Ta dah!

A momentous day.
The purple cardi is done! And the birthday Jaywalkers are ready too (top right).
Blocking away on the dining room table (I won't need it again till Thanksgiving so no rush)
Of course, I am still adding to the stash. I was in Bryan, Texas this week, at The Hook and Needle ( lovely wee store) and got some "Flat Feet." Basically a piece of knitted fabric that you knit from, without ever rolling into a ball. Colours are great, and I'm planning to go to Goodwill to pick up an old knitted wool sweater next time I need some sock yarn ;)

Fancy clothes

The Tuvstarr is blocking...The purple cardi!: Cast off the second sleeve last night while watching Roman Holiday. Had a girls night in - my friend (a Bombay native) stayed over, and helped me finally try on the sari DH got for me in India last year:
I could easily get used to dressing this fancy...

D'oh! Foiled again...

Knitting daily poetry contest results are out!

I didn't win :( but someone else called Denise won a prize so it's not all bad.

Here's my entry - which I didn't post at the time in case I won - Hah!

small progress

This new job is all well and good but is seriously cutting into blogging time. However, because I can't work from home (but rarely) anymore, I get some good knitting done on the Metro:

These socks are for my friend K for her birthday (around Memorial Day). Knit solely on the Metro. Kind of gives me a sense of achievement...hey you take it where you can get it right...

A few weeks back I went into All About Yarn (car just swung that way as I drove down Rt 108 - funny that) and bought something or other - and was told I had just earned my second $25 bonus. Which means I have now spent $500 there. And it's not like that's the only place I buy yarn or anything. Most friends would steer me to an intervention after such a confession. But I know you all are nodding along (right?)

So here's what I bought with my $25 (and the rest): An Elsebeth Lavold pattern book, and some Berroco Bling Bling yarn, to make this waistcoat/vest thingy. The yarn was on sale, but still expensive, and there wasn't enough of a single colour for the pattern so I mixed the gold and the silver. I've completed the back and one half of one front. This'll be a gift for Mum for when we visit in June (yay another Ireland trip!). I sent off the Mother's Day gifts to Mum and my MIL two weeks ago (they both waited maybe half an hour before opening, apparently).

And yes, am still plugging away on purple cardi.

Got the summer Interweave Knits in the mail last night yay. A lot of mad colourdey stuff I'd probably never have the patience to make. pretty though. Love my pattern pr0n ;)

Had to miss Sip n Knit this week, DH and I have seen each other for 5 min all week what with him traveling and me traveling, so someone had to watch the little guy. So I haven't made any arrangements to meet up for the Sheep & Wool, but will probably locate them by the squeals/catfights (heh).

Till tomorrow!

Denise xxx

The saga continues

Cast off the first sleeve of the purple cardi! Very excited. Took many pictures as proof of knitting awesomeness. Thought shaping looked weird, but eh whatever.

It wasn't till this morning I realized I forgot entirely to do the shaping at the top of the sleeve. In my giddiness at having knit the required 21.25 inches - which coincided exactly with the end of a pattern repeat - I cast off, took pictures, and patted self on back...Just as well no-one's waiting on this sweater.

getting on with it

After some words of encouragement from the talented ladies in Sip n Knit I am persevering with the purple cardi. Feels like I've been working on this forever but actually only since Feb 10th. Am now half way up the first sleeve: both fronts and back, done.

And of course, I started another pair of socks. I planned to make Brother Amos, Brenda Dayne's pattern that she was talking about in the podcasts I was listening to - have almost caught up with Cast On. Then when I downloaded it...I saw the pattern requires Magic Loop - something I don't care to learn as I am very happy with my dpns thank you. Anyone know if there's a dpn version of this pattern? Or maybe I should learn - any converts out there who've adopted Magic Loop and can't imagine going back?

So instead - Jaywalker by Grumperina. I was a bit grumpy myself on the Metro last nite going through the first few rounds of the pattern. Made no sense, not at all intuitive...I was going straight home to see where the pattern errata were I mean honestly how irresponsible to post a pattern with mistakes in it...
Then I realized I'd cast on 2 stitches too few. Whoops.
So it's now coming on nicely. But at 76 stitches around, slowly. Using KnitPicks Dancing in a wonderful citrusy colourway. This yarn is now discontinued so Lord knows how long it's been hanging out in the stash...
Pictures coming - probably :)

Socky

More socks

Finished these Wednesday at Sip n Knit - loved the Panera location also.

Lynn entertained us with her stories, including her curt dismissal of one J. Ashcroft, and we all got to ooooh and ahh at Deb's wonderful CPH! I believe it inspired Harrison to scoot off home and finish hers, so am looking forward to seeing that modelled next week :)

I went home and made DH try them on straight away - success!
And just so you don't think those are my hairy legs:

Another pair of socks

Finished!

Picture of my gaily clad feet.
Yarn: Schaefer Anne
Needles: Size 0 Bamboo
Pattern: Cable Rib - Interweave Knits Favorite Socks.

10 days from winding to wearing - not bad eh :)

Getting down to it

Hogwarts swap socks done! Done done done, yay... Not blocked yet, but still pretty good :)

Back to purple cardi. Been a few weeks now - I had a couple of rows done on the second front (the one with the cable) before I realized I forgot to leave selvedge stiches on the side. Rip & do over. I still like this - but I'm noticing that the colour of this yarn is different depending on the lighting...

Another Monday

Purple cardi officially half done!
OK well the pieces are half done - still have both sleeves and one front to go. And the button band, blocking, and sewing... Once I finished the first front I put the purple aside and started on the Hogwarts Socks. I got some knitting graph paper and graphed out a simple diamond-within-diamond pattern, using my 3-shades-of-brown=bronze idea.
Silky tan colour for the cuff - CO 64, 24 rows. Started on size 2 dpns and transferred when enough rows were done so that it was stretchy enough. Then I introduced the other colours to the mix. This is when things got tricky.

I guess I'll try this a little longer, at least see if I can get one diamond done and then reassess - what you can't see is the approx. 30 strands of yarn tucked into my wee sockling there. And these 4-5 coloured rows took longer than the preceding ribbed 24....let's see how it progresses tonight.

On writing news - for the Knitting Poetry competition I have so far managed one fairly lame haiku. It's so difficult when you are restricted to just their words - the word to isn't even there...

And I'm not one of the Amazon.com breakthrough novel award winners :( I guess that would have been a lot to ask. But hey - it's an honour just to be nominated right?!?

KnitPicks delivers!

A box of yarn from KnitPicks came this week. Happy Days! Here's my Ravenclaw/Hogwarts swap sock yarn:

Eek! Now I am starting to panic - these colours are not at all what I wanted - and yes I know, I did order them myself and the colours are as described...I thought the variegated yarn would be more blue/brown. Instead it's blue/violet...off to the lys this weekend I guess (darn ;) )

I also got 10 balls of this: Palette in Rainforest Heather

Which is going to be the Printed Silk Cardigan from the current Interweave Knits. That's the plan anyway...

After I opened my lovely KnitPicks box I was inspired so I went along to the Sip n' Knit at Borders. Deb and Lyn had also got yarn in the mail and were similarly stoked. This was posted near the cash registers - now we're official!

I love my knitting group. If you live anywhere within a 50 mile radius, come join.

While there I volunteered to make a wooly pully - helmet liner for the troops. Cascade very generously donated 10 balls of Cascade 220 to our group for this project. Here's my progress:

Purple cardi is still on the go of course. Inching my way up one front. I got to the decreasing part and called it a night at Border's.

I do find it hard to concentrate on knitting/crocheting just one thing at a time. Here's my Noro Transitions scarf I made last weekend:

I like it...but it may get frogged. I don't like the way the ends are very small bands of colour compared to the rest of it. And I have come to dislike the alpaca bits a lot. Too hairy and fuzzy. Maybe I'll make this into a striped vest along with that creamy coloured aran I got in Ireland? Still looking for just the right pattern.

And here's what happens when Mommy is so busy knitting that DS's bedtime sneaks up:

Fell asleep on the kitchen floor, playing with his Lightening McQueen. Ahh.

purple cardi and other knitting loveliness

Still working on the purple cardi, of course. The colour is quite something...I hope it doesn't become one of those things I always bypass in the wardrobe because it's too bright. Better finish it first then worry about such things I suppose. So here I am - back done and making my way up one front panel.

Here's the babysitter's birthday present: I got the pattern, by Mia Zamora-Johnson here on Ravelry - she crocheted up quickly, and so cute! I used up my Debbie Bliss Cashmerino that I bought for Fetching and other scraps of sock yarn and baby yarn. Just love it.

And on my way home from another stint in West Virginia, I had to stop off all All About Yarn and see what was going on there. Ran into Karen from Sip n Knit (Hi Karen!)

And I found their Noro stash! Ever since Crazy Aunt Purl raved about Noro Transitions I've wanted to get my hands on some. And they had it on sale, in a pinky colour (#7).

As you can see, I had to start knitting immediately. P r e t t y...

more purple cardi

Here's the Dollar and a half cardi - I am about 2/3 the way up the back, in the middle of the 3rd of 14 skeins...I think I still like it. Just hope the reverse st st doesn't bulge out, as it does in this, admittedly unblocked, piece. I am just so impatient though. I can't work on just one piece at a time. Here's a crochet scarf I'm making, with silk yarn sent by my lovely friend Flibbertygibbet. It's so soft and lovely, will be perfect for springtime. Whenever that arrives. Speaking of: It's not quite daffodil weather but Trader Joe's had these, all the way from England. (What's the carbon footprint there? Hmm...)And just to make you all jealous: my cute boy -

Cardi progress

Decided to work from home this chilly Wednesday after another hellish commute last night. A mid-afternoon ice-storm glazed the roads and caused accidents on just about every thoroughfare out of Washington DC. I left at the usual time (see that's the danger of having an office with no windows - no idea what's going on outside) had to de-ice the car, crawl along in blurry traffic with ominous flashing lights in front and behind...I was 25 minutes late picking up DS from daycare. That is, twenty-five minutes after they closed, not just 25 minutes later than usual. He wasn't the last kid there, at least, and didn't seem all that perturbed. He then came to vote with me - usually he is not the best companion to run errands with but I guess his spirit of patriotism kicked in. I would insert a cute picture of him with an "I voted" sticker on his coat but 3-year-olds have a mind of their own. Good practice for when he's a teenager I suppose. So here's my sticker.

Indulge me won't you - this is the first time I've voted in a Presidential Primary, it being the first time I've been a US citizen for the voting cycle. I am also an Irish citizen, of course - keeping my options open ye know ;)

Making some progress on the Dollar-and-a-half cardi. Two conference calls today gave me the chance to do 20 guilt-free rows. Nothing cosier than working at home with this:
and this:

A Vicennial Event

Yes it's a word - refers to something that recurs every twenty years. Like me casting on for a sweater! Actually, a cardigan, The Dollar-and-a-half cardigan from Interweave Knits, Spring 2007, to be precise. I saw one of the Columbia Sip and Knitters wear hers (I really must introduce myself) and it looked so good I decided I'd go for it. Have vacillated back and forth between this and many, many other patterns since, but I like this. Plus - I already bought the yarn for it. Dale of Norway Svale: a cotton/viscose/silk blend in brightest purple. Fourteen balls of this have been looking accusingly at me since November, and so yesterday I cast on for something larger than a scarf for the first time in years (crocheted items do not count: crocheting is much faster).
You'd think I'd have a picture to show you. You'll just have to trust me that I did make a gauge swatch that came out quite close, and I've done the back rib plus six rows. And yes, I am very proud of myself.

Babette Blanket

At the knitting guild last night I also snagged some ball-ettes of pinks in various hues for the crochet Babette blanket (pattern from Interweave Crochet) I've been stashing for, for some time now. There is a babette group on Flickr that takes your breath away (especially the pink ones!!!) - and here's the original - I saw this when Flibbertygibbet brought me to Purl Soho last summer. I wanted so much to take it off the hanger and wrap it around me-
(picture from purlbee's Flickr page)
Colours are even better in person - you can see why I wanted to yank it off the wall right? I think it might be time to go back to hooking again...

Uptown Boot Sock

When I got tired of the Fetching I'd turn to sock making:This is the Uptown Boot Sock from "Favorite Socks, 25 Timeless Designs from Interweave."

I've one done, and have serious second-sock-syndrome. The yarn is lovely (another shout out for Whimzy Pinzy!) but the pattern, tiny repreating cables, is kind of boring. Maybe I need to stop using such variegated yarns with patterned socks - so have either an eye-catching yarn, or an eye-catching pattern, but not both?

Also - I made these quite small. They won't fit me so I am on the look out of a slender footed friend ;)