tangled up

Red Sox Red Heart Halloween

Perfect evening to see the Sox win the World Series and have an excuse to sit in front of the TV and knit. Last night, however, rather than finishing that last cuff on Lara or weaving in ends on Perkins, I knit for Halloween. Every year, for quite a while, I traditionally pull together the costumes for three children who are a big part of my life. Fiona, who is now fourteen and no longer a child, does her own costuming now. Nathan, who is twelve, and Gabriel, who is nine, still allow me the joy of that task. Some years have been extremely complex -- the year that Nathan was Legolas and Gabriel was Gandalf was probably the most challenging and rewarding. This year, Gabriel is going to be a pirate, which just entails lots of searching and assembling (where do you find one of those white peasanty shirts for a 9 year old boy?). Nathan chose to be Stan from South Park. Not sure how he got to Stan; he started as Kenny and then switched with another kid, so Stan it is. It's not that hard a costume -- a brown coat, a pillow to tuck under it for a tummy, blue sweat pants, a pair of red mittens and a blue hat with a red brim and red pompom. I bought or located everything but that hat. That's where the Red Heart comes in. Guess what I spent last night making as I watched the game:

Ann Budd's Handy Book of Patterns helped me whipped this right up. I didn't get the Sweater Pattern book when it first came out b/c I wasn't sure I'd use it, but now I'm rethinking.

I want to give a shout out to Elisabeth for mentioning me on her blog Curls and Purls NYC. I'd been reading it for a while, but I met her when she offered for sale some beautiful Kid Classic (which I think is going to become an Apricot Jacket if there's enough yardage). She's given me some fabulous insight into this world, bringing me into this amazing virtual (and real for some) community and giving me something to strive for in terms of creating a blog that is interesting, entertaining and educational. None of my close friends are into knitting so the knitting blogs are my knitting world. The mention even inspired me to get the camera out, but if I mess with the WIP photos now, I'll never get to work. More later....

If a Tree Falls...

...in the forest and there's no one there to hear it, does it make a sound? if I knit and don't blog about it, has it really happened?

My schedule has been tough again so far this week but I have gotten some knitting done. Haven't had time to take photos so I'll have to post them next time.

(1) Perkins is almost complete. Only the bottom edging band remains, plus weaving in all the ends, plus blocking it, plus sewing. Well, I said almost. I spent the afternoon at Woolwinders at Saturday hanging out and knitting. I did purchase a pile of Koigu, which will merit a photo when I get to it.

(2) The Big Kureyon multi-directional scarf that was my project at work is finished (there have been a lot of conference calls). It just needs blocking and ends woven in.

(3) I've started a scarf out of Koigu that will be a truncated version of the Alligator Wrap. I hadn't knit Koigu on size 3 needles before (I work the Charlottes on size 6), but it's going smoothly.

(4) Lara has benefitted from the World Series and I'm down to the final ribbed cuff. It has been a breeze to do.

On Sunday, I had a family occasion in Baltimore and looking on the map, there was a yarn store on my way home open on Sundays until 5. I don't know what it is with me and yarn lately, but I stopped by and fell in love with some mohair from Wool in the Woods. The colors are luscious. Now they're mine.

LYSs Today

Saturday errands today are going to include two local yarn stores. Yarns International for the Rowan Vintage Style book. Koigu at Woolwinders. Hope I don't get into too much trouble....

So Much Yarn...

So little time. Here's a photo of the three items that have arrived in the mail this week -- the Silk Garden, the Diarufuran and the Koigu Fancy. It's pretty easy to tell which is which.

The construction of the Diarufuran is really interesting -- it's chained. The color is truer in the photo above, but this gives a clearer sense of the texture:

And here are the gifts from my Secret Pal -- there's no way I'm giving that card away....

Last night during the game, I finished one Perkins sleeve and I'm halfway through the second. The knitting is going very quickly now, though I still dread weaving in the ends. Hope to finish the knitting this week, except for the edging around the bottom. My current idea is to weave in the ends, block each piece, sew it together, then do that last piece of edging so that it fits exactly right. As for the Big Kureyon scarf at work, it's halfway through, judging by the two-skein method.

Thank you Red Sox

Work has kept me in the office way too late, but tonight I intend to watch the whole baseball game, which means several uninterrupted hours of knitting!! And afterward, if the Red Sox can win in nine innings, then maybe a quick photo shoot to catch up for these last lost days.

Before I write about anything else, I need to send a shout out to my Secret Pal for yet another really thoughtful present. I can't emphasize enough how wonderful it is to come home from a grueling work day (and this particular day was worse because it was a Saturday, a Saturday night) to find an unexpected package. This time she sent two pads of personalized knitting notes and a keyring. When the camera comes out, they will be in the first shot. I didn't know what to expect from joining the Secret Pal 3 ring and my expectations have been more than fulfilled. I've gotten a great kick out of gifting and real pleasure out of receiving. Thanks very much, Kae.

I'm two rows from completing the first sleeve on Perkins. The second is 1/3 finished, and I should be able to make a lot of headway. I'm aiming for a trip up to Woolwinders on Saturday and would love to have the pieces complete by then. Planning on breaking my yarn diet for a Koigu binge -- they just got a big shipment and there's nothing like buying it in person. I haven't had too much luck with color matching online. Last weekend I tried to buy several colorways from Threadbear Fiber Arts by phone, but they never got back to me. Someday I'll have a chance to make the pilgrimage to Lansing...

Truth be told, I've broken the yarn diet several times. Diakeito envy after reading the Keyboard Biologist prompted me to order some Diarufuran from Kirtland's Yarn Barn in Dillwyn, Virginia and bid on some Diadrey on Ebay. The Diarufuran, which arrived on Monday, is amazingly soft. I can't wait to knit with it but will start nothing new until Perkins is complete. The stuff I really want, though, is Diamusee and no one local carries it. And Ebay is deadly -- I bought some Koigu boucle (if it's 1/2 as nice as KPPPM it will be heavenly) and Nicky Epstein's Knitting on the Edge.

A few weeks ago I won Barbara/Fiberphile's film contest and the Silk Garden she sent me is beautiful. I'm pondering whether it might be used for a pair of thrummed mittens.

Now that I've had my little blogging fix, it's time to finish up and head home. Perkins here I come...

What Kind of Knitter Are You?

Cute test created by Marnie Maclean. I took the test twice with somewhat different but always honest answers each time (not that I'm flip flopping or anything but there were times when more than one choice sounded good). The second time I was a Knitting Purist. I'd prefer to be a Knitting Goddess but you can't have everything. The first time is the one I'll post, b/c it feels a little more me:

You appear to be a Knitting Adventurer.
You are through those knitting growing pains and
feeling more adventurous. You can follow a
standard pattern if it's not too complicated
and know where to go to get help. Maybe you've
started to experiment with different fibers and
you might be eyeing a book with a cool
technique you've never tried. Perhaps you
prefer to stick to other people's patterns but
you are trying to challenge yourself more.
Regardless of your preference, you are
continually trying to grow as a knitter, and as
well you should since your non-knitting friends
are probably dropping some serious hints, these
days.
http://marniemaclean.com


What Kind of Knitter Are You?
brought to you by Quizilla

Big Kureyon

Last year I made a scarf out of Big Kureyon for my cousin's husband. It was really thick and substantial, but for some reason the striping didn't thrill me. Maybe it was colorway (very dark) or the pattern, a double moss stitch? I don't know. This year, I've used Big Kureyon I bought on sale at Stitch DC to make the Lucky Brand scarf, which still awaits blocking, and my new project at work, a multidirectional triangle scarf. I brought it home to take a quick shot of the WIP this morning b/c I love how the colors are working out:

I worked late last night and am headed in now, but I did complete the edging for the other Perkins sleeve and made a couple of inches progress on the sleeve itself. Maybe it will get done this weekend...

Hello Blog Ring

I applied to join the Knitting Bloggers ring today and after a number of unsuccessful tries, finally installed the code correctly on this site. I'm still in the queue, but assuming I make it through, I already feel a part of something bigger....

Desperately Seeking Blocking

I've had some chance to knit but little chance to post, so here's a quick catch up...

The first Perkins sleeve is starting to grow; with any luck, I can finish it this weekend. I needed a quick break from all the yarn switching so I went back to the edging. Back to the beginning -- I had frogged my first couple of attempts because it's very hard to correct mistakes. This time, I completed one of the sleeve edges. It really needs a good blocking but I pinned it to the sleeve anyway in order to get a quick picture:

Thanks to numerous conference calls, my "work" project, the Lucky Brand scarf is off the needles. No picture until after it has been blocked. Right now it looks like a twisted, eight foot snake, bearing no resemblance to what I hope will be the result. My worry for it is that it folds itself in half between the decreases in the center. As I sit here, it occurs to me for the first time that I might have avoided that by keeping one regular stitch in the actual center between them (did I not look at the store model closely enough?). Well, no reason for concern until after it takes a bath and stretches out.

Finally, Lara became my "debate project," and after last night, I've just completed the right side cast off/decreases so I'm down to the final sleeve. It looks like it's going to finish just beautifully and it's such a quick knit that it's a great addition to the repertoire for presents. I'm thinking it might be fun to do as a two tone with a contrasting color for the ribbing. I did get over to Knit Happens to have a look at the Alpaca Silk and while it's very soft and seems like it would feel terrific to knit with, it's a bit too shiny for me. I'm really happy with the Cash Iroha and hope my sister will be too.

The Rebecca #27 and #28 that I had ordered from the Knitting Garden arrived yesterday. Lots of intriguing designs, but the first will definitely be the Apricot Jacket. Can't even scope it out, though, until Perkins is complete, blocked, constructed and on display at Woolwinders. But that should happen pretty soon now.

Made a fun but very expensive visit to Knit + Stitch = Bliss on Sunday (very smart of them to start having Sunday hours) before going to see a film that I loved, I Heart Huckabees. I came away with lots of Rowan Kidsilk Haze. Some of it I will use held together with Koigu for a sweater, the rest I will attempt to use on its own for some kind of lace scarf or shawl, but a couple of quick swatches have convinced me that that will be a challenge.

The week at work has been totally crazed (why am I not there now??) but I did manage to get off a second package to my Secret Pal. I have seen many more creative packages than the one I sent, but I figure that by sending yarn, I can't go wrong.

loose ends

Finally, the back and fronts of Perkins are complete! It's an occasion for great celebration except the sheer number of ends to be woven in is a bit daunting. I spend about 90 minutes weaving 55 ends in front of a stupid movie this morning, but I got through the center edge of both front sides. Just 4 armhole edges left, not to mention the sleeves when they're done. One sleeve is back on the needles -- I had decided that it will be easier to do one at a time and there's no chance of making them different lengths because the stripes are so clear. Here's a body shot -- it will look a lot neater next time it's the object of my camera.

I messed around with the edging a bit, too, but screwed up the pattern and ended up frogging everything I've done so far. I need to get a set of size 3 doublepoints to make the edging go more smoothly -- a perfect excuse for a visit to a yarn store. Hmmmm....