Knitting: The great Knit Camp 2009 Adventure, part 1

Since I teased everyone on Sunday, I'll start with a pic:

From Knit Camp

And I actually started writing this Sunday... bullet points mostly. I wanted to jot down notes so as not to leave anything out. I mean everyone knows I talk a lot, how can writing be any different. Plus I want to be able to relive it all over again. So this will be a heavy picture post and probably quite wordy. You've been warned.

I picked up Audra Thursday afternoon and we jumped onto the Hwy and headed out of town. I expected to be stuck in traffic, but was pleasantly surprised. It was a pretty easy drive until we crossed over from Wheeling into PA. Around that change over it was A. Dark, B. Curvy and windey and windy and C. HILLS! Oh yeah and there was a bit of precipitation. Mostly light snow. It was all good, I maintained fairly well but then... we took the correct exit and all... but I was in unfamiliar territory. Anyone that knows me, knows that the Pittsburgh Ikea is like my homing beacon. My trips to PA typically always start there. I know HOW to get there. And I also know how to get around FROM there. Well, we weren't stopping at Ikea first, this time. So the directions had me going direct to Sarah's place in McDonald. Let me talk about that place for a second... it's mall, quaint and off the beaten track. Like most of the outer-lying burbs of Pittsburgh, its hilly and curvey and in the dark, this can be treacherous. So we drive along in the dark, hoping to come out somewhere. I did make one wrong turn but that was quickly corrected and eventually ended up in the right spot, well mostly right spot. All good.

We were quite pooped, but stayed up knitting and talking anyway. This is where my first knitting error of the weekend occurred. I was working on my lovely green shibuiknits sock yarn in the Cablicious pattern. I had already re-cast on for this project once, and messed up again, so I cast on a 2nd time. I don't recall exactly what happened but after the 2nd fail, I decided green shibui was not meant to be cablicious. I pulled out Lorna's Laces and c/o with that. So far, so GOOD. It's looking lovely although I haven't gotten too far, quite yet.

Friday morning, up fairly early. We went to breakfast at an Eat 'N Park (my new fave restaurant). Nothing special about it, it's just fun. We went to the one in Bridgeport because of course there was a yarn shop there.

Carol's Needleworks

From Knit Camp

While there, we chatted with Carol. She was quite nice and helpful and had lots to say! I bought 3 skeins of sock yarn and 1 sock blank.

From Yarn Stash

From Yarn Stash

From Yarn Stash

From Yarn Stash

Next we loaded up and headed out to Squirrel Hill to a fave place, Knit One. We were hoping the owner would be there, because she's a real fun sort, another chatty lady, but alas, one of her workers was there instead. They were having a sale on one of my FAVE yarns, Mirasol Hacho... and can you believe I didn't buy any?! Totally true. I was so overwhelmed while there, I get that way. They had several Namaste bags, needlecase and Jordana Paige, too! SO I bought a bag. (which for some reason I haven't photo'd). It cost way too much, but I don't care cause I love it. It's this gorgeous shade of purple and was REALLY hard to pick. They had the bag that both Molly's have, but it was in RED. I walked around the store for like 20 minutes with that one slung on my shoulder. But... the purple one kept calling out to me. I asked Sarah for help and she voted on the purple one, it has way more pockets and compartments, etc, so purple it is! I bought the bag and walked out... fast! With no yarn. :)

Then we made it over to Natural Stitches, which I was excited to get back to. Hadn't made it there on the last trip to town. They were having the biggest effing sale, it was RIDICULOUS! And can I mention, they have one of the BEST selection of yarns EVER! Anyway... heaven. I bought Cascade Sierra, blue and red it's a cotton blend and 2 skeins of malabrigo sock yarn. It was all so scrumptious!

From Yarn Stash

From Yarn Stash

Finally we were finished with yarn stores, then we headed over to Trader Joe's cause it's in the same plaza, got some goodies and off to camp we went. We arrived at the lodge, the whole area there is beautiful. I should have gotten better pictures, but the camera was packed away and inconvenient. Anyway, we unloaded, grabbed some yarn and stuff and headed up to the dining hall. We met new people, sat and knit, went to dinner and after dinner attended a class based on Norah Gaughan's knitting nature hexagon pattern. It was interesting. After that, we headed back to the lodge and hung out with more knitting, where I failed to pay attention and messed up my Opulent Raglan! :(

This is the dining hall

From Knit Camp

This was our dinner treat:

From Yarn Stash

Woke up entirely too early on Saturday, did some knitting and back to dining hall for breakfast. Where we were surprised with yet another treat:

From Yarn Stash

After breakfast, we headed back down to the basement at the dining hall. Hung out for a bit and then the folks from Raspberry Hill Farms brought out Pretty Boy Floyd the Alpaca. He was quite a sweetheart!! They also brought BUNCHES of yarn and roving, so of course I bought some of that. I bought the already spun yarn although I really wanted to buy some roving, but since I'm not a spinner yet, I figured I would wait. I also bought a skein for Sarah for her birthday, since I'm a nice sister.

Isn't he the cutest?!

From Knit Camp

Can't remember the name of this Alpaca

From Yarn Stash

This one is from Travista

From Yarn Stash

I had planned on buying Floyd's yarn, but it was a darker shade of brown and I really liked this lighter one.

After all that excitement we did some more knitting. There was a gal that was there to teach Crochet and show how to make a granny square, but she left at breakfast because she was sick. So I overheard someone talking about it and volunteered to help out... where I ended up being the instructor. It went ok... I lost a person by the way side. I offered to go back but she just sat and listened instead. Anyway, most everyone "got it" and it was good. Funny thing, I haven't made a granny square in YEARS... but once I started, it all came back to me! And then, by golly it was lunch already!

Of course we got another treat. The first photo has the TOTE bag we received. There was also a skein of yarn tucked inside. I'll probably use this yarn for baby booties or a hat or something. Only have 1 skein, heaven only knows where I'd find another.

From Yarn Stash

And with that, I'll end part 1. I was REALLY going to make ONE big post, but I've already been working on this forever and well, I want to get a LITTLE knitting done today and get to bed. There's always tomorrow, stay tuned!

Knitting: At knit camp.... HA!

So let's start by talking about what I didn't do at knit camp this weekend. KNIT.

Seriously... it felt like everything I touched turned bad. I worked a little on xxx and messed something up... switched projects and well something went awry there too, so all in all sort of a frustrating knitting sort of weekend.

However..... there were SOOOO many wonderful and amazing things to talk about here. Unfortunately, I'm totally teasing you and not posting it all right now.

Ok... a little more of a teaser for the week to come... plus my thoughts so I don't forget everything! :)

There was some shopping (ok, LOTS of shopping), Pretty Boy Floyd the Alpaca (real sweeatheart!), new friends, an auction, projects, camp goodies, IKEA... and oh the stories. I met some of the most wonderful knitters this weekend. It was a great trip and I even did an impromptu class on how to make crochet granny squares?!

Anyway... I should get to bed... so pictures and stories of Knit Camp to come.

Knitting: The Opulent Raglan

So due to the crazy hectic week last week, I didn't have too much of an opportunity to work on this sweater. I made a bit of progress here and there, but not really much until this weekend. I did many rows between the 2 days. I like it so far, it's a pretty easy repeat... and the sides/underarms and back are all stockinette. It's nice because instead of just going around and around forever, the middle cable section adds a point of interest. And when I'm going around it doesn't seem like it's taking me too long to get back to that section, so that's cool too. I definitely understand why those that have made it said it's a fast knit. In some respect it is. I think my stuff just seems to take forever because I'm always making larger sizes which use a LOT more stitches. :)

ION... Coraline, 3D! WOW! (don't worry liz, you can keep reading, I won't spoil it). It was actually my first 3d movie... yes EVER! It was a cute story, I was uber tired when I went though and got a little drowsy towards the end. I never officially FELL asleep, but I think I closed my eyes a couple of times. Not sure if anyone could tell behind the 3d glasses though.. HA!

But seriously... there was the cutest part at the beginning and I just laughed and laughed. I thought it was really well done, all of it! And the bonus part was that part way through Coraline is out shopping with her mom and she's wearing what look like knitted stockings and a knitted skirt!!! AND, the thing she wants most in the store is a pair of stripey knitted gloves! LOL I thought it was sooo funny that of all clothing they could have drawn for her, it was knitted garments. Too awesome.

I guess that's about all the update that is in me at the moment. Here are a few shots of the sweater. A close up of the cable section and another one showing more of the "make."





OH and aren't you all impressed... yes I've cast on a few new things of late but I have meticulously been sticking to one project for more days at a time. Perhaps before it was lack of interest in projects... or now I just have that need/desire to finish? Who knows... anyway, I'm liking that I'm having some doneness in my life. One sweater nearly finished (still not entirely seemed), and another well on it's way. You know, now that I think about some of those unfinished projects, I realize that the majority of the undone stuff was stuff I was making for other people. Maybe that's the problem, I can't seem to finish stuff because it's not for me?! That's a bit selfish, but I think that might be it! Hhhmmm....

In other news, I picked up the new Debbie Bliss Spring/Summer. I like a couple of things... the sweaters as is would cost a fortune because the DB yarn is not cheap! I'm anxious to see knit picks new cotton blend option and maybe try out swish as well. After the op rag, I really should look into doing something more for spring summer. Of course that will require new yarn because most of what I have now is wool and not really summer friendly. :)

Oh and in Ravelry news... someone contacted me about a different Verena sweater. It seems they needed help with the pattern. I had to go back and pull out my summer issue. She is making a pattern I really like and was having trouble interpreting the chart. I think I helped, but I thought it was really nice that she reached out. It doesn't look like she's super updatey on Ravelry, but I hope she posts about it.

I actually do have a lot more to say about stuff I've read recently and other patterns, but I'm going to go... the more I write, the less I knit and I really want to get started on those shaping decreases... off I go!

Knitting: Crazy good times... and with ICE CREAM CAKE!

ok, does that not look seriously amazing?!

It totally was! And while we all devoured it, I think it was the quietest part of the evening... the only noises were mmmsss... and aaaahhhsss...

Oh and one of my favorite parts of the night... I went to the bathroom (ok, not so amazing), but apparently while I was gone, something funny happened and EVERY SINGLE person there was laughing LOUDLY... it was awesome to walk into this room full of laughter... it made me laugh and I missed the joke entirely!

I brought pizza for the group, a place I hadn't tried before, but I really liked it. I thought the cheese could use a bit more flavor, but I'm always about the cheese, really!?! :)

Then the girls brought out the cake, totally shocking surprise and sooooooo amazingly nice. I mean, I seriously have the best knitting group ever. Lisa brought a bottle of $2 buck Chuck... awesome! The cake was chocolate with Black Raspberry Chip ice cream in between layers and topped with bittersweet chocolate syrup, whipped cream and chocolate sprinkles. YUM!

I know I've said it a few times, but I am so fortunate to know these people. At first it was just like group knitting with people, yay... but slowly, it's evolved into this thing we like DESPERATELY cling to on a bad week (which for many was this week)! LOL... but through the last many months these gals have become... well not just knitters I know... but people that I am glad to call my friends.

I think the majority of us like TV (even if its bad and reality based) and it seems we love different music and movies and of course we have the common love of awesome yarn and knitting. So yeah, maybe first it was about the knitting, but as we've all come to grow together it just becomes this awesome community. We are all bummed when someone misses... and our newer people that have been coming for a few weeks, well it's like they've always been there. So yeah... great group.

And on a week when bad car EXPENSIVE problems crop up and work is going to crap, my stomach has had issues most of the week... and it's your birthday and being near the end of the 4th decade (do the math, that's late 30's people!) it's kind of freaky. Like when I was in my 20's... this seemed so old. And now it's here... I still feel like those days of my 20's. Pretty carefree, sometimes serious... but you know, just living. Age really is nothing but a number, but it's also a cause to pause and wonder and may be be a little melancholy because you realize... wow, life does change and with age comes mortality, etc. So long ago, birthdays meant GROWING UP... now they mean GROWING OLD... and I'm really okay with it... as long as I have these wonderful people around me, like my fabu knitting friends.

So yeah... what started as a great week with a visit from my cousin, then turned to trash on Tuesday.... but as things do, it turned around and am having a wonderful finish! Complete with dinner tonight with friends, a movie tomorrow with a friend I haven't seen in a few months... and well, it's a sunny and beautiful Friday, who could ask for more.

Oh and my car is FIXED! YAY!

A ton of my friends on facebook and ravelry wished me well. I received text messages on my phone and some cards in the mail (and a few late night phone calls). So all in all it was a pretty effing great birthday. Thanks to so many people. I am truly amazed, astounded, proud and so very thankful for all these wonderful people in my life. I am blessed and ever so fortunate.

So here's to 37, people! It's great to be me!

Knitting: Unfinished projects, starting more projects and lot of eating!

That is what this weekend has been about.

Friday-Met up with Lindsey at Temptations. I bought some shibui sock yarn cause i've been dreaming about it. It's a lovely shade of green and should go nicely with my almost finished sweater. Then we went to Red Lobster. I had a great meal. It's been ages since I been there and it totally hit the spot. After that I came home, did a little work on the OpRag. Crashed early cause I was tired.

Saturday--it started out pretty rough. The tow truck came to get my car and take it to MAG in Dublin to be looked at. Well, like a dingbat... I took the key for it off my chain, then the driver asked me to move the car down to the pullaround area, so he wouldn't block traffic. Then he left and I came back in the house. I got ready and Brian left for work, I gathered all my stuff and where were my keys? I totally panicked! I strongly felt like I had left them in the rover. SO I call Brian and ask him about the red truck of death... will it make it to Dublin. He says, no, but drive it to where he is on 256 and take his truck. So then I look for the red truck keys... can't find them. I'm losing patience and the clock is ticking because I need to get to the bank before it closes. Finally I decide to call MAG to ask them to look in the rover for my keychain which houses the keys to my 2nd car, house, work, desk, computer, etc.... LIFE! Now every time I call the service guy, it goes to voicemail, so I PLEAD with the operator to ask someone to go find him because i have to know. She tells me there is nothing she can do and transfers me... he picks up. HALLELUJAH! I ask him, he goes to look, I'm on hold. While on hold, I remember putting stuff from the rover into a bag, maybe I threw the keys in there. He comes back can't find them, thanks for trying... and I go out to the garage, grab the bag and they are there! HALLELUJAH again!

So I get it together, and take off. I get to the bank, drive thru line looks long, I decide to go inside... holy crap... line from HELL! seriously, I counted there were like 35 people in line... and this counting was after I had been standing there awhile, so a few people had already gotten through. Sooo banking done, Cath invited me over for movies and knitting, so I went over there. In the meantime, Brian and I had texted each other about dinner and decided to meet at Taj Palace. I've been craving Indian Food for awhile. It was HEAVEN. And I tried a new dish, Aloo something. It was a spinach and potato dish. It was tasty, but it was actually better mixed with my curry sauce, too.

After that, home to knit... do some more rows on the OpRag.

Sunday--Met Molly and Betty for brunch, it was yumtastic. Then we went up to Blendon Woods for the hike. Martha was already there and then Lindsey got there. Off we went. The trails were quite snow and ice covered. We hiked up and down hills and by a stream that wound around. So then after awhile we were at a cross road. The group wanted to go towards the Nature Reserve area and I had enough at that point, so opted to take the trail we came from and head back. It was a nice solitary walk. I stopped a few times and took some photos (to be uploaded soon). Then I waited in my car for the gang to catch up and we went to Baja Sol to knit. And eat.

Then I came home and am knitting some more. I'm almost to the point of joining for the body.

So as far as unfinished work.... I haven't worked on my entrelec socks. I haven't worked on my Schooner sock #2. I haven't finished seaming my sweater. I've been slowly working on this opulent raglan. Not so big a deal, but it just feels like I should be going faster and that it would be further along.

Well, I have to go find the camera cable so I can get these pics uploaded and show all my advetures.

Knitting: Opulent Raglan, an update.

I should have added this pic to the last post because I really have nothing more to say. I'm in the motivated vein to be working on this project so I brought it to work with me today for lunchtime knitting. It's still in it's infant stages so I don't have to LUG a lot around. Hopefully I'll get a row or some done while at lunch.

Speaking of rows... I've noticed a couple of spots of rowing out... weird thing is, it's not the WHOLE row... it's only a little part, like right in the middle... weird. I'll have to pay a big more attention. I don't usually have the problem, of course it's been awhile since I've done stockinette NOT in the round. I've noticed my knit guage has gotten a little tighter. I think it's from too much sock knitting on US1 with smaller weight yarn. I did so many worsted wt project for so long I became very consistent. I guess that is a good reason to keep multiple things going all the time, get your hands trained for the big and all the little stuff.

Speaking of big (ok, apparently I did have more to say, just not on the OpRag), I was reading through 2 of my Aran sweater books that were aquired recently. I REALLY love the one... and oddly enough I thought I would like the OTHER one better, but no matter. Anyway, it gives great description on HOW to design your own pattern and how to use the stitch panels, etc. Information I kind of know already, but it was still nice to read anyway and I LOVE some of the stitches in this book.

I don't however "care" for the construction/finished piecing of the sweaters in the book, perhaps I need to reread that part... but in any case, I was thinking of going back to Barbara walker's design construction for the top down... but I have plenty to work on right now... but the wheels they are turning. I would like a big bulky aran sweater, it's one of those things I've always wanted.

And for some time, I've really wanted to make a sweater for my dad and I can't remember how to spell the STYLE but I know it sounds like Coweechin. It's one of those sweaters, typically done in natural spun aran or bulky yarn and they typically have an animal on them. Anyway if you know what I'm talking about, please remind me of the spelling and if you don't know, I promise to look for it this weekend and post about it again. Anyway, so yeah,I want to make one of those for my dad.

Ok... I better get some work done. The sooner the work day goes by, the sooner I get to go hang with my girls and knit! :)

Knitting: A continuance

So I decided earlier to just chuck it and continue on with my Opulent Raglan with WOTA that I had started the other day. I definitely like the color and I'm just hoping in the end it will soften up and feel better. And that I will be able to happily and unitchily wear it.

In other news, Entrelac socks are coming along slowly. It's ok, they are a nice project to work on now and again. I've gotten lots of compliments on the colors I'm using and the design.

I have updated pics of both the sweater and the socks, but am too lazy to upload right now. I'm sure glad it is Wednesday and we are one day closer to the weekend. It's been a long "work" week so far. I'm making progress on my accounts, but it seems there is still so much be done and I'm just not that motivated.

I guess that is all for now... more work on the sweater the bed!

Knitting: Unprogressively

So last night... after much thought wrangling (?) I decided to try the OpRag in the DK Weight Ranco. I cast on (including the 20% extra stitches), I made a few rows... and then became perplexed. While I had calculated the horizontal guage needing 20% extra stitches, hadn't really thought about ROW guage... and at that point, it was a little more math than my tired brain cared to think about.

So, I decided to cast on for a bag I've been wanting to make, the Sipalu bag. This is the bag that came with the Knit Picks Palette yarn sampler. Cast on 240 stitches... YIKES! And it's a provisional cast on. So I'm thinking, hey what a great idea, I'll just cast on to a cable needle with that cast on where you like wrap the yarn and hold the auxillary piece (in this case the options cable). So as I get READY to do this... I realize, oh crap... this is on a size TWO and stupid knitpicks doesn't have interchange for size 2! DARN! So I stop, grab some cotton and start the cast on. I was about 15 stitches in and something happened. I couldn't figure out what part of the motion I was at, so I started over. Then I tried again... I kept losing count and starting over and then the stitches looked weird and there was a lot of "am I doing this right?"

So, after much thought and trial and error, I ended up doing a crochet chain type provisional cast on. Little bummed about it because I was trying to avoid it, oh well, it works, I know it does, so there ya go... now let me just talk about 240 stitches on a US2! HOLY COW!!!

But I started the pattern, it's not difficult, just time consuming. I didn't even make it through a whole row. I could have, but thought better of it because it was getting late, etc. Granted I COULD have stayed up and knit all night, but I used better judgement. I read a few more pages of Mary Thomas (man she cracks me up!).

So today, back to lunchtime knitting and working on the entrelac socks. I'll be taking these to my knit togethers this week as well. And hopefully I'll continue into the weekend with them. Dare I say maybe even get one finished? Ha! It's a long shot. Entrelac isn't difficult, but I've noticed it is definitely time consuming.

There it is, my un-progress. Oh yeah and I didn't finish seaming the sweater either!

Knitting: Goodies and there's the seaming, too

So last night, I was UBER excited to start the seaming on the Verena Cable sweater. Much to my dismay... I was definitely not ready for it. See the plan was to do a three needle bind off for the should seam, pick up the still LIVE neckline stitches and finish the neck, then complete rest of seaming.

So, I picked up my handy books, BW, Knitting from the top and Nancy W's Finishing Techniques... well, the 3 needle bind off while a good THOUGHT, probably not the best to use because of the pull on the shoulders from the sleeves. And while lofty feeling this is a heavyish sweater and I know me and I pull on things anyway... so scrap that idea, which then meant I had to BIND off! So I did that, then I tried 3 different times to start seaming and I just did not like the way it looked. Both Nancy and Barb talking about lying the pieces side by side, which I did... but it just didn't look right. So, I went back to my sewing 101 experience. I put right sides together and did a version of Nancy and Barb's weaving seam stitch. Anyway... after alla that, I got the shoulders finished.

I did a trial try on and the neck opening barely fit over my head (whoops, guess the bind off wasn't so stretchy) and I sat there on the floor with my "smock" on for awhile... and then I noticed how WARM it was. Heaven. So I got out of my daze and removed the smock and started on the sleeves. This was tricky because I was attaching a bound off edge to a very neat knitted edge. Anyway, sleeve 1 done, then onto sleeve 2 where I got about half way finished. I was tired of seaming. So I will resume that tonight.

Now let us talk about the goodies... yesterday I received PACKAGES... not just one, but three!!! One-from knit picks (with gooey yarn and needle goodness oh and books, too) and 2 pkgs were from Amazon... more books (YAY!). So I felt a little spoiled. Here is the run down in bullets. Pictures to come soon.

-WOTA Worsted in Amethyst Heather (for Knitscene's Opulent Raglan)
-WOTA Kettle Dyed in Ivy, Spruce, Eggplant, Gold and Bordeaux (for Knit Camp project)
-Harmony options in 5 and 6 for OP Rag (see above)
-Needle sizer for Lisa (froggyknits)
-Vintage Knitwear (book)
-Cables and Arans (Harmony Guides)

So that was a great package! I was on fire to start the oprag and because I couldn't find my copy, the wonderous Cath (and hubs Jimmy) helped me out and sent me a copy via email. I still have one room to tear apart looking for this mag but at least I knew how many stitches to cast on, so I did. I did about 4 or 5 rows and it's going along nicely but then I got that icky knot in my stomach... am I doing the right thing?

Here's the deal on one of my trips to Pittsburgh last year, I bought this GORGEOUS Araucania Ranco (Solids) tealish yarn. Gorgeous I tell ya! Anyway, I bought plenty of yardage per the OPRag's yardage req's. Well I had a DUMBASS attack apparently because the guage is comeplely different. The oprag is knit in a worsted weight and the ranco is a dk weight. So I am looking at 19 and 24 stitches per inch difference. At first my thought is to just rework the design and do it to the guage on the ranco, which involves a lot of math. Well, last fall, I just wasn't ready for all that, so I set the yarn and pattern aside for a later date.

Well because I finished (almost) one sweater, I was very much in the mood to cast on for a new one. I wanted to do the Jackie O sweater and have the yarn for it, but I'm in disagreement with the pattern... and that's when the oprag popped back into mind. I ordered the yarn and I'm off.... here's the rub... or shalli say itch?! The knitted fabric so far is very rough. Now my thoughts are that I could keep going and SEE what happens, but this is a low-cut, form fitting sweater that you probably wouldn't want to wear anything under it. So do I keep going in hopes that the knitted fabric after a kookaburra wash feels soft and amazing, or will it be the itchy death of me and I won't be able to wear it?! What to do, what to do? And let me just add, that no matter how much I love a pattern, I'm not likely to make it twice, so if I knit it once and can't wear it, that is a huge waste of yarn and my time.

I wish I had more experience with the WOTA, granted I jusy used the bulky and it's pretty soft... softer than I would have originally imagined, however... the worsted weight WOTA I've noticed, seems a bit stiffer and scratchier. I think I may go ahead and leave my cast on as is for a moment. Do a little larger swatch, maybe a wrist wrap, to finish and wash and wear on my arm for a bit and see if I'm bothered.

My other idea is to go back to the original plan of the ranco and knit the sweater in a DK version. I've figured it out... between guage 19 and 24, it's a 20% difference, so I just need to use 20% more stitches right? And it's top down, so I'll be able to try on as I go. I'm thinking the ranco might work after all. :)

Goodie break... remember I got books from Amazon, too. They shipped in 2 pkgs because of differing locations.
-Traditional Aran Knitting (Dover repub of OLD book) LOVE IT!
-Patterns for Guernseys, Jerseys and Arans by Gladys Thompson (also a Dover repub of old book) LOVE it, too!
-Mary Thomas's Knitting book (SUPER old book, also from Dover)

Jackie recently reminded me about this book on one of her posts. She obtained from the library and I've been wanting it since reading EZ's books because she refers to Mary Thomas and Gladys Thompson a lot. I started reading it last night. I figured I'd go cover to cover since she talks a lot about the history of knitting and so on. It's been a good read so far and quite funny too. It just amazes me at some of the things she points out because it was originally published in 1938! Anyway, it's a cool book and for $9.95, can't beat the price.

So I am in book heaven and ecstatic over the prospect of having a finished garment. One that I can actually wear and that people will see... oh and in other geeky news, the EDITOR of Verena magazine, left me a comment! She want's to see my finished sweater when done. I thought that was incredibly nice of her to say! I realize I am a big geek, but I think it is really cool when designers or in this case editors find you on ravelry and take the time to comment, it's just nice of them.

Knitting: Lunchtime progress

So this morning, I was having a mildly bad morning. No particular REASON, I mean there are always annoyances at work... that's a given, I guess I've been a tad moody lately, so I'm taking everything VERY personal and things are bothering me more than they normally would.

Holy runon sentance batman... anyway... I was going to go out because it's a fairly nice day out, temp is not so bitter cold and the sun is out which tends to make everything a little better.

Anyway, I decided if I went out I probably wouldn't get any knitting done and for another reason, I really had nowhere to go, so that would just be a waste of gas, right? Settled it and went down to our little safe where I sat by a window in full on sun and had a tasty pot-roast sandwich, salad and KNITTED! I worked on the entrelac sock and I really like how it is coming along. That being said, I have this nagging feeling that I should really rip it out and start over. The toe isn't as "pretty" as I'd like it to be, so I'd like a do-over and I switched to US1 size needles today on the 3rd tier. I was on US2, but thought the stitches looked too loosey goosey.

It's several hours worth of work to rip apart which is why I haven't yet. But I think what if I keep going and I really hate it... that's just MORE work. But then I think... will it really matter that much in the end when they are all finished? And that part of me, thinks... no, it won't really matter that much. So I should just move on and keep going. I guess the other part of my thought process is that, these socks are for ME. Secondly because they are entrelac and I'll be able to FEEL all those little squares, I may not wear them TOO often because I have very sensitive feet and if my socks don't feel right, then I just aint right all day.

So in retrospect they will most likely be more for show and the HEY, I made those trophy. :) Anyway... I'm not going to frog, I have precious little time to do these, want to be done by end of Feb. Anyway, it's Entrelac and multiple colors which I love and the yarn is really nice. I love the project, it's fun to make, so block by block I'll keep 'er going.

And after knitting and texting Julane at lunch... the day just isn't so bad. Knitting heals, it does.

Knitting: Success

So, the front is finished! YAY! I washed it and it's drying now. I decided long ago I wouldn't make the neck the same as the pattern calls for. It's a lot of bulk around the neck area and I don't do so well with that.

For this particular sweater, the directions call to seam some stitches on each side of the shoulder. Then you add the neck piece to it and seam that in the back. Then you add the sleeves to the straight sides and seam the remaining sides and sleeves. It seems kind of clunky thinking about it, but I think I've figured out a way to make a nice finish. This will definitely be a learning experience.

Here's the plan, I am going to seam the 25 stitches on each side, I'm thinking of a 3-needle join, or I could kitchener it (so I'm not totally decided yet). But then I'm going to pick up the neck stitches which, because I unintentionally thought ahead, are NOT bound off per the pattern instructions, but are still live stitches on the options cable (don't ya just love knit picks?!). So for those live neck stitches, I'm considering a reverse stockinette neck or perhaps garter stitch. Originally garter was the plan, but after talking it out, I think the reverse stockinette might look nicer. However, if I don't like it, I can always tear it back and think of something else.

I'm definitely going to pull out Barbara Walkers Knitting from the Top book to read her seaming instructions (from what I remember they are brilliant) and I'll also scan EZ's books, too. I know she discusses some different methods. All my seaming to date has been very limited and is very bad, of course most of it has been on stuff that is inconsequential... but this, this is my birthday sweater. And I'm HOPING it fits so that I can wear it ON my birthday. :)

I will probably have to wear a cami under, and I'm hoping it won't make me itch to death. I haven't had great luck with wool, but I've also not had much experience with a handmade garment made out of wool. The pieces feel quite soft, but running your hands on them is certainly different than wearing for any amount of time.

Anyway, I'm very happy that I'm nearly finished with this project. And now I can get started on the February sock project, the Entrelac socks. YAY!

Knitting: The finish line is looming

So, I'm 60% done on my BIG Cables sweater! I'm very excited. I wanted to be done and blocked by today, but things happen. I thought I would get more knitting done on Saturday, however life being what it is, things change... and not for the bad.

Cath and I met up at the Merc yesterday, they were having a superbowl Sock yarn sale, so 25% off.... I bought some Ella Rae, Lace Merino. I've been looking at this particular color skein for a couple months now, but it's a little pricey, so I'm super glad I resisted the previous urge to buy. So, huge, savings on that. What a steal.

Then we decided to stop off at Wonderknits. I've been wanting to try some of the frog tree brand alpaca. Lindsey bought some while back and I've been curious ever since. So, I bought red, grey and black for possibly another buckeye hat in either stripes or color stranding/fair isle. We also stopped off at this little consignment store, and I bought a cute little cardigan for Addison and a super cute Baby Gap outfit (complete w/little shoes) for Ashley's baby girl, McKenna. She's not here yet, but they have a name picked out already. The outfit is 3-6 month, so since it's a pants outfit, it should be perfect for fall.

Then we finally made it to Zen Cha. I was a little bummed because they were only serving a brunch menu (completely unsafe for diabetics). Everything was sweet and I really wanted dumplings. But, I ended up with the Arabian Spice waffles which were amazing. The waffles had walnuts mixed in the batter and were topped with Orange slices and this Cardamom Orange spicey syrup... oh my heaven! YUM! I have a pic, but haven't downloaded (call me lazy). Cath got these fruity pancakes that looked amazing and I had a little taste and they were!

We knit for awhile and had great tea as well. Then went on to World Market. I suggested because I thought they might have something Cath was looking for. One of those little burners for your tea pot to keep it warm. Sadly, no. But we did buy more tea and I bought a cute teapot/mug set. Oh and some candles. So very fun impromptu shopping spree. Then we went to Cup O'Joes for more chatting and knitting. Audra was finally able to join us from work and we hung for awhile.

Cath eventually got back to Dumplings so we decided on chinese for dinner and headed back up North to Hunan House. Food was amazing! I got the Hunan Combination, my favorite oh and of course Fried Dumplings. It was so tasty. Then back to home. I did some more knitting, played with the pups oh and made some of my new tea.

I forgot to mention, Zen Cha had my fave loose tea in stock, the Lavender tea. So that is what I made last night. It was yum. This morning, I tried the World Market Pomegranite White tea I bought. It was very nice and refreshing and I bet would make a great iced tea.

I did more knitting this morning, too. I have 60 rows finished, so 60% of the front piece done, just 40 more rows to go. I think I will be able to finish this today... think, think, think. :)

Oh and I also bought the new issues of Vogue Knitting and Knitscene yesterday. Wasn't crazy about the knitscene, but I'm liking a few items from Vogue.

SO here's a pic of the progress. I guess I better get to it and get it done!



More pics to come.