Day: February 8, 2008

After a lovely day in Solvang with Rowan and Suzanne on a yarn fieldtrip I got the hankerin’ to start something that I could finish quickly. As I told Tracy that I wanted to do a weekend sweater she suggested that I take a look at the Licorice Whip pattern.

Ages ago I had printed out the pattern and now with ravelry it was easier than ever to find & take a look in my stash to see what I had on hand in the correct weight. Lo & Behold I found I had a lot to choose from! Choosing a Araucania Nature Cotton in a drab olive green/yellow color I asked Sadie if she’d like a new sweater. She of course answered yes & off I went to cast on.

That is the neckline at the bottom of the picture. I chose not to do the sleeve lace insert and instead am doing them in solid stockinette. I love the simplicity of the top down raglan sweater. Roll collar and cuffs always make for a fast finish.

I am hoping to be done with it tomorrow. I am already halfway down the body under where I have separated for the sleeves. I hope to have the body and part of a sleeve done tonight. Lofty plans? Maybe!

oh…you wanna see what I got in solvang?? you know you do
Our first stop was The Village Spinning & Weaving Shop

On the right, the hank and on the left, the 2 wound balls of
 Peruvian Tweed Alpaca, Natural colored 100% alpaca 2ply worsted weight, 600 yards

Our second stop was Rasmussen’s where upstairs they have a good selections of yarns, fabric and needlework supplies.

I found 6 hanks of Elsebeth Lavold Silky Wool in Color 42, Rosehip. It’s exactly the color of the picture; a nice bright reddish orange. Just enough for a girly fit Cobblestone Pullover.

Now to actually finish something so I don’t feel guilty for all these sweater plans!

After years of being an outsider in the mp3/ipod craze I am finally an official member of the Cool Club.

Silver 4GB ipod nano. Simple as that. When I ordered it I also bought a silicon skin with an armband for running with it. I also bought an fm transmitter & radio receiver to use it in the car and in the house with the surround sound system. Once I can steal it back from Sadie, I will be sync’ing a CSI episode that I just downloaded to see how it works to watch tv shows, movies, videos, etc.
I have a feeling that it will get much use! It can hold photos & home videos as well. With the 4gb’s I am not sure I will use it for that but it’s cool that it’s there.

So, that was my surprise for the day. I consider this my yearly salary. Well, besides being able to stay home all day every day and not leave the house if I don’t want to. Although the kids drive me out of the house regularly ;o)

There are a few things I have been meaning to talk about & I just keep forgetting.

So, here goes.

First, I love, love, love the new Knitpicks Harmony needles.

They are smooooooth. They are fast, faster than any other wood needle and my Denise sets. They have that warmth and lightweight you associate with wood but knit more like a smooth metal, ie Inox or Aero. The finish is ridiculously even. So much so that it shines with no flaws to be seen. The tips are perfectly tapered and come to the perfect point appropriate for the size of the needle. The needles in the picture are the options tips in size 10. They aren’t dull at the point like most wood  or metal needles are. I have no trouble doing double decreases with the Malabrigo in the blanket (which has a tendency to split terribly with dull needle tips).

Now let me tell you about the dpn’s. Oh. My. Gosh.

They are now my #1, hands down, favorite needles for socks.

Unfortunately, they are backordered for who knows how long. I will still order the sock needle set & have a wonderful surprise when it just shows up at my house!

I also finished another Calorimetry yesterday, this one out of SWS on size 7 needles. I cast on 96 instead of the amount in the pattern. It makes it a much better fit.

There was one more thing I wanted to mention that I had been forgetting but now, surprisesurprise, it escapes me!

When I think of it I will be sure to pass it on!

Have a wonderful Monday!

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 found the candle flame shawl pattern & I am now officially addicted to this stitch pattern! It’s the perfect fast pattern for a triangle shawl like in the pattern but also a nice shapely scarf pattern.

Here is the shawl in handpaintedyarn super bulky merino 9 ply that I had on hand.

Here is the candle flame stitch pattern in a scarf using Malabrigo pot surprise merino, crack, yarn that I frogged from another scarf that I never, ever wore.

The scarf will be a christmas gift. I am starting early this year. My sisters-in-law are getting nicer gifts this year so I wanted to get a head start. Luckily I have the yarn on hand that I need, other than the glazed carrots of course. If I could find it in the worsted merino instead of the bulky wool that would rock!

The fan & feather shawl is moving along, I am on row 138 of 189. I do believe I just topped 1000 stitches a round. I didn’t count after the last increase row that I almost completed at knitnight the other night. And on that topic, Concert in the Park was nice! It ended up being Erin, Tracy, Kristin, Suzanne for a bit, Rachel stopped by & myself. It was fun, a little crowded & loud but we were way on the outskirts so it worked out nicely. By 8 it was pretty darn cool & we weren’t really prepared for it so we called it a night. I would totally be willing to do it again, don’t know if anyone else would but I found it a nice change of scenery.

I have moved past the crazy sock phase I was in. I still have socks on the needles that I will finish after the candle flame phase I am sure.

What is with this high cloud, June gloom? I hate it! I would much rather just have it rain or be the normal, misty marine layer. Okay, what I really want is the SUNSHINE!

I have been working on the Vogue multi-pattern top and here is the progress.

So far I have found 3 lines with mistakes in the chart. Rather annoying but I am marking them as I go so if anyone else out there decides to knit it I can pass along my corrections. Nothing too big, just a few yo’s missing when the M1’s happen to keep the stitch count correct. I do love how it’s turning out. The colors are so bright and the lace patterns are a good mix. The pattern in the pink yarn is a pain in the butt, you have to do patterning on both right & wrong sides. I hate that. But the rest of the lacework is on every right side row. I am a little less than halfway done with the back. It’s not the fastest knit but for lace & intarsia it goes pretty fast. I like that it only has a front & back, no sleeves. You increase once you hit the underarm shaping instead of decreasing so you make the sleevecaps as you knit the back and front. Love it!

I can’t wait for this one to be done so I can wear it! I will have to do a serious skirt check soon to see what skirts match, or come close enough. Jeans would be really cute too. Ah, I just like it.

 

I am doing a LYS plug. While Tracy & I were visiting her parents over the weekend we had a knitting store outing. The first knitting store in Cameron Park opened and here it is!

The store is decorated really nicely, the yarns are easy to see, touch, sort through. I found the prices a bit higher than our stores here in SB but overall for a new store they still weren’t bad! I bought the items below.

I know you are thinking to yourself, novelty yarn, WTF?? Well, it was so cool knit up on the sample swatch they had I had to get one. I have no idea what I will do with it. It may end up as wristwarmers or some such thing. The Lopi will be either a felted bag or slippers.

And look at how cute their packaging was!!!

Let me just tell you, the ladies that own it/ work there are some of the funnest, happiest, friendliest knitstore owners I have ever dealt with. The store had a very welcoming feeling, that seems to be rare in knit stores in CA. Don’t tell me I shop at the wrong stores, I have shopped plenty of them! Village Spin & Weave in Solvang is my all time favorite in the area. Overall I would give Sierra Knitting Co. a 7 out of 10. For a new shop that is pretty damn good! They will be expanding soon too so their stock is going to just get better! Good for them!!! If you are ever on your way to South Lake Tahoe on Highway 50 stop in & buy something!

I thought I would give it a try, it’s green, I like green. It’s tea, I like tea. I like both of those attributes together even more, just not this sugary crap of a drink. Unfortunately for me, this time it ended up causing me to stop 4 times in a 3 hour drive for “potty breaks”.  No thanks!! Why would I try something fun? Why go out of my normal starbucks drink routine, do you ask? Well, we were traveling, it was warm & I thought I would be spontaneous! Okay, it wasn’t really spontaneous, I thought about it from my morning coffee order until I bought it 5 hours later. I won’t do that again, let me tell you!! Notice how neither of them have much gone. I didn’t want to waste my $4 so I drank about half, that was my downfall. Being cheap. I should have thrown this shit out!

Now this is a good green tea drink, if only it was blended with whipped cream, oh well!

 

I found a new charity through my Secret Pal (that I am sending to this round, not receiving from).

I wanted to share it with you all in case you felt the need for a much needed charity project.

Guideposts Knits for Kids