Clapping Along

We had a fun but exhausting time at Marie's Yarn Shop, aka her Crafty Yard Sale. Check out pics at the cool kids' blogs. I managed to make a little bit of money on my Creative Memories scrapbooking stuff I'm clearing out, and managed to spend even less (yay!) on 5 balls of Blue Sky Organic Cotton, one of my all-time favorite yarns, that Melise was clearing out. Thanks for contributing to my stash, Melise!

I also picked up two sets of dpns, size 4s and 7s, from Marie for 10 cents a piece. Both sets were still in their packages. Marie thinks this set of dpns may be older than I. Cute vintage packaging. I don't think the Susan Bates' silvalume dpns have changed at all in their silvalume-y finish and cute pink color. Not sure how much I'll use them, but having a set of size 4 dpns in the needle roll as a just-in-case is worth the 10 cents. Thanks, Marie!




While people were a-shopping, I was clapping along. I've even done a few drops which I love the look of. I've got just a bit left of my first skein of Brooks Farm Solana, and while I was concerned about the final length, I decided I was too lazy to rip back. Too much to think about, while it's so much easier to just knit knit knit. It'll be more squarish rather than rectangular, but I'll use it more as a wrap or stole, than as a scarf. I think I should be able to get at least one wrap around my neck, so I don't think it'll be that bad. Anyhoo, here are the latest pics.

Wednesday WIP Report

New stuff going on at Chez Dim Sum!

Sunday was the start of the Second Wave Clapotis kal, but promised myself I needed to finish a certain project before casting on. I finally cast on Monday evening, and am really enjoying it, the rhythm, the knits and purls through the back loop, how the yarn is knitting up. I'm using my Brooks Farm Solana superwash which I purchased at Stitches West in February specifically for Clapotis. The yarn is extremely soft, not splitty at all, and beautifully dyed. This one is getting a big ravelry smiley face so far. I'm on the fifth repeat of the increase section, so haven't started dropping yet, but that should happen in a day or so.



Sweetie Girl's Mia Shrug finally has arms and the miles and miles of endless stockinette are seeming just like that.



Here's the certain project I made myself finish before starting Clapotis. Surprise! It's the Wobbly Tote, also known as the bane of my existence for the past 18 months it has been languishing. But no more! I love how the stripe sequence turned out on the back. Felting will occur next week at Chez Knitdevil, the felted bag expert.





This Saturday, Marie is having a crafty yard sale, and I'll be hauling out a lot of old Creative Memories scrapbooking supplies to unload. Watch her site for details. Hope to see you!

Day of Reckoning

In May, I foolishly followed along with Annette on Summer Knitting Goals. Ali at Skeins Her Way was hosting a contest, and since I am such a sucker for free yarn, I had to join in. Foolishly, I say, because once I say I’m gonna do something, I get kinda crazy about actually doing it. I love that I can get stuff done, but also dislike the pressure I put on myself when I stray from the “list.” I slogged away at these goals through the summer, and here is the reconciliation of my FOs against said goals.

1. Central Park Hoodie – Done! I’m really looking forward for some seriously cool weather so I can start wearing this bad boy.

2. Flower Basket Shawl (Lace shawl) – Done! Midway through summer, I actually thought I would count the Mystery Stole for this. However, my wing was never going to take wing, so FBS it was. I am so glad that I did, because that shawl pattern was a crazy kind of perfect. And that Sea Silk… swoon again.

3. Dropped Stitch Lace Tank from Fitted Knits –Done! Whale stomach or not.

4. Finish two pairs of socks for June and July – Done! My Sockapalooza pal received hers mid August, but that was because I was on vacation and forgot to post it before leaving. I still have yet to receive my Sockapalooza socks. Figures. I’ve been having great luck with my swaps and I knew my string of luck had to end somewhere.

5. Pink fluff a.k.a. Ballet Shrug – Done! Sweetie Girl wore it just this week, although it was over her soccer gear.

6. Wobbly Tote – One side done! That’s the wobbly circle intarsia-yarn-bundles-from-hell side. I’m working away at the stripey back but you knew that already.

All in all, I have to say, not to shabby. I like that it focused me on projects I’ve wanted to make for a while, balanced with a couple of new projects. If I were to set goals for fall (and I’m NOT saying I am), I’d probably toss in the chevron scarf, finishing Ariann, finishing Mia for Sweetie Girl, making a sweater, Woody, for Sweetie Boy, Clapotis, since I’ve joined the Second Wave Clapotis kal, a baby sweater or two as gifts, Juliet, a felted Noni bag and probably a sock or two, like Jaywalkers. Come to think of it, this is already sounding like way too many knitting goals. I think I’ll hold off from more knitting goals for a while… or at least until next Spring.

Wednesday WIP Report

I have a few pictures today, and a lot of old ufo busting. Hurray for clearing out the old stuff!

First up, the wobbly circles tote by Leigh Radford featured in IK Spring 2006. Our knitting group attempted this one and Madge is the only one who finished hers. And it's a beaut too! Annette has one side of hers done, and now I'm happy to report that I do too. Lookee here:




The idea of fighting the yarn bundle spaghetti to make a second side gives me hives, so I decided to change it up a little. (Meaning: lazy ass knitter is too lazy to do a second identical side.) I decided to stripe the back but decided to do it in a fibonacci sequence. (Google it; it's cool, really!) There are even random stripe generator sites that are fun to play around with. The hard part was figuring out how to make the stripes the correct numbers. I wanted the fibonacci sequence to start at the bottom and work its way up, while at the same time, start at the top and work its way down. Of course, each row would alternate. That means, if sequence A is working from the bottom up, and sequence B is working from the top down, it would be kind of an ABABAB pattern, but the number of rows each time differs. I know, it sounds complicated, but I promise I'll show you a picture when it's done. I even created a crazy chart on excel and colored the rows. Hello, my name is Mary, and I am anal.



I cast on and got quite a bit of the indigo ripples skirt done this Saturday while Harlot-watching. I just love me some knitting stockinette in the round. Of course, it was set aside on Sunday for a newer, shinier project: the Mia sweater from Debbie Bliss' Junior Knits.





I'm using Cascade 220 in a magenta color that I scored for next to nothing from the Great Knit Happens Online Sale of Spring 2007. I'm at about nine inches right now, and just about to start casting on at the beginning of the rows for the sleeves.



Finally, I finished up the blue koigu wristwarmers I've had languishing in the ufo pile for over a year. I finished them at knitting group today, and bound off at Sweetie Girl's soccer practice this evening. It got chilly enough where I had to put them on right away. Ahhhh, much better. After I have woven in the ends, given it a nice bath, and taken some pics, I'll post the details.

Have a great week!

P.S. Thanks for the nice comments about my whale stomach. My eye still gets drawn to that tummy area in the picture, and it will probably be like that forever. :)

The Yarn Harlot and Whale Stomach

I hooked you in with the title on this post, didn't I? I'm sorry to say they have nothing to do with each other. I'm sure the harlot isn't sorry. As for me, I'm sorry about the whale stomach, but more on that later.

Yesterday, the harlot was in town. Yes, I'm talking about that harlot. The Yarn Harlot. It was a day planned around her talk, and our knitting group plus a few other special guests joined us for a day of yarny goodness. Yarny goodness, knitting goodness, but please don't confuse that with fibery goodness. There wasn't any yarn shopping, but if there had been, hoo boy, it would have made a wonderful day that much more wonderfuler.

Mary Jo, Madge, Marie and Blogless Zoee in line

Carolyn, Patty, Annette, and Jillian whittling the time away in line

Here we are in our seats, knitting away patiently. Teresa in her purple Chickami and Jen in her Tangled Yoke Cardi are in the back there too. Sadly, Wendy with the big camera lens managed to escape my pictures because she was busy snapping photos. She was kind enough to take individual pics of us with The Harlot while she was signing our books.

The ultra-fabulous Ellen Bloom made a wonderful introduction.

And then she was there. Standing at the podium, speaking with her Canadian accent, capturing us with thrilling stories about yarn, knitting, and CHOKE (Cultural Humiliation of Knitters Everywhere... you had to be there). We laughed. We cried. We fell in love all over again. After about 75 minutes of her capturing our attention, we lined up for well over an hour for the book signing and your brief face to face chat with The Harlot. She is good, people. Really good. She connects with you, as we feel only knitters can, and makes you feel thanked individually for reading her stuff. It was touching. Really touching.

That's why I can't share the picture I took of her and her arse up in the air when she leaned over the counter to peek at Patty's adorable shoes. I just can't do that to her.

Hopefully, I'll have a few more other pictures for you later, or I'll give you the links to see more, specifically our group photo with The Harlot. I got to stand next to her. I even put my hand on her shoulder. Geek that I am. It was a great day, satisfying all around. You know the kind of day I mean, when you get to hang with your knitting peeps, having a rollicking good time, doing something together that you'll look back fondly at and remember as that day we went to see The Harlot. Really good.

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Still wondering what whale stomach has to do with anything? I have the modeled pictures of the Drop Stitch Lace Tank that I have been owing you for well over a month now. That's where the whale stomach part comes in. I was going to withhold the pictures from you, but after teasing you about The Harlot's arse, I thought I'd better give you something.

Drop Stitch Lace Tank sans whale stomach

Project: Drop Stitch Lace Tank from Fitted Knits by Stefanie Japel
Yarn: Brown Sheep Cotton Fleece in limelight, 2 skeins
Needles: Knit Picks Options US size 7 and 5
Start: June 2007
Finish: August 2007

Thoughts:

I knitted this in the round and shortened the length. In hindsight, I wish I had extended the ribbing higher and shortened the drop stitch lace part. I split off for the neck half of a repeat before splitting for the armholes. I finished it off with single crochet around the neck, and left off buttons, as was my original plan. It's a fun knit, especially if you're doing it in the round. Mine definitely doesn't have the va-va-voom of Carolyn's but I know that's not the sweater's fault. The cotton fleece was dreamy to work with; a great feel to the yarn but it has stretched out quite a bit, especially around the ... ahem... mid section.

Whale Stomach dead ahead!

WIP Report a Day Late

What's going on with the late WIP Reports these past two weeks? Last week, it was the power outage. This week, honestly I didn't have much to show for myself. I missed our knitting group on Monday and Wednesday, lazy sod that I am, so I procrastinated in showing you my lack of progress. Today, I'm facing the music.

Ariann has become the sweater that gets worked on at Sweetie Girl's soccer practice... once a week, she says sheepishly. She got a couple of rows added yesterday. Here's the picture. Not too different from the last picture, right?

For my nighttime tv watching brainless knitting I've been swatching. Yep, just swatching. For the Indigo Ripples Skirt. I knit the swatch in the round, so it's like I knit 2 swatches, right? Right, let's go with that idea. I even hung it up to dry to recreate as much of the actual fabric as possible, so here you go. Tahki Laguna 2000, a linen viscose blend that's almost nubby. After it's washed, it develops this great sheen. I think it'll look great on the skirt... if I ever get around to knitting it.

Here's the newest flavor of the week, Second Wave Clapotis kal. You all know what a joiner I am. I never did finished the first one that I'm using some Knit Picks sock yarn on; it's woefully narrow and may be frogged, if I could ever bring myself to rrrrripit. Now that I have a ton of yarn that I've purchased specifically for Clapotis, I think I can handle working with some luscious yarn in a pattern that is known for having a great rhythm. Thanks to tiennie knits for mentioning it on her blog. Anybody up for Clapotis-ing with me? The kal starts on September 23.

This weekend? Get ready for The Harlot!

Ravelry Swaps

I have done (or almost finished) two swaps through Ravelry, and I have to say how great it was! The first was with Lindsay of SinCityKitty who contacted me about some Noro I had listed as willing to trade or sell. After a bit of emailing back and forth on what we would swap, we agreed that she would make me a needle roll, in exchange for the yarn. I just mentioned that I like bright colors and whimsical patterns and she took it from there. And boy, did she take it from there. Lookee what I got!


Fun prints, great little detail ribbon to tie it all up, fits like a dream. Surprise! I didn’t even know I had that many dpns.


Here she is, all filled up.

I’m in the middle of my second swap with blogless Vanessa (just Vanessa on ravelry, too). I contacted her because I was looking for a couple extra balls of Debbie Bliss Cotton Angora in a pale blue color that has been discontinued for a sweater for Sweetie Girl. She said she was willing to swap and I directed her to look at my stash. Of course, with a trade in mind, I updated my stash and designated more yarn as willing to trade or sell. We agreed on swapping a skein of my Grey Valley Yarns Berkshire for her ball and a half of Cotton Angora. Done deal!

I guess the lesson in all this is, once again, we are reminded of the resources available to us through ravelry, and the openness and kindness of knitters and crocheters, even though strangers, who are willing to respond to a strange in need of something.

If you haven’t done so already, check out your friends’ stash that’s marked as willing to swap/sell. You might find a little gem. You could also check out the ISO/Destash group. Now, if I could only figure out how to find on ravelry a way to see all the yarn that people are willing to trade or sell, not just those in the Destash group…

FO at last!

I finished the Flower Basket Shawl last week, and here are the pics and details I owe you.

Project: Flower Basket Shawl by Evelyn Clark
Yarn: Handmaiden Sea Silk in Ivory, 1 skein
Needles: Knit Picks Options US size 4
Start: August 2007
Finish: August 2007

Thoughts: I really loved this pattern and whole-heartedly recommend this one. As a loose knitter, I think my lace is a bit too holey and could have gone down to size 3s, but I was too stubborn or in denial (or both) to do that. However, I can still see my flower baskets in the detail and am satisfied. The pattern was easy to master and it was so great watching the shawl grow and the detail emerge. And the sea silk… sigh. What else is there to say besides this yarn is P. E. R. F. E. C. T. If you’re looking for a lace project with a little bit of challenge and but not too big, this baby is for you.

This last picture is just because.

WIP Report on Saturday

Power has been restored, as of 4:00 a.m. Thursday and almost all is well. Except the a/c. And my internet connection is spotty. It must have blown something when we got that power surge before the power went out. I haven't had a/c since last Sunday, and still don't. Thank goodness the temps are reasonable. So what have I been working on? Oh a few things here and there...

FBS is done, blocked, dry and off the board. I'll try to post the final FO stuff this weekend. I still have to take pictures of the drop stitch lace tank modeled too. I haven't forgotten.

I cast on for Ariann after seeing Jillian's completed one. I've had this one in the queue for a while, and it was a what-the-heck moment. I can understand why people get it done so quickly (er, not that I will) because the one line pattern is easy to memorize. Just enough stuff going on to keep you interested.

I got to the first button hole and the pattern didn't give specific instructions for doing it. Patty showed me the best button hole trick ever. It's the one row buttonhole, and after I did the one on Ariann, I had to make two more on the wristwarmers. I really love the finished look and sturdiness of these buttonholes. Thanks again Patty for being a wonderful resource and for your generosity in sharing your knowledge!

As for the wristwarmers with their brand new thumbholes, only two more inches to knit and it'll be time to cast off.

The Retro Redux Shrug is moving along but it still looks the same. Really. I'm down to the last needle change until I get to the ribbing. This one makes for good tv knitting because you just keep going and going and going.

I did cast on one more small project - the knitted jelly donut. I found the pattern through Lime and Violet's Daily Chum. In a bit of technology love, my friend Hawaii Joanne and I had a long-distance knitalong. She even had her webcam working, so I could see her working away. (Hi Jo! ) That was a blast and hopefully, we'll be able to do it again soon. No pics yet but I'll try to get some in soon.

That's all for now. Have a great weekend!

We Interrupt This Program...

My power has been out, off and on, since Sunday afternoon. No a/c since then; spotty internet coverage. We're just hunkering down in the corner to ride this out. Hope to talk to you then. Keep cool, baby.