B is for Brrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!

We're home! Well I should say I'm home. . . Jake was home for less than 12 hours before he was in the air for a work trip. He's now relaxing in a hotel room overlooking the Pacific Ocean :)

So I'll start with my official ABC-Along entry which mostly sums up the visit to NY. . . . Brrrrrrrrrrrr!
It was COLD while we were up there! The high temp on the coldest day was -3.3! I guess the good news was it was too cold to have any crazy snow storms. It had warmed up by the time we left and we had some crappy driving until we got past Syracuse, but it could have been much worse.

B also could have been for battery, since the one in my car died after the ridiculously cold night Thursday. There is no photo of the jump start, since I refused to take my hands out of my gloves!

B also could have been for balls. .. . . as in the most amazingly delicious oreo ball treats FSIL made. These little things are beyond addictive. . . and they shouldn't be! They taste like an oreo, not anything 'special'. . .. but they are special (nevermind terrible for you!). I don't have a photo of them, either, because I didn't want to ruin my new camera by getting the white chocolate that was on my fingers on it :)

I could go on with the b's, but I'll stop there :)

As a result of the trip, I have several FOs (the true measure of a good vacation, right?).

Firstly, Jake's socks that were started in APRIL are finally done. I am not certain what took me so long to finish these. I really like them, so perhaps I was subliminally averse to working on them based on the less than polite response I got from the designer on Ravelry when I PMd her a question. I had the tightest amount of leftovers to date. . . 4g! The socks didn't become nearly as tall as Jake would have liked, but hopefully he'll just wear them with shoes rather than boots so it won't be a big deal.

Secondly, and I guess I can't REALLY call it FINISHED because it doesn't have buttons sewn on, but I completed the knitting on the first Wisp.

Do you think I should block before or after adding the buttons?

Lastly, I can reveal my secret project #1 - a Fabrege cowl that was a gift for FSIL.
We planned to get her an OTT-LITE, then Joann effed up my order for 12 days and by the time everything got hashed out, they no longer had what we were going to get, so it was a handmade gift parade instead! The yarn is Malabrigo in polygala and the beads are 'iris grey'. I totally love the combo :) She has this great camel coat that the purple goes so well with! It's a good thing purple isn't my color or I might not have been able to give it away. Adding to the handmade goodness, Jake made another swift and nostepinne to give. Jealous? You should be (I am!), version 2.0 of the swift is way cooler than mine. . the pegs were turned on his lathe out of a pool cue (how's THAT for repurposing!), and he turned the base, too. My swift was pre-lathe, so all store bought parts.

Closer to FO status are a few other projects.

Jake's sweater from hell is now just awaiting sleeves (which will be done together, otherwise this thing never will be finished).

I wish I'd just use an Ann Budd book. . . because the amount of stupidity in this pattern as written took me far longer to work through than it would have to just design the damn thing myself.

My Herringbone rib socks are past the 'hard part'. I will say I wasn't smart enough to get the gussets picked up two at a time, so I had to put one sock on DPNs to hold while doing the other, then put them both back on the needles.

I think I'm going to have a lot of leftovers because I couldn't make the leg super long due to my ginormous calves and I wasn't going to try to mess with making calf increases in the pattern somehow NOT look goofy.

My lace leaf scarf grew substantially, as well.

I hope to finish it up before I head out to spend next weekend with Jake in San Diego. They say it's cool in the evenings even though it is pleasant during the day, so a light lacey scarf would be the perfect accessory!

Next up, is Wisp #2 (the wedding is closer than I am accepting. . . I have a lot to do!) and then I can reward myself with getting going on my much coveted Surface! (Though I do fear at this point it will be done just as soon as it's too warm to wear!)

And, in case you are wondering, I'm still on pins & needles about the new job! They told me I would find out NEXT week, so I'm trying (rather unsuccessfully) to be patient. There is nothing else I can do at this point, since I think calling them to reiterate how perfect I think I am for the job would be counterproductive, so it's driving me nuts! I am confident that the other candidate couldn't have outshined me in enthusiasm and excitement for the position, so hopefully the other person doesn't have a big edge in experience on me! Keep thinking good thoughts for me!

The hat that is. . .

Well, I decided after being told the recipient shaved his head because he gets too hot on deck, I decided that a lining for the Jacques Cousteau hat was unnecessary, so I wove in ends and am shipping it up to Alaska tomorrow. I really, REALLY love this pattern! Jake begrudgingly modeled for me so you could get the full effect :)




I am almost done with my first Wisp, too. I knit out one ball and will use a 2nd to get 2 more repeats. I'm trying to finish one of the two pair of socks OTN and THEN I can work on Surface!! Yay!

The hat that almost wasn't

Turns out, our foster beagle likes yarn. I learned this the hard way. If I were a better blogger (or a more patient person) I would have photographed the lesson of why not to leave knitting on the couch. However, when I walked into the room and saw the hat (still on the needles at least) on one side of the room and a ball of red yarn wrapped around two coffee tables and happily being chewed on by a beagle, it was all I could do to simply yell 'SAM, NO!' and try not to deafen my mother (I was on the phone with her when I walked in). It seems Sam thought the ball of yarn on the couch was a toy and jumped up to get it. I'm not sure how long he had it before I walked in, but it was either only a minute or two, or I just have really good luck, because the hat was still securely on the needles and the yarn, though no longer nice and tight in a center pull ball, was not knotted or tangled! How this happened, I will never know, but I was able to simply take the mess upstairs, grab the free end of the yarn and rewind it on the ball winder. The only real 'damage' was some extra dog hair embedded in the yarn (and ultra alpaca is hairy anyway, so who can tell dog from alpaca and wool fiber!)

So the hat isn't technically finished - I'm putting a knit lining, but I need someone with a big head to try it on to figure out where to stop the lining. (Damien self professes to have a 'bigger than average' head, so I don't want to end up with a lining that comes too low to where the bottom folds over on him) Hopefully either Jake's dad or David will do the trick. But the outside of the hat is all done and I love it. It's the Jacques Cousteau Hat.

I love the way the crown decreases! I would definitely make this hat again, though perhaps going up to a worsted yarn so it knit a little faster, though. This was my first time doing jogless color changes, and I think it looks pretty nice (though as Jake points out, very NY Giants - which makes me consider doing another with the same yarn and sending to my friend Kim's husband who is a HUGE Giants fan.)

More projects

(This post someone disappeared from my blog. . . . . so I'm reposting - thank goodnes for bloglines :)!)

At the gym last Wednesday night, Jake decided that a cowl to wear with his leather jacket. I had suggested it before and he said no, but I guess Wednesday was a particularly cold morning and changed his mind. I pulled out some color options from the (ever growing) malabrigo stash, he chose the Churra. I gave him two choices of cowls. He chose the Morningside pattern.

I cast on during lunch Thursday and a few hours later -
I absolutely adore the pattern. Super simple, super quick, super fantstic for showing off a neat yarn. It's sometimes so hard to find a pattern that doesn't compete with the yarn. I made no mods, beyond knitting an extra 1/2 inch or so before I bound off.

Jake really seems to enjoy it, too (except that it messes up his hair a bit in the back!). It's nice that he honestly WANTs the stuff I knit for him, not that he just 'lets' me do it to give me something to do! Looks pretty good, eh?
I finished a pair of socks for mom, too. After this post, I ended up finding someone destashing some worsted Louet Gems for a steal ($19 for 3 skeins shipped priority!) They aren't the most exciting things, but mom wants warm socks to wear with boots and these fit the bill! The pattern is Thuja, I just did it over fewer stitches to fit a ladies foot!
This leaves Wisp #1, Herringbone Socks, Jake's socks, Jake's sweater, sock pair #2 for mom, my lace scarf and my blue shrug as active projects and my goal is to wrap them up before the new year. I'm not counting goddess, because it's definitely hibernating for warmer weather! I only have 2 more work days until year end, that leaves plenty of time for knitting this all up, right?

168 pins and one hour

What do you get after 168 quilting pins and 2 hours? You get an almost complete wedding gift :)
I can't show the pictures yet, but I do have a shot up in Rav. It was a BEAR to pin out - and I understand why I lot of people comment that theirs is still bumpy after blocking because you have to YANK on it to smooth it out. After it dries, I think I'm going to hit it with some steam as well. I absolutely LOVE it though. It's a good thing it's going to a VERY good friend, or else I wouldn't be able to give it up!

I promised photos, but Jake headed out to go fishing today, so I couldn't get any good flat shots of his cowl, and mom's socks are still wet from blocking so they can't go outside to play.

The only photo I have to share is of the tree skirt. They are marginal photos, so I apologize. I'll be getting a new camera when mom gets here (my Birthday/Christmas gift) next week, so hopefully that will improve :)



I've also undertaken the task of working on my queue and figuring out what projects I have yarn in hand for. I'm hoping this will stop me from buying more once I see just how many projects I can start with what I've got. I'll share the plan for 2009 Stash knitting when I get through it!

Dream in Neutrals?

I had a dream about yarn last night. Not a general dream with yarn in it, or knitting, a dream about a very specific skein of yarn in my stash - a skein of Cherry Tree Hill Supersock. I can't say I've ever had such a specific fiber dream before. I blame it on my late night stomach contents of gin & clam chowder. Or the CTH is jealous that it wasn't chosen to be wound up yesterday when I wound two new balls of sock yarn.

Last night, Jake & I went to see Garrison Keillor. It wasn't a taping for Prairie Home Companion, just him, all by himself. When I lived in Minnesota, I went to the Fitzgerald to see a taping, I was worried last night would be a waste of the ticket money. How entertaining could it be, after all, to be JUST Garrison Keillor? Incredibly, would be the correct answer to that question. He has such an amazing gift for storytelling, and perhaps more importantly, a voice that is totally enchanting. Even if you sort of lose interest in the actual story, just listening to the tone and cadence in his voice is supremely comforting. If I were a billionaire, I would pay him to come to my house and tell me a bedtime story every night. I can't imagine a more lovely way to fall asleep. So it was a great evening, and certainly more interesting than the usual Tuesday night! It was a bit odd that I think I counted 6 other people in our age range. There were younger folks there who seemed to be dragged with their parents, and pretty much everyone else in attendance was in their 50s or beyond. As Jake would say, when he jokes on my knitting, I'm apparently an old lady trapped in a young body :) The show wrapped up around 9, so we decided to go for a cocktail at Kincaid's.

Ordinarily, I'm not a huge fan of chain restaurants. . .. especially chain restaurants in shopping malls, but I make an exception for Kincaid's. The bartenders there. . . let me tell you. . . they can make a Gimlet. A gimlet that is worth the $10 price tag, to boot. You wouldn't think it's such a hard drink to make, but I've ordered it enough to know it really throws off the majority of bartenders. We walked the couple blocks to the mall and ordered cocktails and checked out the menu. It was chilly through the whole show (apparently Chrysler Hall doesn't believe in central heating) so combined with my lack of socks (wearing high heels) and the outdoor walk, the Clam Chowder on the menu spoke to me as a nice warm up. It was a nice end to the evening, but put food in my belly far too close to my bedtime, apparently.

I woke up this morning and resisted the urge to go wind the CTH up. I'm in the midst of some major knitting - I've cast on an unruly number of new projects recently, I really don't need yet another pair of socks!

What have I been knitting, you ask? Well, over the weekend I finished the wedding present I was working on but I need a small army of T-pins to block it - and you know, no photos until the recipient gets it. I finished knitting and felting Jake's slippers. They are still drying right now. I also finished my Socks that Rock (which, by the way are the most perfectly fitting socks I've knit to date. ... I LOVE them!!). Because I still wasn't prepared to go back to Jake's sweater or socks, I cast on for one of the wedding shawls. I'm making Wisp for both of my MOHs. It's pretty but simple enough that it won't take a crazy long time and so if neither of them wear it again, I won't be upset. The Kidsilk is a bit of a challange to work with, but the result is pretty so far. And WARM! It's noticeable the temperature difference where the scarf sits on my lap when I work on it. Then yesterday I felt the need to start more socks. For the 'instant gratification', I wound up the Dashing Dachs from the second shipment of the Woolgirl sock club. It's sportweight so should work up nice and fast. The 'Froggin' colorway isn't anything I'd pick myself, but if nothing else I can wear them in my boots and no one will see them. The pattern I'm using is Swirl Socks. I'm already up to starting the heel gussets and they only have seen about an hour of knitting. Pulling the Dashing Dachs out of my stash, I came across the Misti Alpaca Sock I got a few months ago. The yarn is totally luscious. Alpaca/Merino/Silk blend, with some nylon for durability. Given how cold it's been, I wanted a treat for my feet so I wound it up and decided it would become the Herringbone Rib socks from the latest Interweave (sorry, no link since it's part of an article and not a stand alone pattern). I haven't cast on yet, because I think I'm going to attempt two at a time, so I need to wind a 2nd ball. I think it will be a Thanksgiving project.

Tonite I'll be pumpkin pie baking and cranberry making. I hope everyone has a wonderful and relaxing Thanksgiving. I personally am thankful that Jake didn't have to go overseas for work and will actually be here for dinner. What are you thankful for this year?

Home Again

I had a mostly uneventful trip, which is nice for once. The only little hitch was a surprise snow storm as we were trying to land in Burlington, forcing the plane to make 3 approaches to see if visibililty had increased so our little Turbo Prop could land. After the 3rd, had we not landed they were sending us back to La Guardia. That would have sucked. Apparently, Vermont has gotten smaller since I lived there. When I got to the airport at 8:20 for my 9:10am flight, security was closed. Yeah. . . . just closed. . . . no TSA to be found and the door leading into the screening area locked. What kind of airport CLOSES security?! About 15 minutes later, the TSA came back - group break, I guess, and being a tiny airport, it was mostly a non-issue.

What did I accomplish on my trip? Well, work wise, my meeting was great. Which is good, because I busted my butt to get everything coordinated and prepped. Of course, do you think my boss even gave me a 'nice job' or any sort of positive affirmation? Surely not. . . . reason eleventybillion and seventy two why I have to find a new job. Friend wise, I got to meet my friend Nikki's brand new baby who happened to be born on my birthday :) Knitting wise, I have almost a pair of socks! Not Jake's socks. . . a BRAND spanking new pair that I started on Tuesday while flying. If medium weight Socks that Rock were a person, I would totally marry it!! Just like the last socks I did from the yarn, the stuff knits up so fast! I figured I'd keep on the instant gratification knits for the time being. The pattern is the Double Waffle Stitch from More Sensational Knit Socks. It does a good job of masking the color spiral/pools that the STR does (it must be how she dyes, because it's the SAME way the XMas Rock colorway knit up).

Sweater Status

Jake's sweater is coming along, though it's really not all that interesting to look at in a picture, so you don't get one! I'm quite convinced I could have been done by now have I not had to spend so much time trying to figure out pattern errors. Based on this experience, I definitely will not purchase KnitPicks patterns in the future, since they clearly don't do much in the way of tech editing. The errors I'm finding really don't have much excuse, a non-knitter who can count could at least figure out something was wrong, even if they couldn't fix it! So I'm up to where you're supposed to 3-needle bind off the front and back of the shoulder together and the count is off by 6 stitches. I guess I can just put the extra stitches in the collar, but it really does tick me off! The collar should be quick knitting, and then I just have the sleeves, so hopefully by month end it'll be done. And then I shread the pattern! I do hope the pattern is right that the yarn will stretch with wash & wear, because it's a bit short for him as it is now!

And I'm back. . .

Of course, I've been back for a while, but I've been busy unpacking gifts, clearing out and re-organizing cabinets to fit gifts in so they can be used (now I have TWO sets of dishes!), trying to earn myself gainfully employed and losing the battle of keeping the beagle from continually rolling in some sort of awful stink I can't locate outside. I've had to give him THREE baths! He is now on a strictly monitored potty schedule and is required to come back in the house as soon as his business is complete! Bath time by myself stinks. . it's usually a two person job, but Jake is out of town for work.

To keep me company, though, Jess & Jen are coming by for dinner and some knitting tonite. I'm making veggie soup in my new Le Creuset dutch oven. (yay!) Soup is good given the temperature drop that there has been - the heat had to come on in the house, so fall is definitely here!

Knit wise, I have no photos because Jake's sweater looks the same, only longer. I'm about to start splitting for the arm holes. Of course, he says the heat is on at work and he no longer needs the sweater. . . . . My knitting time has been primarily consumed with a wedding present for a friend who got married on 10/10. I can't tell you what it is or show any pictures until it's complete and the recipient has gotten it. It is in Ravelry, though (well, as a pictureless project) if you're curious what it is :)

I did get some delicious yarn recently that I'll share when I can get a few photos.

I'm trying to catch up on blog reading, too. Why is it always that going away even for just a couple days puts you weeks behind in life?!

Sweater Progress

Work on Jake's sweater has begun! I'm about 6" complete so far.

It's going pretty smooth, except for the horrifically skimpy yardage of the yarn! The 82 yards only gets me about 2 inches knit, which is ~12 rows, which means I keep running out! Because there is no way I'm weaving in the copious amount of ends 19 balls + some areas of using 2 balls at a time to knit I've learned to Russian Join. It's not as nice as a felted join, but it seems to do the job. BUT the yarn itself is pretty loosely twisted, so it's a little splitty after the join. I'm cutting out a few of the plies to reduce the bulk, but it's not necessarily helping with the fraying. So far, at least, I've been able to hide them inside, but I am worried about it poking through - and who would want this stuff on the wrong side?

I'm about to join ball #4 and I'm in the middle of a right side row, so fingers crossed!

I'm rolling in green

Yarn, that is, not so much the cash :)

My Knitpicks order came in with the yarn for Jake's sweater and his slippers. 19 balls of Mainline, 7 of Wool of the Andes. And, uh, mainline, REALLY? 82 friggin' yards? Couldn't make some meatier balls? That's a WHOLE lot of ends in a sweater, which may force me to learn how to effectively do a Russian Join! I'm trying to work up the motivation to swatch ASAP because he really wants the sweater and will pester me whenever I work on something else now that the yarn is here.

Sticking with green, I started working with the Malabrigo lace I wound up on my fancy new nostepinne. The color is Vaa and it's becoming a Leaf Lace Scarf, which will be for me :) It's a super simple pattern and is going along pretty well so far. I'm trying to work on my backward knitting to avoid the purling back - recently my right elbow has been sore while I knit and avoiding purls helps it not hurt. Unfortunately, no matter how many times I trace my purl steps and repeat them on the knit side of the fabric, I keep getting the stitch oriented wrong. It's driving me bananas! I am pleased with myself for re-training my knit stitch to be fully left handed so I can keep my right hand/elbow stationary. I think it's even possible I'm a tad faster that way!

All this green needs to not distract me from my Dog Days Socks, though. I REALLY want to finish the pair before the next woolgirl shipment going out 10/13! The 2nd sock is fully knit, I just need to do the lace cuff, but I HATED the lace cuff on the first sock - a whole lot of fiddliness for not much visual effect IMO (you can't much see the flower lace in the varigated yarn!). Jake is going away fishing this weekend, so maybe I can force myself to do that rather than clean while he's gone!

My gift cowl is complete, but not blocked. It's Oh so pretty :)

Along with a box from Knitpicks, the mailman braved the downpour (literally, it was too much for the box so he had to bring it up to the house!) to bring me my Amazon order, too. Jake & I both got a book for reading, and I got Sensual Knits. I've been wanting it for ages since I saw the Transparency Sweater. Unfortunately, it appears even the cheapest yarn to make it will cost me over $60 (to keep it silk/mohair - elann has a nylon/mohair). So it will have to wait, but I really love the book. There are a lot of really pretty patterns. They all are a bit crazy on the yarn, though. I mean, who is going to use 16-23 balls of this Cashmere to make a sweater?!

Tomorrow is Jake's birthday, so today is officially his last day of his 2nd decade on the Earth. (I'm being technical here, he's turning 29, but that means he's starting his 30th year on the planet). He has requested white cake with chocolate frosting. The frosting will be homemade, the cake will be from a mix :) He also requested the cake be decorated with a chainsaw - no joke! It's his gift from his parents, my mom & I (who knew one could cost so much!) and not a surprise. We'll see how my artistic skills work! I'm also making spicy Chicken Parm (spicy sauce from this recipe) for dinner with a few of his friends coming over. Should be a nice day! I'm taking the afternoon off of work to clean the house and shop. Unfortunately for me, I'm not the cleanest baker, so I suspect additional cleaning will be required after the cake is done :)

Out of the Funk

So sorry I've been such a grouch recently! Too much travel and too many political ads on TV make for a cranky Carly :) I'm less cranky now, though I have some phantom illness that has made my throat feel like it's the size of a pea with a grapefruit in it. BUT, I'm looking on the bright side, it's almost the weekend!

So what is going on with me, you ask?
Well, we got our first official wedding/shower gift from my BFF Tricia (she has the adorable baby Addison who got Sheldon and my Summerlin!)

The gift is the dishes, not the dishwasher :) It's very exciting. The dishes we have had since I left home were hand me down Pfaltzgraff. They did their job, but it's nice to have something we picked!

I've been in a bit of a knitting funk, as well. I determined it was because everything I was working on was on Sz 3 or smaller. I didn't want to start anything else big, though, because yarn is en route for Jake's ribbed cardigan, which will be my easy/boring knitting project for a while. I had seen the Fabrage Cowl on the Mal Swap board and had PMd the designer several times asking when it would be available. I fully intended to purchase it. I must have pestered her enough, though, because last week she said she'd send me a test knit copy if I cast on right away. It took me a while to find some 5/0 beads, but I got them Wednesday and cast on Thursday! I'm half way done and I LOVE it! So pretty, right? It's a gift, but I think I'll have to make one for me, too!


With the storm that came through making yesterday a total washout, Jake spent some time in his woodshop and came back with a nostepinne for me! I put it right to work winding up some laceweight Malabrigo :)

Partial FO Parade

Well, I only have some photos, but if I keep waiting I'll never get anything posted! So, some of the projects I finished while in New York. Like I said, it rained every day we were there, so I spent a lot of time on the couch knitting!

3 more squares for the Malabrigo Swap Blankets:



Caramel Cable hat for Jake's dad:


I really loved the construction of the hat - decreasing in the Cables was so clever! I didn't love that I had to pick up and knit further on the bottom to make it cover the ears fully, but I like it in the end. I'll try and get Jake to put it on for a modeled shot, but the blocking version will have to do for now!

My Baltimore socks are done, too! The proportion in the picture here looks odd, but they are, in fact, normal sized :)
I think the yarn and pattern worked together really nicely!
I am most proud of my made up decreases. The foot fit nicely on 80 stitches (gauge was 9.5 spi) but was too big up the leg, so I omitted two pattern repeats. I think it looks like it was supposed to flow in the pattern this way. If I were a teacher, I'd give myself a gold star for cleverness!
Not a FO, but my most recently cast on are the August Woolgirl Sock Club installment. The yarn is Madelinetosh Sock. The sock is knit flat after the toe, then is made into a tube by knitting a strip on the stitches held on waste and joining to the selvedge edge. Pretty nifty! It's going really quick since it's all stockinette. As seems to be the theme with the sock club thus far, the color isn't one I'd choose on my own, but it's nice so far! Knitting flat really breaks up any pooling that might otherwise happen (and I did see it in someone else's project who used the yarn for Thuja's rather than the club patterns.)

Of course, the most exciting thing finished is Maude, buttons on, blocked and everything! That has to wait for Jake's photo assistance though.

The reason Jake couldn't help me this weekend with pictures? Oh, I wish I had photos of the mini-Monster Truck Rally in the yard! We used to have a big bush between our driveway and the neighbor wanted it gone because it got too big. He had been chopping branches off here and there, but Jake decided to pull it out. . . using his truck. His exact words were 'I don't expect much resistance from the bush'. Boy was he wrong! It took him and his buddy HOURS to get it out and the bush beat the truck in most attempts to yank it with a chain. It greatly amused the elderly man across the street to see tires spinning and the truck pulling back after the chain tensed and the bush didn't budge! I'm pretty sure the whole thing will cost a new set of tires on the truck, but I guess sometimes you are supposed to use a truck like a truck! Now our neighbor is going to buy a new small bush to put in as a replacement since Jake did all the hard work of getting it out. I guess this makes us officially southern!

What did YOU do on your long weekend?

What I Knit on my Summer Vacation

Oh, I was all set to tell you all about the many things I actually finished in New York, but the weather is crappy and overcast and not photo-friendly, so it will have to wait.

In other news, I'm 99.9% certain I've chosen a new wedding gown. What do you think?

Hello, Goodbye & (finally) the contest

Phew! Where has the week gone? I guess I left most of it in Iowa :) Iowa was an, uh, interesting trip. I've been to small towns. I've lived in relatively small towns. I was not prepared for Cedar Rapids, Iowa! I'll save you stories of the copious amounts of corn, but I did have an amazing meal at an unexpected spot called the Lincoln Cafe and a lovely visit to Crazy Girl Yarn Shop, when I wasn't working :) I waited out a rainstorm at the yarn shop chatting with Kelly and Nora and I left the shop relatively unscathed. . . . a few colorful and practical needle stoppers and a skein of Plymouth Sockotta. (sorry, you have to deal without photos today, it is already dark. . well, dusk!) My work events were fine, and I had lots of down time to knit during. I finished off another Malabrigo square and worked on Jake's socks. I stopped the socks where I thought some calf shaping might need to start, since I'm making them as high as the yarn will allow. I decided not to continue the pattern on the back of the leg, so it will be easy to incorporate some simple shaping into the rib along the back of the leg. I adore the Trekking yarn!! I really wish I had used it for me rather than Jake!

I made good progress on Goddess, too, though I was a little ambitious in packing ALL the yarn to go with me. Did I really think I was going to knit the ENTIRE thing in 4 plane rides?! Anyway, I've knit nearly all the front. Unfortunately, the 'mindless' part of this knitting isn't until the front and back are joined, as there is a lot of 'AT THE SAME TIME' waist and shoulder shaping happening together that requires some attention. We are going up to Jake's parents house Thursday until Wednesday, so between the car ride and no TV, maybe I can finish it :) Speaking of Jake's parents, you can read over here about the little scare we got on Friday! Of course, being several states away, we got mixed versions of what was happening all along, but thankfully it ended well with no real damage.

I mentioned several times I was trying to come up with a contest to pass along the good yarn karma I was having. The karma continues, as I won ANOTHER contest - maybe I should be playing the lottery :) Well, before I went to Iowa I had a contest idea and then I lost it, so this will be a really easy one. Leave me a comment and tell me something. Tell me anything. A random fact about yourself, your favorite yarn, to go take a hike, whatever. When I get back from New York, I'll pick a winner from the commenters. The prize - well it will be yarny, of course, but rather than a 'one size fits all' prize, I'm going to pick the prize after I pick the winner. I have lots of eligible yarns in my stash. .. maybe even some Malabrigo? :)

Hope you all have a great couple weeks. I don't know if I'll be able to post again before we leave and internet access is dial up at the future in-laws house, so pretty much non existant. (19.2 kbps?! are you serious?!) If my special package from woolgirl arrives before we leave, though, I'll be sure to share. I splurged on something fun that starts with 'N' and carries my knitting :)

Long Weekend Wasted

Jake & I took Friday off. He had a floating holiday he wouldn't get paid for if he didn't use it when he leaves his 'temporary' job to go back to his real job. We decided we'd drive out to Northwest River Park and take the pooches on a canoe ride and do some fishing. We got there about 20 minutes after the park opened and walked over to the boathouse (dogs, cooler and fishing gear in tow) where we were informed the dogs were not allowed in a canoe. I was mildly irritated, as nothing on the website OR on all the signage at the boathouse indicated there was this restriction. So, instead, we walked (the park calls it a hike, but a flat gravel-ly surface doesn't constitute a hike in my book!) down to the fishing spot. It's about one and a half miles, and the dogs enjoyed the journey (Zosia even behaved enough to be let off leash). We fished a bit, Jake got a few nibbles, I got nothing. I didn't mind, though, because watching the dogs was a riot. Jimmy Ray tried to fight some geese that made their way toward us. Zosia finally willingly went in the water on her own! We ate our lunches then set back.

It was still early in the day when we got home so we did some yard work and made big plans for a productive weekend while we went out to dinner. Unfortunately, when the alarm went off Saturday morning, Jake and I were both totally exhausted. . . and itchy. Lo and behold, despite the soaking of our pants and socks in bug spray, we got eaten by chiggers at the River! Thankfully, they aren't nearly as bad as last year, so I guess the bug spray helped, but I have such an adverse reaction to these things. .. not just itching - I swear they poison me! So, I did NOTHING Saturday except a bit of shopping and helping Jake with some outside work. We trimmed all sorts of branches off a neighbors tree. I'm not sure what ettiquitte is in the situation when the neighbor doesn't trim things in their yard so it overtakes yours, but we just cut everything that was over the property line and didn't ask. The guy is a renter anyway, so hopefully no one gets too cranky. The yard looks a lot bigger now without all the overgrowth, so I'm glad.

Sunday was mostly a wash too, though I did manage to clean some and get the laundry pile down.

With all the couch sitting, I did get some knitting in. Maude is done! Well, completely knitted, that is. I still need to add the buttons and weave in the ends.I also swatched and cast on for Goddess. I'm using Elann Lustrado in Aubergine. It's a lovely dark brown-y purple. I wanted to get it going since it has oodles of stockinette and I have lots of travel time coming up to try to knock all the mindless knitting out. . . . I leave for Iowa tomorrow for work. The glam life of business travel, right?! Freakin' Iowa! (Sorry if I offend anyone who lives in Iowa, but on my list of exciting places to travel, Cedar Rapids 2 months after a major flood is near dead last!) It's a good thing stitch diva doesn't show you any of the pattern until you buy it, because I would have avoided it had I seen the stitch pattern! It's the inverse of the stitch from My So-Called Scarf, which I HATED! Being the inverse (K2togtbl, leave stitches on LHN, K first st tbl, drop both off) it's an even bigger pain in the butt, but it's only a few rows on the neckline then to finish at the waist. I think I can keep from slitting my wrists on that amount.

I have been continuing to work on Malagrigo squares for the blankie KAL in the Malabrigo Swap group on Ravelry.

So much for having 3 days to do so many things on the TO DO list! There is always next weekend. . . . .

Aftermath

Jake's parents have left, and as a result, my home is now cleaner and more flowery than it was before they arrived. Technically they left Tuesday morning, but I didn't have a chance to blog yesterday.

The visit was quite nice. It's been 6 months since Jake had seen his parents and over a year since I had. They had about the worst timing ever coming down, hitting DC during Friday afternoon rush hour, so they traveled a whopping 12 miles in 3 hours on 495. By the time they arrived, needless to say, we didn't do anything :) Saturday I went to knitting in the AM and they came up to meet me and we wandered through Olde Towne. Jake and his dad went out fishing Saturday night and Deb indulged in a few hours of Home Improvement shows on TV (they don't have TV back home!). They had told us while we were shopping they wanted to buy us an engagement gift. Of course, we 'need' nothing, so it took a while to figure out what we would get. On Saturday we had been through an awesome garden store - not a nursery with flowers and stuff, just copious amounts of cast iron and cement garden pots/decoration etc. Sunday we decided to go back and pick two urns for the front porch as our gift (OK, Jake wanted a chainsaw, but. . . .). Aren't they awesome?




They didn't get flowers until Monday - and hopefully the flowers last (I'm certainly not known for my green thumb, but I'm going to try!). Deb is really into flowers so she had a good time putting them together for us.

We also, of course, visited the beach (and had some great fish tacos while there) during the visit and spent Sunday night at the Tides game. They lost, but it was the perfect night to be outside. . . not too hot, oddly light humidity (as in NONE!) and no bugs!

In addition to the pots up front, I got a few new garden dwellers for the backyard. We have SO MUCH garden space that I do nothing with (due to lack of aforementioned green thumb). While we were at the beach, though, I saw these gorgeous flowers that turned out to be Hibiscus, so we planted one.
I love the deep burgundy center in the peach bloom! It's supposedly a pretty hearty thing, so maybe I can learn from this and figure out how to grow some other stuff, too!

There was knitting. I finished Bob's hat. . . until I tried it on him! It's a bit short, but I'm going to be able to pick up along the cast on and just extend the ribbing another inch or so. I love the pattern and can't wait to make a 2nd for Jake. You should knit it just for the cleverness of the designer! The way the decreases happen up the crown to keep the cables going is fantastic!

So that leaves me the sleeves of Maude, Jake's socks and my socks OTN. However, Kemtee was a very bad influence and suggested making goddess in the comments of one of my blog posts as a new cast on. Well, I forgot that that was in my queue and I REALLY like it, and I found a mercerized cotton on Elann that would make the shirt for ~$10, so the yarn practically bought itself and is en route to me now :) So much for no new yarn. . . .

Alright, at this point I feel like I'm rambling, so if you made it this far, congrats! I'll be back when I have something more interesting to talk about!

Something new

No, not a new project (yet), I went to the gym today and KNIT! Yeah, WHILE I worked out. I did my 15 minutes on the stairmaster as usual, I didn't thin kit was all that condusive to knitting, but the following 30 minutes on the recumbent bike. . . PERFECT! Now, it was a little like patting your head and rubbing your belly at first to think about moving my hands and my feet. . .. it slowed down both my knitting and cycling, but it made the 30 minutes fly by! I didn't get a single odd look, either. This may become a new part of the routine. (Of course, that assumes I keep a routine. . . I've been such a gym slacker these days!)

What was I knitting? Well, since I posted about my projects I didn't want to knit on, but no one voted yet (until Carrie a few hours ago), last night I re-tried on Maude to verify how much length I still needed. Much to my chagrin, the 1 inch I thought I needed was unstretched. . . Stretched I needed more, so I ribbed and ribbed last night and ribbed and ribbed some more today. I have 3 rows left then I can bind off the body! This makes me happy, so I may just have to wrap up Maude before casting on the next project.

Last night I also tackled fixing the cables on Jake's socks (I know, I said I wasn't going to, then I felt guilty). It wasn't so bad - the only difficult part was getting the last stitch knit on the lower rows, since there wasn't much slack left in the yarn. But the cables are now in the right place and I just need a clean foot from Jake for measuring against, since I think I'm ready for the heel.

I've been a total slacker cleaning, so I'm taking tomorrow off work to get the house ready for our visitors Friday. Hopefully I stay on task and don't get sidetracked by Maude :)

Feeling Antsy

I need a new project.

I have no motivation to pick up Maude (I love it, I don't know why I can't motivate to finish. . . I'm so close!).

Jake's Boyfriend Socks had a mistake in the cable. I ripped it out once, and made the same mistake, only I knit further before I noticed it. Not wanting to rip everything out again (total pain to get 84 sts back on a Sz 1 needle again!) I dropped just the 6 stitches in the cable down 14 rows, and I really don't have the patience to work on that.

My Baltimore Socks, though I love the yarn, are not doing it for me since I have to rip back in the gusset, so they continue to mock me in my knitting basket.

Bob's hat - I'm not gonna finish it by Friday, so why work on it? He doesn't need it until October :) (Come on, my blog is titled procrastination. . . . .)

So, I need something else!

(Summerlin #2 ended up as a no-go. . . after winding what could honestly be the most poorly skeined yarn ever - so tangled from the start I couldn't get it on the swift! - I finally read the label and the Pima cotton is and wash/dry flat. . . not so much practical for kiddie wear. On the plus side, the cotton is beyond soft and lovely, so I need to find something nice to do with it)

Possible Options:

1 - Re-cast on for Lelah - It's warm, so I would wear it when done!

2 - Sizzle (I started a swatch in January, have not progressed - link is Rav link, the typepad seems to be down) - It's perhaps to warm to wear when finished (assuming I actually finish in the summer) because of the Alpaca.

3 - February Lady Sweater - I think the Jaeger Extra Fine Merino DK will be perfect for this!

4 - Something else altogether! Give me a suggestion! (but no socks - I'm waiting for new needles from KnitPicks to do 2-at-a-time for my next pair)

I finally got around to taking pictures of recent acquisitions.

My Mama Llama Club Shipment (sniff. . . the last one . . sniff. . .)

The dark green is Bamboo Lux. The lighter green is pure Bamboo (DK).












My Mama Llama Contest Prize (yay!)
Perfect Sock, in color Regal.










Two recent Swap-Bot Swaps:













CTH Supersock DK in Blue - Green (love this blue green color!)













Alpaca with a Twist Baby Twist (total of 220 yds, anyone have a suggestion of what to do with it?!)

A weekend of Knitting

First off, I must gloat in the cuteness of Summerlin.


I LOVE IT!! The sewing was easy, the knitting was easy and the end result is more impressive than the work involved. My favorite? The back button! I'm not always the most inventive/use what you have kind of girl. I have a ginormous amount of buttons, inherited from my grandma and my estate sale sewing machine purchase. Unfortunately, there are not loads of 'cute' buttons, but lots of practical 4-hole buttons. I didn't want a totally boring button, but I wasn't going to go out shopping to buy ONE button for this dress, so, I picked a while button and a orange-yellow button slightly smaller. I got my hot glue gun and some fishing line and - there you have it! I used the fishing wire because I needed something other than the tiny holes themselves to secure the button to the dress, so I was able to make a loop of wire, and secure it between the two button sandwiched with hot glue! (Please ignore the excess hot glue, it has since been picked off!) I'll be casting on another Summerlin quite shortly!

I had planned to work on the cabled hat the rest of the weekend, until I saw a post on Ravelry that sent me on a new project. You may have heard the story from MDS&W, but that weekend a lady from the western part of Virginia, an active knitter and pattern writer, and her husband had a terrible fire. Their home burnt completely and they lost everything. They were, luckily, insured, but obviously it is still devastating, and they lost one of their cats. They were in temporary housing for a while furnished by the red cross, but then moved to an apartment while they set about rebuilidng their home. By some cruel twist, on Thursday night, the apartment building they were living in caught fire and the majority of their belongings were, again, destroyed, and their second cat who survived the first fire was not so lucky this time. Now, I must say I'm not often a 'there is an emergency, let me knit something' kind of person, but I recalled reading after the first fire how much Rae enjoyed knit socks and they were all lost in her home and so I immediately felt the urge to knit her a pair. I can't even imagine what it would be like to experience so much material loss in such a short span. I know it won't replace a kitty, but I hope in a small way some socks from a stranger will give her some small comfort. I'm making beyond fast progress (quite unheard of for me). I'm using the STR medium weight that I won off Carrie's blog contest because her friends said Rae likes really colorful bright socks best. (Side note, Carrie, I can understand your obsession.. . .the yarn is AMAZING and I want 100 skeins of it right now!) The combination of thicker yarn + small-ish feet (48 stitch sock) + simple pattern + awesome yarn = FAST socks! I cast on ~10pm Saturday, and by 3pm Sunday sock #1 was complete. Sock #2 is nearly to the heel flap, I think it will finish tonite so I can send them off. They are a very simple 3x1 rib and super soft. Of course, this leaves Jake wondering why his socks have been OTN for so long when I can whip these out :)

On a last note, we watched Lars & The Real Girl Saturday night. You really need to rent it! Super sweet and touching story - and there is even a knitting scene - when the ladies in town come to 'sit' and a few knit and one does Needlepoint.

Hope you had an awesome weekend!