tricks of the trade. My mother has probably been saying this to me all along- I surprised her by being pretty good at piecework right off, but she was right in general about me being too ambitious with my projects and my time tables. So here's the new goals. I'm talking sewing here, but they really apply to knitting, too.

1- Set reasonable time limits- or better yet, set none at all. Does it really matter whether I get that wallhanging to my friend this winter, or next fall? I may feel a bit sheepish about it, but frankly he doesn't know it's coming anyways. No harm done. Holiday gifts don't need to be done for this holiday season- there's always next year. This year? Just buy them a book or a cute handmade thing on Etsy. Who cares?

1a- The corollary to Rule 1 is, not to promise things unless they're actually finished. Seriously.

2- Pick the simple project, and only ONE simple project at a time, and it should be SMALL. That means I may actually get to it, make it a priority, and finish it.

3- Nice fabric is worth it. Again, something I learned on the wall hanging. The border green fabric was cheap- it felt cheap, it didn't hold its shape well, and it was very difficult to piece nicely. If you're doing the simple and small project, the fabric cost really won't be an issue. You can make an ornament out of a quarter yard of fabric- in fact, a flock of them. So 8 bucks a yard for decent fabric isn't really that big an issue- that comes down to less than two dollars, even if you only make one!

4- Be inspired. Read Dallas's blog for project ideas (after all, Dallas- you are probably my inspiration for getting back to sewing at all). Read LOTS of blogs for project ideas. If I can look at hundreds of knitting blog posts, surely a few quality sewing blogs wouldn't go amiss.

5- Don't get too tempted by quilting. Some projects that would be really great to do? A simple skirt. An apron. They don't require any hand quilting, and would be functional. Wouldn't it be nice to wear a hand-knitted sweater and handmade skirt to work next spring?

6- Explore color. Lately, oranges and turquoise have been really jumping out at me. Why not play with them? There's nothing wrong with pink and blue and black, but that's hardly the full spectrum.

In other crafting news, my boyfriend is a crafty dude himself. Check out his new toy:

You can read a bit more about it from him here: Electrographic Beacon Projector

Babies, Babies

There's been a lot of pregnancy going on. Not close to home, but in the family and friends arena. Let's recap my failure to actually complete a baby project... but first a review of the more successful baby gift ventures.

First up, the ginormous lavendar baby blanket. I prefer not to think how much time I spent on this. It was definitely over a year- maybe 18 months? Cry. It hasn't found a home yet. I should get a better detail picture- but imagine, if you will, lots of cables and lace in that purple blob.


Next, a blanket for my boss from last year. Cute! Aran! I love this pattern wholeheartedly.


And then a crocheted blanket for a coworker and his lovely wife- that was recent, it's in the archives.

Another blanket made a brief appearance. I love the yarn and like the patterns, but I think I'm afraid of the edging. It has been sitting lonely for quite some time now- I'm somewhere between 1/3 and 1/2 done with the squares now, and just need to get my butt in gear to finish it.


Meanwhile, I decided to make a bunch of other baby things. First up is another version of the Aran blanket. Well, after repeat 3 of this one I discovered I had been completely destroying one of the cable patterns. Let me say this again. I knit an entire afghan in this pattern. And 3 more repeats of another one. And only THEN do I realize that I was reading it incorrectly! Lucky for me, this yarn is so sparkly and funky that nobody except a fellow knitter would ever be able to tell. Mwahaha. Here's the latest project pic, more than 4 repeats in (thanks to my progress at SSK yesterday):


I also started a bunch of baby sweaters. First up (and finally photographed!) is the coral cabled sweater:

I finished the majority of the body, up to where one joins the sleeves. And somehow I cannot knit the sleeves. Here's an example of wacky laddering and icky shaping:

So I frogged the sleeve, and am back to just the body of the sweater. Two years later. But look, pretty cables!


Then there's the blue sweater. I started this for Scott's baby, and sadly I realized after knitting the two fronts that I had made them for a girl. This yarn screams baby boy. Oops! Here it lies yesterday evening, photographed for the first time- back done, two fronts done, one sleeve done, and one sleeve on the needles:

And after the frog pond, here's the current state of affairs:

But look! Cables!


There's also the Baby Owl sweater- I have completed the back (and only the back):

Progress?

I need to locate my camera, post-wedding, and get some pictures up. I never posted the blue sweater- probably just as well, since I need to rip out both (completed) fronts. Sigh. Frog pond, here I come!

I have completed three repeats of the pastel baby blanket, as originally seen here- so for now, imagine a little bit more than three of these:


On vacation I ended up not knitting as much as I anticipated. I still am on Chart 3 (for the second time) for my symmetrical stole. But that's progress, right?

My Autumn Rose sweater kit has not yet appeared in the mail- insane demand has apparently lead to the shop running out of yarn. No word on if it has been shipped yet- so I'll just wait patiently. And play with the baby blanket, which is like pastel crack.

In the absence of real knitting news, here are a few clips to amuse:
Avenue Jew
GMail on the move

Stash of Doom

I knew my stash was getting out of hand. I could feel it creeping out of its cubby holes and baskets and into the fabric of my life. And not just in the form of UFO's, oh no! So I went on a photo tour today. It was terrifying. I'm starting to put stuff up on Ravelry, but in the meantime, here's a taste of the "before photos" and why I need to seriously finish some things!

First up is the Wall of Stash:

Sure, this may not look so bad. There are books in there! There are cubes of fabric, and even a cube of toiletries chilling out there because there isn't room in the bathroom. But consider the layers of yarn in each cubicle. Consider the massive amounts of it hidden in nooks and crannies. Imagine turning around and seeing a lot more of it.

(it looks innocuous from the bed, until you sneak a peek beneath the quilts and pillows and reveal another huge stash pile!)

For shame, it's taking up random floor space at the foot of my bed (disregard the fact that obviously yarn clutter isn't my only issue right now):


Oops, other side, too (quilting crap AND lots of yarn and random projects, oh boy!):


It's amazing I ever find what I need.

Now imagine taking a tour of the living room, and finding yet another big basket (all fair isle!) and 3 small ones. Oh jeez. I didn't tackle it completely, but I did pull out most of the UFOs that are not currently in my project bag:


Funny thing- that pile of white yarny things is 32 out of 61 hexagons for an afghan I was going to make for charity. I think I used some of the yarn for other things (teaching, most likely), but I should probably finish the thing and give it away. I was working on it in Rockville, and would love to get it out of my life before I move again. Whenever that is. For that matter, I would like to get rid of a good percentage of this yarn before I move again- I may need to destash. More likely, I need to finish projects. Yay.

And I reorganized the baskets. Slightly less gorgeous sock yarn is in a plastic bag in the cubicles, but the pretty stuff and all the lace got basket space:


That's definitely enough for tonight. My goals??
- finish MS3 Clue 4 (probably could do it Wednesday night, in preparation for the clue Friday)
- work on the cardigan (because I know darn well I'm going to whether it's on the list or not- that alpaca silk is like crack!)
- do at least 2 baby blanket squares... and another 2 on Saturday!! Zoom zoom!
- give the crocheted baby blanket away, to get it out of the house. Also because the baby is due soon. Hurray!
- finish the first Pink Broadripple sock- I have visions of wearing them this fall with my clogs and want them DONE.
- clean my room (well, obviously- you've seen the evidence)

Hopefully I'll get to Clue 5 this weekend, but I'm ok if I can't because I'm finishing the back of the sweater. Can I really get that far this weekend?? Anything is possible, I don't have much in the way of plans...

EDIT:: Roommate wants me to note that in fact, there are 3 baskets in the living room. They're inside the coffee table. So mostly hidden in plain sight... I'm all over it, Martha! In fact, Roommate pointed out that I could have had a perfectly lovely Ethan Allen coffee table, with two matching couchside tables, but I turned them down. Because I would have to give up my storage cubbies in the cheap Ikea table. Dumdeedum!

Wacky Week

I have not accomplished much crafting lately. This is for a few reasons- mostly I've been working like crazy, and in the evenings I've been a busy busy bee. Here's a taste:
Saturday night to Sunday afternoon: Harry Potter, of course.
Sunday evening: Cooked dinner for Mom and Roommate.
Monday evening: Finished the crocheted baby blanket (OK, so I did a little crafting).
Tuesday evening: Bethesda Restaurant Week- I went with a group to Rock Creek, which was delicious.
Wednesday evening: Went to a signing by Jasper Fforde, who is amazing and funny and he stamped as well as signed my copy of "Thursday Next, First Among Sequels"
And coming up?
Thursday evening: Transformers with a fellow UMBC alum.
Friday evening: Too Much Light Makes the Baby Go Blind, at Woolly Mammoth (I couldn't resist the cheap Goldstar tickets).
Saturday evening: Gallathea (really?? Gallathea on-stage? So excited).
If you extend it out a bit further, my Crafts Cluster is meeting Sunday afternoon in Virginia, and I'm going to see a sneak preview of The Ten on Monday night. Whew!

That's a total of two fancy dinners, one book signing, two Fringe Festival plays, and a pop culture movie. Not bad! On the craft front, however, there has been slow progress. I really have been working on the MS3- I am about a quarter of the way through Clue 4 (so halfway through the first chart). That's slow going since I can't knit it on the metro. Then I did finish the crocheted Victory V baby blanket:

The edge, which shows off the Victory V's:

I'd love to say I used a pattern, but it's crochet. Easy peasy. This is TLC Baby, so a sport weight yarn- I crocheted a chain that was something long. And then I did the V stitch. And when it was about square in size (it's actually pretty ginormous, in the end), I did one round of double crochet in blue. I tried single crochet and two rounds of double, and double then single- I liked the cleanness of this version best. I rather miss crocheting- it's so quick, satisfying, and eminently easy. I have to pay attention when I knit. Well, I tend to knit lace and cables and things that require counting. It was a real treat to just zoom through an easy stitch pattern that required no counting and no real effort. It was perfect for watching more interesting TV- Roommate and I are watching Lost, and there's no way I can knit MS3 while watching that!

Ahem. I also cast on for a new sweater. I am knitting it as pictured, right down to the Alpaca Silk DK and the colorway. Because I love it.

A key feature is that you run the empire-waist creating ribbon below the bust, through the eyelets of the lace pattern. This means that I can make an empire waisted top without having to worry about altering, modification, etc. I think it will be quite flattering, and completely appropriate for work. It will also be warm, which is key in my overly-A/Ced environment. Only one small issue- alpaca sheds like crazy. Aaah well.

As if that weren't enough, when you add in slogging on the baby afghan for mid-August, I also have been doing some socks. Here's one, now ready for me to turn the heel on the metro:

The yarn is Cascade Fixation, and I'm knitting the Broadripple Socks again. Note the fantastic Lantern Moon tiny DPNs- they make me much faster. Not as fast as Magic Loop, but sometimes you don't feel like playing with Addis.

Time's fun when you're eating flies

So, this Mystery Stole. I'm getting a bit worried. I finished Clue 3 last night (horror of horrors, it took me more than just the weekend). I blame this on the obsessive kitty hat making, but I did get seven of the little suckers off to Gaia to sell at Otakon. She had three already, so ten total isn't quite such a sad inventory. I need to try selling them on Etsy, but only after my hands recover from all the acrylic.

So I finished the third clue last night, well maybe 12:30 this morning. Tuesday night... that's a new low. Most of the knitting was done at Columbia Mall before the Decemberists show at Merriweather- I scared a few of the kids hanging out by the "water feature" I think. The rest of it was on the couch while watching America's Got Talent. I hate to say it America, but I'm not so sure about that Talent label.

I probably would have completed it faster, except for the baby blankets I'm working on. Funny how I continue along with my knitting life, completely blase, until the moment I realize I have less than a month to finish two blankets that I started ... 3-6 months ago. I anticipate that the crocheted blanket will be 100 (long) rows, and I'm on 64 as of this morning. Amazing how much you can complete while waiting for the cable guy to show up. The knitted baby blanket will probably be 30 squares, and I've completed 10. So that's some progress, at least.

I'm scared about the next clue for the stole. Instead of 50 rows, we have well over 100. Also, Melanie suggests strongly that we use a lifeline in Row 287. I hate lifelines. They offend me. But if the designer is telling us to suck it up and use one, in this particular row, so be it. I have this sinking feeling this is going all multi-directional or something. I have trust in her that it will come out lovely, but I admit that I'm less in love with it after 1/3 of the stole than I was in the first clue. I still love the intricate border, though, so maybe I'll be able to regain my initial admiration somewhere in Clue 4 or 5...

Mystery Stole 1: some progress!

I managed to take pictures along the way this weekend.

This is Mystery Stole 3 (hereafter MS3) at 3:30am Saturday morning when I completed Chart A (ie, 3 hours after casting on... including the first 15 rows which I had to rip out and redo):


I was already loving the border swirls and points.

I completed the rest of it over the weekend, and this is what it looked like at 8 Sunday evening (2 days for 100 rows! I'll take it):


A detail of the edging (Wow do I love this border):


And the inset at the center (this one actually shows the beads- they're the bright shiny things peeking out at you):


This was really a record knitting weekend. 100 rows of lace, a few inches of the baby owl sweater front, and 3 or 4 squares for my cousin's baby blanket (they're all repeats at this point, so not much point in showing pictures until I get farther along). I also did another few rows of the crocheted baby blanket. I need to be more active tomorrow!

I also picked up my HDTV... finally joined the 21st century. It looks SO GOOD. Best of all, I can move Buffy episodes back up in my Netflix queue! On my old tv, it was virtually impossible to watch- everything looked pitch black. Hurray for contrast and brightness!

This week I'm taking a mini vacation. Two more days of work, then I am heading up to Baltimore for a quilting lesson and fireworks watching with Mom. I'll be home Friday to start working on MS3 Clue 2!

EDIT:: I should note one thing. I had to rip out about half a row twice (in rows 95 and 97 I think) because I wasn't paying attention. It cost me a total of five minutes, I think. Otherwise, this stole has been incredibly easy to work on!! I found Hanami to be much more difficult to follow; this pattern is logical and beautiful to work with. I just thought that I should add that tidbit! I've been thinking I should run a lifeline through- everyone else seems to. Seeing as I haven't had any real issues so far though, I am not terribly worried. I also haven't found it necessary to use stitch markers, but I might later on depending on the pattern.

I love knitting in the sunshine

Well, spring is about to spring. And I've been getting ready. Yes, my average post time seems to be once per month. But what a month it has been! No finished objects to show, sadly, but lots of things that are so close to finished that I can taste it. TWO sweaters are done but for the last details- sewing together, collars, button bits for one. It's miraculous. See??

Here's the Bobble Blue sweater from Interweave Knits Spring 2006. The yarn is Ella Rae Classic, and I have to say I'm not a huge fan. Firstly, I hate that it's not washable. So sue me, I like washable garments. Also, there were a NUMBER of knots in the skeins. Enough to really piss me off. But the color is great, and it was relatively soft on the hands. I adored this sweater when I first saw it (it's on the cover of that Interweave issue) and had to make one. My version is a lighter blue- teal, according to the roommate.
Blocking photo:


And the back:


This was my first project with button holes. I didn't do the ribbon-and-sewing-machine approach, mainly because I'm lazy and my sewing skills are subpar lately. It still should be fine! I got some great wood buttons to go with it, which will really kick it up a notch. I love that this sweater is work appropriate!


More Bobble Blue joy:



Lest you think I've only been knitting for myself- not so! I started a baby sweater for one of my oldest friends. We met at 3 years of age or so, and went through Temple School together. And now he's having a baby. Crazy! I'm using Classic Elite Sand with a Classic Elite pattern. Yarn and pattern were given to me by Abby-upstairs!

Here's the pattern:


And some pics in progress:



Also, I got a bit further on the pastel baby blanket. Loads of my friends are turning up preggers- this shouldn't surprise me as much as it does. I left the pattern at my parents' last weekend, but I'll pick it up when I go to the baby shower in a couple weeks with my Mom. Whew! This is her all-time favorite baby afghan pattern, and having already made one myself I can guarantee they are addictive. Too bad the pattern is from the 70s and probably impossible to find. Isn't that always the way. The yarn is just Read Heart Baby, but so cute!! Pastel variegated, with a strand of nylon for shimmer.


That should do it for now! I am seriously behind on kitty hats for this summer's anime conventions. Also on the needles? The February sock club kit from The Celtic Knot shop in Ellicott City (started tonight when I couldn't handle baby stockinette anymore). Also, the peach baby sweater (better finish it this spring!), and those darn green socks I never finished. I should really get on that. I'm still teaching knitting classes every other week, too, which is delightful. Who knew so many Jews wanted to knit but didn't know how??

Happy knitting, folks!

And a new year begins

I have a few knitting goals for 2007. They're pretty simple, actually. I want to knit myself two sweaters, and at least one pair of socks. Actually, I'd love to knit myself three sweaters and enough socks that I don't need to wear store-bought ones, but I'm sticking to realistic here. In this aim, I have the yarn and patterns for THREE sweaters already... and have cast on for one. Ooh la la. I also have a nearly finished pair of socks which has been languishing for a year or so.

But before embarking on the year of knitting for me, I had a few other things to do.

The second Adamas Shawl! I didn't finish it in time to wear on the cruise, but it still is done done done. The yarn is a hand-painted lace-weight silk that I bought at the Virginia Fiber festival thingy. A truly unique colorway!


And as worn, heading to the symphony:


I also made a scarf for Food and Friends. Not really knitting for me, but knitting for charity is good, too. The pattern is Wavy from Knitty, and the yarn is washable-if-scratchy Red Heart.


I also started another baby afghan from my Mom's favorite pattern (I'm now about one pattern repeat in):


And as soon as I get my handles in the mail, I will have finished the Brea Bag from Berrocco. Rocking!