Sunday, January 20, 2008




It's Moving Along




I love working on size 13 needles. You can see from the photo that I've finished the back of the Stained Glass sweater. That's Indie inspecting my work.
No additional progress on any of the other projects but since I've got half the right front done too, I'm pretty pleased.

Since I've been "organizing" the stash, I've been swifting skeins into balls before storing them. Here's Lucy surpervising the squirrels as well as my activity.




Wednesday, January 16, 2008


Focus, or Lack Thereof

I can't seem to concentrate on one project at a time. Last night I tried to start the Hemlock Ring again for the Ready Set Knit KAL to no avail. Then I knit a few rounds on the angora hat. And then knit about 10 rows on the "stained glass" Manos sweater. Oh, and I started a cup cosy with some Kureyon. I'm wondering if it's adult ADD.

Speaking of angora, how do you avoid getting it in your mouth? I certainly don't put the fiber in my mouth but I always seem to end up either angora or mohair in my mouth when knitting with it. And will this be a problem when I'm wearing the garment?

Well, I need to get busy finishing a baby sweater for a friend who is coming to town at the end of January. I certainly have enough of them started so it should be (relatively) easy. Meanwhile I have a list of dog sweaters I need to do too. My original list was 2 dogs, but it's up to four. Luckily three are small and only one is medium. I am amazed at the selection of patterns. I have a pattern for a cabled shrug. I'm going to try felting too.

Monday, January 14, 2008

Can't Get It

I've ripped out the Hemlock ring. Again. I don't know what it is about it. It's a challenge!

Sunday, January 13, 2008


I Have No Self-Control

The stash still sits in the dining room in all it's glory. The cats have taken to stealing parts of baby sweaters and dragging them all around the house. This, of course, is my fault for leaving out there and not finishing them. The children for whom they were intended are surely too big for them now.

I went to my local LYS yesterday to pick up my Tilli Tomas Disco Lights sweater where they finished it. It's gorgeous!! And it fits! I couldn't believe it. Success. So riding the wave of those good feelings, I succumbed in a BIG way. I bought some Kureyon to work on the Sandy sweater from Big Girl knits--I'm always about a year behind on KALs and just discovered this--I have a load of Brown Sheep from a KAL I never finished so I figured, I have half the yarn already. And you know what--I'm glad I bought it in the LYS because I got advice on the colorway. If I was on my own, I would have gone too matchy matchy.

And then I spied a basket full of new yarn called Rowan Cocoon--it's a heavy worsted in natural colors and is a blend--there's mohair in there. It's beautiful. And since I want to participate in the WEBS Hemlock Ring KAL, I had to buy some. I think this was much more costly than the yarn that was recommended but I LOVE it. I started it twice last night but had problems--need to start again in daylight. I was watching the Clive Owen movie Shoot Em Up at the same time--not a good mix because my attention was divided.

So while I was at it, I bought more of the same yarn in a different colorway for a sweater--the shop had done a sample of a cable cardigan from Melissa Leapman's Hot Knits. And Addi Turbos. Now if I could only find the book.

But that's not all. I wanted to make myself a hat and saw a pretty angora and sequin sample on display. Had to get it for myself--choose black angora and silvery sequin on black thread. I've got a good 2" done already.

And then a mother/daughter team came into the shop and sat down to work on their projects. One of the ladies was working on cardigan designed at the shop. It's a swing silhouette and made on size 13 needles using Manos del Uruguay and Lana mohair. I selected an orangish-ombre-ish (color V) colorway and have at least 4" done. I'm loving this too.

I resisted purchasing two skeins of Disco Lights in Parchment--I already have two and don't really know what I'm going to do with them.

And finally I just pulled out the Noro Silk Garden entrelac scarf--I think I already posted about how I don't like the reverse side of entrelac. I'm going to knit it in a rib pattern, alternating two rows of different colorways. It's nice and portable too.

Monday, January 07, 2008


Stash and Burn
I moved everything into the dining room to force myself to manage my stash. And here everything sits since Saturday. And I can't find my wristwatch. Oh, well.

Sunday, January 06, 2008




January KAL: AmpleKnitters
I've joined the AmpleKnitters group on Yahoo. We're doing the pattern called Oblique from Knitty.com. The official cast on isn't until next week but I needed to try this out a bit to make sure I could handle the yarn overs etc for the lace knitting (my foray into lace didn't work out on the SOTS or Mystic Waters). I'm enjoying it very much and like the look. I'm using Blue Sky Alpaca Organic Cotton in Nut. I'm a slow knitter, so hopefully a ton of people will get to the cuffs sooner than I--I don't like the turned back cuffs and will need to modify. More on this to follow, I'm sure!

Saturday, January 05, 2008




Mission Accomplished!!!




I've finally worked my way through two UFOs--the novelty hat I got from FinePoints and the Simple Fair Isle Hat from Diane Soucy at http://www.knittingpureandsimple.com/ (it was a free pattern). I used cashmere yarn I picked up at AC Moore for the Fair Isle and love the color combination if I do say so myself, but the final product is gigantic--I clearly didn't pay enough attention to gauge. I'm going to try to felt it tomorrow. The novelty hat is very cute although I'm still unclear how the top was supposed to be finished. It's supposed to have a pom pom or some other ornament on top. I used Noro--I think it was Kureyon and it's nice and warm. I just wish there were a way to avoid hat hair.

Thursday, January 03, 2008

Been Too Long

Haven't made much progress on anything lately. First I was busy working on a new business pitch at work, then I got a sinus infection, then the stomach bug going around and then the holidays hit. I'm still trying to organize my stash. I've given my mom several small batch of yarn for hats to donate and I still have more yarn than I know what to do with. I'm a slow knitter so although I'm in the midst of several sweaters, I wonder if I should start on a cotton shell for the Stitch and Beach cruise at the end of February.

One of my New Year's resolutions is to stitch more and bitch less...I figure both will make me a better person. I imagine I may have more time for this since my boss informed me yesterday that although we won the business as a result of the presentation I mentioned above, they don't care to work with me. And since only 35% of my time is covered by client business, she suggested I may want to consider other options. Outside the agency. This was a tremendous blow because I had a wonderful job offer just three months ago and they talked me into staying--I didn't hold them up for money or title or anything else. Well, lesson learned, right?

I have finished two hats that were in progress--I need to get someone to photograph me in them so I can share them. The first is a cashmere hat made in a pattern I got online (I'll provide all the details with the photos) but it is enormous, which is some feat given that I have a fairly big head and am hard to fit with hats off the rack. I'll try felting it. The other is the spiral hat I got from Liz at FinePoints at Stitches in Baltimore. I couldn't follow the instructions on finishing the top, but did the best I could. Had to wear that hat today because it's about 24 degrees here in the NY/NJ area with wind chills in the below zero area. They are predicting temperatures in the 50s next week. Crazy...