Long Time, No Post

Eeep! It’s been a while! Now that the pressure of holiday knitting has abated, I plan to update more often. Like…once a month or so. For now, I’ll just share with you the fate of the box on my doorstep:

To encourage him to wear it often, I tell him how rugged and manly he looks in it, as though he’s about to go out and hew logs or something. The colorway (Fringed Sagewort, Beaverslide Fisherman’s Weight) is almost a dead ringer for the Upland Green in Mr. Tweed’s original Cobblestone. I’m extremely pleased with how it turned out, but more pleased at the prospect of now making lots of things for ME ME ME.

It’s OK, You Can Ogle…

Eight skeins of Beaverslide Fisherman Weight in Fringed Sagewort.  Mmmmmmm……

Comparatively

Back in May, Amazon.com had an amazing sale on various yarn books. I scored Knitting Nature and Last-Minute Knitted Gifts, which were bundled together for $9.98(!!!). Shortly after my order, Amazon informed me that the books would not be available until July. Okay, I thought at the time, it’s not as if I have a shortage of things to be knitting. But then in July, Amazon emailed to again to say that the books wouldn’t be available until October. Again, annoying, but I could wait. Well, last week I got yet another email, saying that the books would ship in DECEMBER. At this point, I’m really not holding my breath that I’ll receive them any time in 2007. *grumbles*

On same the day that I received that last email from Amazon, I received this in the mail from an Etsy seller, White Willow:

Beautifully handpainted yarn, shipped quickly and complete with handwritten note and lovely stitch marker. Pretty, pretty, pretty.

I really do love Amazon, and the fact that I can order everything from cake pans to obscure British miniseries from them. But sometimes, working with independent artisans is just so much more satisfying.

On the knitting front, I finished my dad’s cabled hat:

My husband is adamant that this NOT a man’s hat, both because of the color and the “swirly things” on it. Hey, it was Dad who requested light blue! I’m not sure myself that I want to give it to him, though, because I don’t think I’m really satisfied with the Plymouth Encore I used. I bought it because I lacked confidence in my dad’s laundering abilities, but I think the hat would be better in wool. I’ll just call this one a “tester”, use it to see if fits his head, and have another go with a different yarn.

I’ve also finished two balls out of seven on my Falling Leaves Stole, my grandmother’s Christmas present:

It’s just stretched over my knee here, but I think it will look really beautiful once blocked. I’m using Valley Yarns Colrain, in Caramel, rather than the wool/alpaca blend called for. This yarn is gorgeous stuff, and I can’t wait to use it for something for myself (the Minimalist Cardigan is the current top contender). Neat story: I posted this WIP shot at the WEBS forum on Ravelry, and Kathy Elkins (yes, one of the OWNERS OF WEBS) said she liked it so much, she might have a shop sample made up in Colrain. *feels cool*

Happy knitting!

The Magically Expanding Knitting Queue

I try to be realistic with my knitting queue, adding to it only those projects that I honestly, truly plan to knit someday. And at last count on Ravelry, I was up to 72. YIKES. But how can I help it when I see designs like Corsica?

Cables get me every time.

I’ve got a few new things on the needles now, despite the few*old* things awaiting some finishing touches. The first is my dad’s cabled hat:

I spent the first few hours muttering insults at this one under my breath. DPNs are not my best friends! But once I began cabling, things magically began to get more interesting. This is also my first project cabling without a cable needle, a la Grumperina. Holy cow, SO WORTH KNOWING.

I also needed a “mindless television watching” project, so I cast on a simple purse stitch scarf in this alpaca yarn:

I purchased this last month at a local fiber fair — aren’t the colors pretty? And once I saw the name of it — “Middle Earth” — I had to buy it, despite the fact that I’d just been telling Cinnamon Sheep that I was not going to succumb to impulse buys.

Pictures of a finished Petunia Tote and Green Gable coming soon!

You Find ‘Em Everywhere

Being stuck (at 7:43 on a Sunday evening) in what seems to be the only open pharmacy in the county is pretty sucky. Still, it’s made slightly more bearable when the (male) pharmacy tech looks at the knitting you fortunately remembered to bring and asks, “Are those bamboo?”

I’m excited to see Candy Apple Gable nearing the finish line, even though our temps have recently plummeted into the 50s. Brrrr!

While that means she won’t get much wear anytime soon, it also means that I can break my wool sweaters out of their bin! I got to put on Alexandra for the first time since finishing her last May, and so I had to rope my daughter into taking a FO shot that I actually like:

I love, love, love the lighting on my front step. Would you believe that this was taken at 5 p.m., in a covered doorway?  And by a first grader?

I’ve also started in on my Christmas knitting. I tried to keep the list short this year, but mild panic is still setting in. Eeek! This first project is simple, though — a scarf made from one ball of Rowan Tapestry (color Pot Pourri):

I’m basing this on a sample from the LYS — I cast 19 stitches onto a US13 needle, then began working in seed stitch, working every other round with a US6. (The uneven number is to simplify things — it makes each row start with a knit stitch.) This will be a gift for my son’s preschool teacher.

I was planning to just make two more gifts — a Cobblestone Pullover for my husband (the first men’s sweater to cause him to genuinely say, “Hey, you could knit that for me!”), and a Falling Leaves Stole for my grandmother — but then I started plotting to make something for my mother’s husband, one of the kindest people I know (watching parents divorce is also sucky, but it, too, is made more bearable by the wonderful people who might enter your life because of it). So, I’m thinking of adding an Aran Scarf and some sort of matching hat to the queue for him, too. I’ve also got two November birthday gifts to tackle as well — a cabled hat for my dad (based on the one a neighbor knitted for him as a kid — ah, nostalgia) and some Fine Cabled Mitts for my sister. All very feasible, um, right? Right?

Lastly, if you’re not already on the WEBS mailing list, I highly recommend signing up — their September catalog is a beaut! Only the prospect of imminently melting ice cream in my car was enough to make me put it down when it first arrived. And you really can’t beat the retail therapy fix of four lovely Valley Yarns patterns for under $6.00. Of course, I don’t know when I’ll ever get around to making the sweaters, but I’m sure I’m not the only who just likes having pretty patterns around.

A Sweater Curse of My Very Own

The “sweater curse” encompasses more that just boyfriends, you know. There is a small-print addendum to it which states that when you are frantically trying to finish a sweater for *yourself* (usually to wear to a special occasion or event), something will inevitably go ka-blooey.

This is the back of . I’d hoped to wear her on Saturday to our local fiber fair, and I might have even managed to achieve that goal, were I not making her, well, HUGE. *sigh* In retrospect, I’m glad I didn’t press on, because the yarn I’m using (Beaverslide Worsted) has a tendency to lose stitches and gain rows when washed. I have a second chance now to be a little more thoughtful in my calculations and plan of attack. Still, defeat smarted at the time.

Then, I transferred my hopes to another sweater, one which would involve less sweltering at the fair: (late to the party, I know). I thought I could whip her up in a week or so, only to discover that I’m a bit overly optimistic about my knitting speed. Two false starts set me back even further (not entirely my fault — I distracted by the accents of ).

So, I won’t have a new sweater for the fair, but hopefully — with a little more care and attention on my part — I’ll later end up with two I love.  I suppose that’s all what it’s about anyway, right? 

Parental Love

My dad just emailed to say that he checked out Alice Starmore’s “Tudor Roses” for me at a library in the next county up. Seeing as my local library carries about EIGHT knitting books total, I’m ecstatic!!!

Elizabeth I, you will be mine. (click on the picture for full prettiness!)

WEBS, you’re killing me

Why is it that every time I place a yarn order online, the site holds a fantastic sale just a week later? WEBS now has a bunch of fantastic Elsebeth Lavold stuff for cheap: Silky Tweed, Silky Wool, Hempathy, Classic AL (mentioned two posts down), etc. Please, go buy all of this before I cave.  I’ll now go resume chanting, “I have plenty of yarn, I have plenty of yarn…” 

Ravelry!

My invite arrived unexpectedly last night.  Eeeeeee!!!  It’s a pretty amazing place, but I think the description “time-suck” also applies (in a good way!).  I’m “Katinka” over there, if you’d like to friend me. 

Welcome!

If you’ve found me over here, hello! I decided to switch my little blog to WordPress because, frankly, I hated not being able to easily respond to reader’s comments on Blogger. It’s still a work-in-progress, but I’m much happier now!

Thanks for all your nice words regarding The Half-Blood Poncho! My sister is awesome — she received it on a Friday, and wore it to work Monday (she’s in the overcast Pacific Northwest). Needless to say, she’s getting a hand-knit gift next year, too!

I’ve been divvying up my time lately between various crafts and endeavors, so overall progress has been slow, but I do have some FOs to show for my efforts! To begin with, I finished two gift scarfs, both in Barbara Walker’s Roman Stripe pattern:

I didn’t mean to be so repetitive in my projects, but both times, I found myself wanting a “fail-safe” project — one that I knew would look pretty, and could be accomplished with a given amount of yarn. The red scarf is made from one(!) skein of Cascade 220 superwash, and the blue scarf from two skeins of Elsebeth Lavold Classic AL (VERY NICE STUFF) in North Sea. This scarf is easy, easy, easy, but the final result looks so elegant (and it’s reversible, too!). Here’s the stitch pattern, if you’re interested:

ROMAN STRIPE

Cast on any even number.

Row 1: K1, *yo, k1; rep from * across to last st, end k1

Row 2: K1, purl across to last st, end k1

Row 3: K1, *k2 tog; rep from * across to last st, end k1

Rows 4: K1, *yo, k2 tog; rep from * across to last st, end k1

Rows 5: K1, *yo, k2 tog; rep from * across to last st, end k1

Rows 6: Knit

Rows 7: Knit

I cast on 18 stitches when using a worsted weight yarn, knit 3 or 4 row in garter, then begin! The scarf will lengthen and open up considerably when blocked.

Here are some close-ups of the stitch pattern:

Also off the needles is an Amanda’s Squatty Sidekick, also a gift. To be honest, I was a little grumpy toward this little bag while I was knitting it. It required a little more concentration than the Sophie, which is pretty mindless knitting to me by now. And when it was finished, it just looked like a lumpy jumble. But my first words post-felting were, “Oh, it’s cute!” And it is! I think I’d like to try a larger version of this one at a future date:

I’ve got a few WIPSs and drool-worthy patterns to talk about, but they’ll have to wait until later (me sleepy now). Happy knitting!