New Projects, San Francisco Visit

I got back from spring break over one week ago and still haven't posted or mentioned it. I think being plunged back into winter in Boston after the springy weather of San Francisco shocked me too much.

Time with Aidan was sprinkled with plenty of knitting. I knit most of the rest of lelah and was able to finish the edging and straps within a day or two of returning. The stockinette stitch over the bust nearly crippled me via carpel tunnel problems. It is done; it is finishes; I'm wearing it now. Actually, I'm still wearing the outfit in the photos. I wanted to not have the dorky long-sleeved t-shirt on underneath, but it warmed up to 34 degrees (Fahrenheit, mind you) today.





(Don't ask me why this photo is sideways. Blogger isn't letting me rotate it and it's not sideways anywhere else.)

In mods, on the lelah top, I finished the edging around the top in four rows of double moss stitch and continued the double moss stitch up the straps. I think I will sew bra straps to the underside of the straps so that they won't stretch so much. I didn't really figure for as much stretch in them as they are proving to have so I may have to go in and shorten them.





I took a few pictures of Aidan spinning some yarn. I'm so glad that I can share my deep desire for a niddy noddy with someone and not have them think I'm strange. Also, it was refreshing that I had someone to sit in bed with, watch Murder She Wrote and knit without feeling too ashamed of myself. I did have a few flashes of "Grey Gardens," but told myself that I only needed to worry if either Aidan or I started wearing a turban.

In other news, I seriously need to go on a yarn diet. I can no longer close the lid to my yarn tub defeating the purpose of the plastic yarn tub with a lid--to keep out pandas who want to munch on my bamboo wool. Also, I purchased some yarn at Atelier Yarns in San Fran. The first one is a gorgeous 50% silk/ 50% wool blend and the second is a orangey cotton/soy blend.





I'm thinking of knitting sizzle with the cotton soy. I have no idea what I want to knit with the silk/wool blend. I love seeing the variegated yarns, but I've concluded that I rarely like how they knit up. I think something simple like garter stitch or moss stitch would be appropriate. I'm inspired by BrooklynTweed's posting about handspun and scarves. He knits beautiful items so I won't feel so icky imitating him. Perhaps the so-called scarf pattern would work well (funny thing is that while in San Fran-my first day actually-Aidan and I went to imagiknit and saw the scarf that is in the photo that I linked to).

As for that yarn diet, I'm going to start doing some stash knitting, i.e. finding patterns to go with my yarn instead of the other way around.

Right now, the WIPs are the Hanami I started right before spring break and which only progressed a few rows until I had to frog a few rows. I need quite, calm time to concentrate on it until I know the pattern well; and right now, if I can't knit it in front of the tv, it's not getting knit. Secondly, I just cast on the Swan Lake Cardi and the pattern isn't too hard at all so I expect to make the most progress on that one.

Now that Summer's Just Around the Corner...

I'm gonna knit me some dishcloth-cotton hot pants!The pattern on the Peaches & Creme website says it only takes 2.5 balls of yarn.

Actually, this is my FAVORITE brand of cotton yarn. The colors are nicer and it's softer than Sugar N Cream. I've only found it at Wal-Mart though, and there aren't any Wal-Marts in San Francisco.... The Mason-Dixon special pack available on the website of 12 skeins for $15.99 is pretty tempting.

LYS Conflict

So, on Thursdays I have about 40 minutes to kill between my last class and when I need to leave to go to ballet at 6:20 pm. Unfortunately, my lys is open until 7 and practically next door to my law school so I usually end up wondering over there to look at yarn (I could do work, but really now). Today I went over there for the purpose to pick up the teeniest crochet hook ever so that I can do the beaded cast on for my Hanami wrap. I realized that I could MacGyver something but knowing me, it would be just one more thing to delay my cast on. That and crochet hooks are about a dollar. I found my hook size 0.90mm and realized that I had no cash on me and that there is a minimum purchase requirement for plastic.

I then remembered that I needed a new needle gauge. I found out last week that my old one was wrong. All my size 6 needles where fitting the size 5 whole. I was really offended that my needle gauge was erroneous. It's like buying a ruler where the fifth inch is shorter than the others. I know knitting isn't an exact science, but really now, this was just insulting (and confusing).

So with my tiny, tiny crochet hook in one hand and my new needle gauge in the other I still didn't have enough for the minimum so I bought some sock yarn. Trekking pro natura to be exact. It's purple and kinda shimmery because it is 25% bamboo. I've been wondering about bamboo as a fiber and have shied away from it so far. There is something about the texture that is off putting to me. Additionally, I don't know how to panda-proof my yarn tub. This yarn is soft and the other 75% is superwash wool.



The big issue is that I spend too much money at my lys and am conflicted because while my lys has decent prices for Boston I can usually find the yarn cheaper on line. I want to support my lys, but it's tough competition. For instance, the price of Sugar 'n Cream yarn was 2.50. At Hobby Lobby/Crafts Etc. it only costs 1.69. I know that the lys has more overhead than an online store and must use the profits to pay rent, salaries, stolen inventory.

Bubble Bursted and Mellow Harshed

So, after my project finishing orgy, I was really excited to start new projects! Projects that I had been itching to make.

The first is the Hanami wrap. I went to PayPal to transfer the measly 6 bucks and was waiting for the transfer to go through. I got impatient and decided to go ahead and purchase the pattern so the file could be sent to me as soon as the funds went through. That's when I found out I could just purchase with my debit card through PayPal without all the waiting. Yippee! I got the 12(!) page pattern and rushed to the law school's computer lab to print it out.



I already had the yarn which I bought at Morehouse Farms on the Rhinebeck odyssey with NB. This yarn was the only yarn that I was shopping for at Rhinebeck and didn't even purchase it at the festival. It's the perfect cherry tree blossom color. The pattern calls for beaded cast on and am so glad I kept my mini-tackle box of beads from my junior high days. In my collection, I have a small number of beads that are clear with white centers that my aunt (the same one who gifted the doily to Aidan) gave me years ago. I think that they would like to be part of the Hanami.



Inside the tacklebox:



The second project that I'm excited to start is my Swan Lake Cardi from Interweave Knits, Spring 2007.



I purchased the yarn, Brown Sheep Cotton Fleece, months ago and then realized I didn't have a pattern. NB saved the day again by gifting me a copy of the magazine (is that included in GI?). Also, since I already swatched in the called-for needlesize and kept my swatches for this yarn for the Lelah top, I don't have to do a swatch for the cardi! I can hit the ground running.

Speaking of Lelah--I'm currently working on finishing the top. It was kinda a bummer that all the Raverly posts for the top said it was a quick weekend knit. Somehow I manage to make the easy impossible. I'm making it longer with a tighter gauge and am adding straps. I casted on in August, put it down in September and just now picked it up again. Maybe it'll be ready for August '08.

With all of these new projects, I need more project bags. A while ago I purchased a bunch of Sublime Stitching embroidery iron on transfers. The transfers are fabulous patterns like Sushi, Dia de Los Muertos, Monkey Love. I think they need to be on some new knitting bags. In a search for blank canvas bags, I went to the first store that I associate with cheap and crafty, Hobby Lobby. Did you know that Hobby Lobby is online? And through their partnersite, Crafts etc., you can order all the cheap Sugar n' Cream yarn you want? Whoboy! They have canvas bags for like 2 bucks. I'm going to be like Miss Trixie from Confederacy of Dunces only my bags biodegrade.

So I'm all excited about these things today and then right before my class on Civil Disobedience I learn that a rough draft of my paper is due March 12. In a week. I don't even have my research done. Crap! Yeah. That's a problem. I don't think much more knitting is going to happen until San Francisco.

100% Done

Almost forgot. Medusa and O Brother:

Bootylicious II--revised booty count

OK. After a little prying/research, I found out that J&S are having a boy. J&M are also having a boy (they just found out today!). I guess you could consider both little boys to be my nearly-nephews. Two other friends are having girls. Then there are the babies that are already born: a girl for D, and a boy for K&E.

So, my booty schedule is thus: finish the almost done booties (blue) for K&E. Knit the other green booty for D. Then, make two pairs pink and two pairs blue. Fortunately those babies aren't all due until Summer.

Argo-scarf, another Dishrag, Holy *#!@ I Can't Believe Some Lady Made This

Here's a very belated picture of my argosy/argonaut scarf that I made last winter. It was such a long time ago that I don't even remember what the real name is, but I do know that the pattern was on Knitty. You may notice some color differences between the two legs of the scarf. See, I used two skeins of Aruncana Alpaca that I bought at Uniquely Yours in Rolla. I probably should've done that "knit every other row with alternate balls of yarn" thing. Like that was gonna happen.

What can I say about the Ball Band Dishrag? I love knitting these guys. $3 for so much fun! If I named this one "tequila sunrise over the Pacific" I would make myself barf. But at least I'd have a nice reusable rag to clean up with.

And lastly, this is a very old cotton doily that my aunt sent me last year for my birthday. She said she paid $.10 for it at a church flea market. It's been sitting on my desk for the last 8 months, and I still can't get over it. Some person (some gal, probably, right?) made this thing. Out of thread. It's crazy.

Donezo!

Knitting Be Not Proud: After not being able to knit much the past week or two, I bit the bullet and finished two (2) projects today. I finished the i-cord edging on the Mary Jane house shoes and knitted the strap. Next time, I make a pair I'm definitely going to make sure that I bind off very loosely around the hole. It was a nightmare picking up stitches for the attached i-cord. The first shoe I did was a bit wonky. I kept shredding and piercing the stitches I had to slip over the picked up stitch on the i-cord.



All in all I like them, and since I'm no longer so puzzled about which end of the sole is the heel and which one is the toe, the next pair will be a snap.

In other finished news, I finally attached the handle to my Brea purse and wove in the ends. I still didn't crab stitch around the top and it does seem a bit saggy/floppy. I'm sure a lining would help to fix that but I'm not gonna hold my breath. It took me way too long to do the finishing on this as it is.



Oh, and I did finish my Fetching gauntlets. These too (like everything I knit) took too long for what they were. I ended up frogging the first one that was too loose and reknit it. So really, I make 1.5 pairs of these.



This isn't a finished picture but shows the first gauntlet on the left and it's floppiness. The finished pair are made out of alpaca and are nice and warm. I am contemplating putting a drawstring of ribbon around each wrist to keep them snug.