Miscellany

I seem to be totally incapable of project monogamy, fortunately that's considered completely acceptable among knitters. No one seems to find it too inappropriate that I bounce from project to project, although they might just be too polite to mention it.

The Big Purple Shawl, also known as what I'll be wearing to Northwestern Football Game Tailgates the instant it gets finished, is coming along nicely.  I have just over a skein left to go. If I actually gave it some serious knitting time, it would, of course, get done much faster. I'm doubtful that this will occur before October and the first homegame is Saturday, but there will certainly be other opportunities.



I have made some progress on the Philosopher's Belt. The challenge with that is needing to crochet yarn, then knit, then wonder if I've made any progress, then crochet yarn, then knit... Even though it's only 9 stitches per row, it seems to be taking forever. AudioGirl suggested running a quick single crochet along the edge once I'm done to keep it from stretching--which was a great idea. I just have to get it done and blocked.





And finally, I introduce to you the first of the Bunny Nuggets.  When the Philosopher had said he wanted to learn to knit, it was with the intention of making amigurumi for friends having offspring. As I don't crochet, this meant we were knitting and that meant Rebecca Danger. I liked the idea of a Bunny Nugget to start things off.

Now, Rebecca's a fan of Magic Loop. This is all well and good if you know how to do it. For those of us who taught ourselves via video about 30 seconds before teaching the Philosopher, it was just a touch of spontaneous learning.  I'm still not convinced to give up my beloved DPNs (even after they stabbed me) but I can at least get through the technique as needed.



My nugget is the smaller red one. That's just a smidge of leftover sock yarn from the socks that I knit during the last winter olympics.  We were going through my leftovers hatbox and I kept pulling out skeins and saying "Oh, this is from this event, this I was knitting during that, this is from another trip...."  I think it might have been a little intimidating for someone who was trying to pick out yarn to knit into a small stuffed animal.

The Philosopher made the larger nugget. That's Filatura Lanarota Chaco that I bought at Smiley's in New York. AudioGirl knit me a cowl out of it at one point.  I've still got a few skeins of the purple around here.

I opted for I-cord ears rather than the DPN ears I think she recommended?  The pattern is well written and we made it through in one afternoon/evening.

Birthday Yarn and Fall Baskets

Alright I know I said I'd stop with the stash yarn but I  never showed you my birthday yarn, did I?

The Incredibly Patient Mother has a spinning wheel (though I need to nudge her back towards it) and Sibling the Elder sits down and a lace shawl falls off her fingers when she stands up five minutes later.  These are good women to have shopping for you when you are a bit of a yarn-a-holic. Which I might be. Perhaps.

Anyway....back to birthday wool.

My sister knows I love all things blue and teal and purple and green and such. I'm in good company, if the Sanguine Gryphon and Wollmeise updates are anything to go by--those always seem to be the first colors that sell out. 



So she went in search, this sister of mine, for yarn that bore my name and was of a proper shade to fit in with the rest of my stash.




Isn't it pretty? :) Apparently, there is only one store in the United States that carries this particular type of Schaefer yarns. Others carry Schaefer Anne and other such but not Abigail. She tracked it down, called the shop and put in a special order for 2 skeins that are a gorgeous shade of blue with hints of gray. Lovely and squishy.

She also knit me a stunning shawl.  (I know, I'm incredibly spoiled) But I have not been in her presence or that of a certain Cartoonist or Restaurant Man of late and I need someone with a good camera. We'll do something at Christmas probably to rectify this error.






Now, my mother is also wise in the ways of the Hedgehog. Wise mother has heard me lament--at great length--that indie dyers aren't doing black and teal combinations. Brown and teal I can find in excess but not black and teal. I'm fussy, I want black. So what did she find me for my birthday?



Blue Ridge Yarns--in black and teal. Not just pretending to be black and teal but truly and vibrantly black and teal.

No clue what I'm making yet but isn't it stunning?






She also got me some handy yarn storage.  I'm sure she probably meant it for other uses as well but really, in this apartment, it's yarn storage.



Now, there are three of these, progressively smaller. And it was to my surprise not that the cat claimed them but how. She likes to sleep on top of the largest one. When she curls into a round, it's perfectly cat sized. We're still having discussions about not using ones claws on them but she's doing pretty well.

Happy and Healthy

I've been wool shopping again. Would you believe that I'm actually down from the last two years running? I started tracking my yarn purchases two years ago in a spreadsheet and was just slightly frightened when I got to the end of the year and realized what the total number was. I did slightly better in 2009 and I'm hoping to again lower that amount in 2010. I know, it would easy to say "Just stop buying" but there's so many gorgeous yarns out there, plus special projects I can't necessarily plan for, and I'm helping keep at least one LYS in business.

I did catch the 15 minute window of Wollmeise Lace a couple of days back at The Loopy Ewe. Firefox Update Add-On for the serious win. But I am a somewhat realistic hedgehog (stop laughing, I said somewhat) and I don't knit with laceweight more than once in a blue moon. So I caught my sister, who also happened to be online, and suggested she pick out a color for her birthday. Birthday shopping for one sibling checked off. Most Excellent Mailman brought it by today, bless him--he hasn't asked yet what one earth I need all this yarn for and never looks at me funny when I've obviously just stumbled out of bed to answer the door. 

I was down to Ewetopia the other day for Viroqua's "Crazy Days."  I'm not quite sure what prompts those but it meant all the stores were having sidewalk sales. I went for the bakery and the yarn--I'll be honest. I got a loaf of sourdough that I'm almost through and picked up some needles from Kathryn. I got the 9" sock circulars and started a 2x2 rib on the 1s. I'm going to have to take it off and decrease the number of stitches, I cast on 60 stitches and considering the last 2x2 on 1s that I did were over 52 stitches...my guess is that it will be to big. It's in Ewetopia Fiber Hand Dyed and will be purse knitting at some point. It's currently on the living room chair of doom, marinating with about 7 other projects.

This morning we went to the veterinarian for some shots. Gypsy is now up to 8.4 lbs and that's not just fluff around the middle so apparently there was one last growth spurt waiting to happen. Dr. Jean describes her as a "very busy" cat. Personally, I think that was rather polite--nosy would be my description. Gypsy was all over the examination room, trying to get into the cabinets, attempting to escape through the door to where they do the testing, etc. She also panic shed all over my tank top, which necessitated a change of clothes when I got home before I could go out again. But she handled the shot and didn't bite or claw or show any other particular bad manners. Apparently our new challenge is teeth cleaning. So if I start showing pictures with bandaged fingers--you know why. She came home and promptly sacked out for a nap.

 

Shawling Along....

Hopes, I had them, of getting knitting done while I was recently traveling to the American Library Association Annual Conference. I wound three fresh skeins of yarn, picked out patterns with the assistance of Sibling-the-Elder, planned needles to take through airport security.

I apparently forgot my propensity to sleep on long flights. I rarely get even the "free" in flight beverage because I'm fast asleep and have no desire to be awoken for a can of orange juice. Usually I'm sleeping balancing a cup of coffee anyway--I do pretty well at that I have to say. But generally speaking 1-3 rows after take off and I'm out cold. So much knitting time lost to sleeping.

I have only ten rows left on the Rainbow Shawl and it's all lacey type rows, which meant it wasn't really conducive to traveling, being hauled to conference sessions, being dropped mid-row when I needed to do something.

I started with a "We're Different Okzident" skein of Wollmeise 100% superwash. It may not be the dyer's own exacting standards but I think it's lovely--it looks to me like all the colors one finds in a beautiful stream on a summer day: bright blue, dark blue, teal, green--it's muddled and I keep thinking I'll spot a turtle or a beautiful fish. Guess I know what kind of shawl pin I'll want to go with this when it's done.

Pattern selection was the Old Man of Storr Shawlette. I've only made one modification: the designer calls for a yarn over at the front/end of the WS rows on the lace portion--but she also has you increasing 4 stitches on the right side row of the lace portion-- one on either end and one in the middle. Only, the lace section only increases 4 stitches every 2 rows. I was adding 6 but only needed 4. I figured it out after the first couple of rows and just omitted the wrong side yarn overs, I don't think it'll be a problem.

The shawlette went lots of places in DC and was stared at by many people. I was working the garter/plain/body section so I didn't need to explain much about it, which was fine, but the wool was admired. And yes, I am aware I show a certain bit of craziness for taking wool to knit on in Washington DC, where it was hot, humid, sticky, etc--to the point that I didn't need a wrap for the evenings. I was in a lot of very air conditioned spaces also and I only own so much non-wool. 

I'm tooling right along on the lace portion and now that I have a sense of what I'm doing with it--that should go speedily. It's going to have to take back burner though for the next few days: I am volunteering/working at our major summer festival for the next four days for Kiwanis. That means I'll not be able to do anything much more than chug away at knitting.  Don't worry, I've cast on another shawlette. Or there's always that baby blanket (not wool/machine washable) that I need to finish. That baby is due in less than two months, I need to get hopping on it.