Thursday, October 29, 2009

What a nice surprise...

So I went to the mail today, and there was a present waiting for me! My friend S (the recipient of the orange French Market Bag) sent me a lovely hank of yarn that she found while on vacation in CA. It is a handpainted 70/30 lambswool/alpaca blend in bulky weight. This series of yarn has all colorways named after memorable women.

My hank is colorway Julia Child. S doesn't even knit and she was visiting a yarn shop! I should probably get her a set of needles for Christmas, no? This is going to make a really yummy scarf. Thanks S! You're the best!

The Red Sox hat I'm making for my nephew is nearly finished. I'm in the process of duplicate stitching the Red Sox "B" onto the cap, so for the time being, you'll all just have to imagine it. Hopefully I'll get this wrapped up in the next day or two...

Monday, October 26, 2009

Another New Project Alert!


Last week I had nothing on the needles, and this week I'm starting projects all over the place. Today I started a sweater that is appropriately named Holly. It is in the new Rowan publication Arabesque. It calls for a bulky yarn, and I happened to have seven hanks of Cascade Magnum in my stash that I bought for a project but changed my mind. Seriously? Magnum rocks the house! I LOVE it. This sweater is on size 15 needles, so I'm flying through my first sleeve.
Here is my sleeve...





And here is a close up. Thanks to my friend D for suggesting I knit this. She's knitting one up in a beautiful silver gray.
Tomorrow is knitting night, so I'll either finish my Red Sox hat or make some real progress on this.
Meanwhile, I'm still checking the mail every day waiting patiently for the wool for my Owl Sweater...



Saturday, October 24, 2009

New Project Alert - Part Deux

So I've had a change of plans, and will not be heading up to Beverly Farms to buy any Rowan Lima today. How disappointing. My car stopped running on the way home from the grocery store, and although I was able to restart it and return home, I'm afraid to drive it and risk being stranded someplace. Looks like this week's yarn money - AND THEN SOME - will be spend on the "must haves" instead of the "would like to haves". Bummer.
Since I've not yet received the yarn for my Owl Sweater (or shipping notification, which is odd for Knitpicks), I've just cast on the hat for my nephew B, which will be a holiday gift. All in Lamb's Pride Worsted, it will be navy with a Red Sox "B" knit into it, the chart for which I found on Chemknit's blog: http://chemknits.blogspot.com/2009/07/red-sox-knitting-charts.html


This is a pretty mindless knit for the weekend, and I expect to have it done by tomorrow.
I'll put up a new photo as soon as I get the "B" in...

Thursday, October 22, 2009

And the new projects are....

So I decided what I'm making next. Owls by Kate Davies. It's a sweater knit in the round with owls around the yoke and buttons for eyes. Cute. After mulling it over for about a month, I decided to go with Knitpicks Wool of the Andes Bulky, which is 100% Peruvian Highland Wool - color Pewter. http://www.knitpicks.com/yarns/Wool_of_the_Andes_Bulky_Yarn__D5420155.html
The other item I'm going to begin is a scarf for a friend of mine, which I began LAST winter. It has already been started four times in three patterns using two different yarns. It's been a regular frog-a-thon. I've decided to bag the yarn that I used to love and now hate, and use Rowan Lima, which is just yummy. http://www.knitrowan.com/yarns/Lima.aspx I'll be picking up the Lima this weekend in Beverly Farms (where else?), and meeting my new friend AM for some coffee and Swedish. Hon är min vän. (Yes, I knew how to write that but I didn't have the right letters, so I stole it off an online translator.)
Well, lunchtime is over, so I'll sign off. Once I get my new yarn, I'll get the photos up. Bye for now.

Monday, October 19, 2009

Empty Needles...Now What?

So now that my cable and lace sweater AND my afghan are both finished, the only thing I have going is Twirly...the skirt that will not end. I've been scouring my books and magazines looking for a cool project, and I've got nothin'. I have two items that are holiday commitments, so I might cast them on and get them out of the way. Plus I need to find a hat pattern for a 10 year old kid. I found a cool Red Sox "B" chart, so I'll probably knit my nephew a Red Sox hat if I can figure out how many stitches to cast on. I think it's 55 or 66 or 77 on size 8 needles, but I don't know for sure. The chart is 18 stitches across, and I don't want it to take up his entire head. I'll figure it out tomorrow.
I'm seriously thinking about casting on Alice Starmore's St. Brigid. It is a complicated sweater project with a gazillion cables. Once I cast on, I expect to be working on it until next year at this time. I'm going with the traditional fisherman's ecru for the color because I really want to see the pattern. The original pattern is boxy and she revised the pattern recently to be more fitted. Who can guess which one I'm making??? That's right...BOXY!
Tomorrow night is knitting night, so maybe one of the girls can suggest something I can do which is challenging but quick...

Sunday, October 18, 2009

Finished Project Photos!



I've been exhausted and fighting a cold since returning from my knitting retreat last weekend, so I haven't been doing too much knitting OR documenting of the projects recently finished. My friend, D was over nearly the entire day, so while watching Dexter all day, I finished the seams of my cable and lace sweater and then tucked in all my ends. I still have to figure out what I'm going to do for buttons at the chest closure, but for all intents and purposes it is finished.
Ta Daaaa! Here it is with me in it. I don't love the yoke, but I probably just have to get used to it. The sweater is more fitted than I normally wear, so I feel fairly uncomfortable at this point. I'm sure it'll be okay.
And now I'll move onto my afghan, which I totally love. This was a really fun pattern. It was easy to knit and because it was bulky yarn on big needles, it went really fast. I'll definitely knit this up again.


So the last thing I'm going to try to do is upload a quick movie of my little Munchie. To understand what it is like to have a Siamese cat around, you have to hear the voice, and imagine non-stop talking from morning 'til night. She's begging for food, BTW.


When D left an hour or so ago, it was snowing. What a total bummer. I guess that's the end of my vegetable harvest. The lawn guy came to mow for the last time yesterday, and spoke to me about plowing the driveway. Sigh. I also bought this year's supply of turtlenecks yesterday, so I'm off to run them through the wash...

Wednesday, October 14, 2009

Settling Back into my Routine...


The last couple weeks have been a blur. I had been in Atlanta on business when my uncle passed away, then I was home for a couple days, then I was in Philadelphia for a couple days, and then I made it up to the Adirondacks in time for MOST of my knitting retreat. I missed one day, but was made to feel very welcome upon my arrival. What a great time! I only knew the two owners of Yarns in the Farms (Beverly Farms, MA) before my trip, but now I have 12 new friends. This is all of us on the last day - just before everyone packed up to leave.
We were up in the mountains during peak folliage, so it was really, really beautiful. I finished two big projects: the afghan, which is a holiday gift, and the teal cable and lace sweater, which is for me. I also whittled a walking stick without cutting myself and learned the basics of needle felting, which I really didn't like at all. I broke two needles and gave it up pretty quickly. I thought a piece of wood and a sharp knive were more my thing, and I was right. I'll try to get a couple more photos up when I get home tonight. Bye for now!

Monday, October 5, 2009

Woo Hoo! Almost done w/ Cables and Lace!

Shame on me...yesterday I saw that I had a new follower, and I forgot to welcome her. Hello JS! JS is my old room mate who lives in the Seattle area. I'm thrilled to have such a far reaching audience. JS, S (also in Seattle) and I had some great times together, living in a number of different places immediately after I removed a large albatross from around my neck. It is absolutely astonishing to me that 17 years has passed in what seems like a blink. Anyway Missy, welcome. ;)


So here is my sweater...I am cruising toward the finish line. I have about an inch and a half of a 5" yoke done.
This is a truer shot of the teal color. Nice, huh? I'm headed downstairs to watch some terrible Monday night TV, so maybe I can get this done tonight...

Sunday, October 4, 2009

Project Updates

Wow. It seems like an age since my last post. I took my Twirly Skirt to Atlanta this week, so I had plenty of time in the airports and on the planes to work on it. Sadly, my Uncle John passed away on Thursday, so I'll take Twirly with me on the train ride to Philadelphia and back this week as well. The third tier is SO slow, but I'll just keep plugging away... Here is the current progress.
I went up to Yarns in the Farms today thinking that a sale might cheer me up, but no such luck. I bought Gina Wilde's Alchemy Lost and Found book of patterns, but alas, no yarn. It's is probably for the best. I'm so close to finishing my Cable and Lace Sweater that I should get it off my plate before thinking of something else. The sleeves, front and back are all done, so once I finish this post, everything is going on a circular needle to do the top...yoke? I'm planning to do the top a little different than the pattern calls for. It is a little too low cut for me, and since the sweater is already more fitted than I would normally wear, I'm going to move the neck opening up an inch or so. It is bad enough that my bustline can be admired from space, but I don't need the girls actually falling out.
So here are three of the four pieces. The next time you see them they will actually resemble a sweater...