Category: Blog

So. I should know better than to do detail oriented patterns when I am tired, picking up my knitting at 9pm after getting the kids in bed.

I taught my class last night, stopped at Michael’s for sale Cotton-ease and then came on home in time to put the kids down to bed. I sat in my chair, picked up the unmentionables & started to work. I had finished one leg, edging & all before going to class. Now I just needed to take out the provisional cast on on the second leg & return to working on the pattern. I was too tired. Period. Plus watching Deadliest Catch on the dvr I was a tad distracted. Mike Rowe’s voice can do that to the best of us.

Instead of working a purl round, increase round, purl round for the ruffle, I went ahead & worked on the lace edging, for 4 hours!!! I only had about 40 sts left when it dawned on me,
‘this isn’t ruffling the same as the other leg’.

I hold it up & WHAM!

 I see it… it’s 3″ short- with no ruffle!

DOH!!!

So, at 1:30am I rip it back to the provisional cast on row and put it down.
Let me just say I had a hard time falling asleep after that. I, most certainly, was not going to try to knit anymore, even if I couldn’t sleep!

This morning has gone much better, I have done the purl, increase, purl and am now working the stockinette of the ruffle bottom. Whew! Another distaster diverted!

I love the details on the Unmentionables.

I love the waistline.

I love the increase eyelets to the ruffly, flouncy bottom.

I love the bottom lace edging.

I also love how the bottom ruffle is coming together.

They are just making me so happy! Although, it has taken 3 hours to get through half of one legs’ ruffle edging. It’s a great edging though; 8 rows being work perpendicular for every 4 horizontal sts of the leg. Beautiful way to bind off. I am thinking it would make a great cuff on sleeves, collar, or even toe up socks.

Speaking of socks, I am teaching a 2 socks at once magic loop class starting tonight. Here are a few of the sundries I need to take with me:

I finally get to knit the Union Center Whatnot sock yarn from Woolgirl. So bright and fun! I love this yarn in the balls, I just hope it’s as perfect knit up. No funky pooling/striping happening. Just variegated goodness.

The Unmentionables are getting close to being wearable….

I am so excited to have these done! Just in time for summer beach excursions with the kids.

Yesterday Tracy & I were discussing the upcoming Mystery Stole 3 when my yarn showed up! Sarah’s Yarns shipped the day I purchased & not only was it a great price & got here fast but it smells wonderful too! I have beads also, from Craft Essentials, size 8/0 in a dark burgundy. I have more beads coming from the Beadwrangler so I haven’t fully decided yet which yarn with which beads.

 I did my gauge swatch & before I realized it I had it done & ripped out most of the way before took a photo of it. Here is what is left… zephyr in steel on size 5 needles…

I also pulled out last years Mystery Stole, Scheherazade, that is not finished. I have clues 5 & 6 plus the edging left to do.

I would love to have this done before June 29 when the MS3 starts but I am just not sure I can pull that off.

Another thing I quickly finished up yesterday was a soap sock that was originally going to be another Peaches & Creme Ballband washcloth. I lost patience & needed a new soap sock.

I love my Highland Aromatics Goat’s Milk bars in these soapsocks.

Overall, I am hoping that the next week I will have a number of finished projects to show-off.

I finished the Flutterby socks a couple of days ago. Here they are (pictures taken at night right after I finished them):

It’s a sportweight yarn knit on size 4 needles, magic loop, with a whopping 44 sts. They have a 7″ leg, slipped st heel flap, and they are a nice long foot. Yet, I still have 20g left of the 100g hank! I have yet to ever use a full 100g on a pair of socks. Not sure why.

And what perfect timing! I have the yarn for two, count ’em, two projects!

First are the Unmentionables.

I just received some Brown Sheep Cotton Fleece in kelp green in the correct amount (plus a little extra) and it is perfect for my skin tone. I am actually pretty excited about these & I am thinkin’ they might get a bump up on the list. I will finish the flutterby socks tonight & cast on for these. I love fun pants/skirts/bottoms. As a teenager I lived in tights (preferably black with runs in them) under my mom’s square dancing pettipants (my favorite were the white but I wore the black & red pretty often too) with a white t-shirt, black bra & Doc’s. So punk rock. I was all about wearing things that noone else had, hence sewing most of my own clothes or altering what I could get at a thrift store.

And, the second pattern from Knitty which I think is so simple it’s brilliant & perfect for all summertime wardrobes & for in the winter under a blazer/jacket (at least in SoCal it’s perfect), the Coachella. I have Cotton Ease in Charcoal for that pattern. My plan is to make it more tunic length, by adding more hip shaping, to use all 3 balls I have on hand. I think it’s a classic top.

Now for some discussion on the Mystery Stole 3. I purchased my yarn, Zephyr Silk Wool in pewter, from theknitter.com last week after signing up for the knitalong. Well, I haven’t been charged & there is no expected ship date for my yarn as of yet. This is normal for theknitter.com. They aren’t known for their timely service. But instead of cancelling my order I decided to go for another color, Steel, and get it from Sarah’s Yarns. Everyone on the ms3 group is raving about her service, selection & price. So I went for it this morning. Yeah, she already shipped it!!! Now that is called service, people! Then Colourmart had to go and add more 100% silk lace cones to their site for $16, free shipping & Richard ships F.A.S.T. I get my orders from him in the UK faster than I get most yarns here in the US. Needless to say, I bought one cone of the silk camomile. The stole recommended colors are either black, white or something close. So I am opting for the dark gray/vanilla range. Just a tad off. I did last years stole in black. Didn’t want to do that two years in a row and white is too stark for me.

As I was typing the above, Judy from theknitter emailed me to let me know that with the mad rush from MS3 participants the pewter color is on backorder but may be in by next Tuesday. I will get one of the first shipments out. That is fine by me. I don’t mind waiting to have all 3 yarns on hand, picking beads and then getting started. I try not to let competition get to me but if you know me at all, you know  I am going to start with whatever yarn gets here first & whatever beads I have on hand!

I have been working on a pair of socks, rewriting a pattern really, for my 2 socks magic loop class. I am using the Flutterby sock yarn on size 4 needles (knitpicks 42″).

I am also working on a pair of Tiger socks for Tyler. I was informed that if I knit him Tiger socks then I have to knit him bear and elephant socks as well. I may just do that.

The yarn is Skacel Trampoline in Tiger. It’s not knitting up exactly like they have it pictured but it’s still pretty tiger-y.

I did get some more done on the Cocoon shawl ( I am on whopping Row 44). Not a whole hell of a lot though. I got moving on socks on Sunday and that is where I may stay for a bit.  After finishing 3 sweaters in one week I am ready for small & simple.

This sucker is going to take some extreme blocking once it’s done!

I also spent 4 hours in Sadie’s room yesterday, rearranging furniture, scrubbing walls (she had used elmers glue to glue pictures to her walls, which are a flat paint, so it’s been nearly impossible to get the damn glue & paper off), hanging decorations. Just getting ready for the summer of bedroom time that is coming up. She hasn’t ever been one to hole up in her room but a mom can have dreams, right?
Using some antique metal embroidery hoops & cotton fat squares, I made her some cute wall decorations.

Today was World Wide Knit In Public Day.

We did it.

A group of us met at Chase Palm Park and knit our little hearts out while much talking was had. A group of women from Ventura came up and joined us. It was great to meet new knitters & on such a gorgeous day! I did take pictures but the memory card wasn’t in the camera right so when I just plugged it in & turned it on there were only old photos, none from today. I know that Suzanne & Thuy both took some pictures so I am crossing my fingers that they will post a few or put them up at the SantaBarbaraKnitters Yahoo group.

I finished the cabled cream Rebecca sweater while at the park. Laura was kind enough to take a picture that never actually got taken. So this one will have to do. I haven’t blocked or washed it yet. The cowl likes to do a flippy-uppy thing for now but oh well. When it’s properly finished I will take pics of me wearing it.

One thing everyone liked on the sweater were the sleeves/elbows. I worked the cables into the increases instead of leaving them stockinette like the pattern instructed.

I have yet to see it actually on me. But I will take their word for it that it looks good on.

I started the Cocoon shawl pattern out of Traditional knitted lace shawls once I got all the ends tied in on the finished sweater. I am using some koigu, color 915, 4 hanks. I got it at BB’s for 50% off. Helloo??!! That is BOGO, baby!

 I have to admit I did go there again today. I was so afraid all the great stuff would be gone by the time I got there this next week. Yeah, I was right. We never should have told all those Ventura ladies she was closing shop. I got there & there they all were, full bags in hand. Those are some great women! I had so much fun shopping in there with them! I don’t believe I will ever see such crazed, smash & grab shopping again in my life!

Overall, today was one perfect WWKIP day!

After finishing 2 wicked sweaters in one week I am feeling rather content and ready to move on.

One note: I really hate, hate taking pictures of myself in finished objects.

The only thing not done on the sweater is sewing the bottom sides of the pocket down. I actually haven’t decided if I want them sewn down. I kinda like how big it is now for my hands. I am very much a hands in pockets girl.

It’s not perfect, it’s useful and I will wear it all the time. The Cotton Ease really surprised me with how nice it was to work with and wear. Great weight yarn for our area here in SoCal.

I decided that I would focus on finishing a sweater that has been on the needles way too long:

I have the front, back & 90% of the sleeves finished. All that is left is to sew it together, pick up sts and knit the cowl. It’s not far from being done but I just haven’t put in the time because, well, I won’t be able to wear it for months with summer here.

If you remember, last year I did the Mystery Stole 2 knitalong. Well, Mystery Stole 3 just started signups. I signed up. I may kick myself for doing it but Melanie, the designer, is just too good to pass up. I ordered my yarn, Jaggerspun Zephyr in pewter, from theknitter.com so I will have it in time for the start at the end of June. And how brilliant is she to skip giving out a clue the week that the HP book is released. I guess she knows we’ll all skip the knitting for that release! I know I will have one boring stockinette project, like I did for the last book, so I can do both at once.  oooh, boy! Am I excited!! (with a little dread mixed in there too)

I finally gave in last week & made a long awaited purchase from WoolGirl. The package came today all sweetly wrapped along with another hank of Fleece Artist Bordello Seawool sock yarn in Hercules from The Loopy Ewe.

You know you wanna see what’s inside:
First Union Center’s WhatNot Sportweight yarn

I love the brights/darks of this yarn. It’s fun & spunky….speaking of Spunky, hers is the other yarn I bought. It’s

Both are sportweight yarns. I have some classes coming up teaching 2 socks at once Magic Loop method. I thought it would be fun to use some hand-dyed yarns this time round instead of boring ol’ superwash wool.

I have a finished object to report on. Actually I have a number of finished items I just only have pictures of this one ;o) You will have to go to Knit & Pearl to see the others’. More on that in a moment.

Here is Wicked

I used Misti Cotton from Knit & Pearl, 3 hanks of natural. I loved working with this yarn. It’s light, like a nice cotton should be, but it has some body to it. It’s nice & squishy like a good wool. I used knitpicks size 8 needles, 24″ circulars. I chose to leave the pocket off this one because I wanted it to be a bit more useful than just a casual top. I have purchased 3 more hanks in Eggplant to make one with a pocket & possibly sleeveless with a hood instead. Not sure about the hood yet though because I am already working on another longer sleeved version using Cotton Ease in Terracotta

(forgive the brightness of the terracotta, I still am using my older camera that really doesn’t like photographing any red/orange/pink item)

I chose to do a 3/4 sleeve with the pocket. I am working on the pocket currently. Once it’s done I can sew it on & knit the binding then it’s done! Maybe another day. Tonight would be fantastic if I could finish it!

The other project I finished is an entrelac throw pillow for the store to display. I will be teaching the class in July, that will be a fun class for sure! I loved how it turned out with the Noro Kureyon, color 170. I promise to somehow get pictures but for now here is a link to the  pattern. It’s from Simply Knitting.

Now to wind all my new yarn into beautiful 50g cakes!