A New Project

I put my knitting aside, put those three WIPs into hibernation, and revisited the Babette blanket idea. I've been putting aside oddments of pink and green for months, and then while laying around watching King of Queen's DVDs this weekend I decided to go ahead and cast on...or hook up I guess. This blanket involves making 126 granny squares:
50 x 2 rounds
49 x 4 rounds
16 x 6 rounds
7 x 8 rounds
2 x 10 rounds
2 x 12 rounds

So far I've done 25 x 2 rounds and 10 x 4 rounds. This is where I'd insert a lovely colourful picture if I hadn't stood on the USB cable insert thingy and squished it...

Colours are great though. If I have a girl, it'll be hers. If I have a boy, it'll be mine :) see below for details...

My Sheep and Wool haul

I went along to the Sheep n Wool festival last Saturday, as did every other fiber enthusiast within a 500 mile radius (and some from waaay further afield by the sounds of things). It's just such a treat, quite the nicest thing I've done for myself all year. It was held at the Howard County Fairgrounds, only about 17 miles from home, and was set to open at 9am. I left home a little before 8, thinking I could amuse myself (by knitting maybe) before the gates opened. To my surprise, when I got there (missing all the traffic yay) the parking lot (i.e. surrounding field) was about 1/4 full, and the gates were open, and the majority of the stalls were already doing a steady trade.

Second stall in I met Helene and Karen from Sip N Knit, and we talked about how we were going to be good and pace ourselves...then another friend came and joined them, her shopping bag already happily bulging.

Later on I met up with Lyn and Knitty McKnitknit and we walked around fondling yarn, cooing at alpacas, marveling at the skills of Textillian and others who fared well in the various competitions, and wondering if the small of roasting lamb flesh had anything to do with the apparent consternation of some of the sheep...

And my haul: I got these, from "The Fibre company", 4 skeins of about 100 yards each of...something...in my rush to avail of these ($2.50 each) I managed to snag 2 skeins with no label, and the other two have labels but no yarn name. It's an alpaca/ingeo/merino/silk mix. Anybody know what it is??

Then, in a fit of madness, I bought 400 yards of boucle (mohair/wool/nylon)- I could not resist - look at these colours, all natural dyes, from, appropriately enough a company called Natural Dyed Yarns, who do not seem to have a website...
I say madness, becuase I have 400 yds of undyed boucle from last years S&W, which has been wound into a ball but lain untouched for about 9 months...maybe the two will come together some day in something wonderful. Maybe?
After I left Lyn & Debbi to go home (to bring DS to a birthday party) and was heading for the gate, I was called, drawn I was, to Tess' Designer Yarn, where I bought the pattern for the traveling cable top, and 2 skeins of microfibre ribbon. Soooo silky and pretty. I think I might make this into a waistcoat/vest rather than a shell as pictures...will see. And finally - couldn't make it all the way out without getting some sock yarn.
Lovely lovely soft hopefully non-itchy sock yarn. I felt kind of bad for the bloke running the stall though - his wife and daughter were keeping up a constant stream of moaning at the old guy.

But I left with a song in my heart, ten skeins of yarn in my bag, a sack of kettle korn in my hot little hand. Ahhhh life is good.

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

Sheila & Staceys' yarn party

Saturday dawned windy and bright - the perfect day to think about knitting socks had anyone asked me. After a false start the night of the ice-storm, Stacey rescheduled Sheila Rovelstad’s Hand-Dyed Sock Yarn party for 1PM Saturday.

Here's Sheila, with her pretty stitch markers, magnets and sock pattern:

And here...pretty pettable yarn...

the swift doing its thing...our wonderful hostess...
I got 2 skeins of sock yarn, one in a teal green and the other in various hues of purple. Matching stitch markers and a sock pattern were included. And if all that wasn't enough -
Yummy snacks too.

I made a start on the cuff of the teal coloured sock while I hung out eating strawberries and chatting, after my yarn was swifted into a cute little cake. Not sure how I'll proceed - I want to find a lacey pattern to show it off. But first, the Hogwarts socks beckon...

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.

A Starter for Ten...

Here I go with my knitting blog. Maybe no different to all the others out there, but different enough because how many knitting/microbiologist/Boston Terrier-lover/Irish ex-pats are out there? (Hey, if there's more than one of us, let me know). I've become more and more into the blogs of the knitting community, and find myself posting ever-longer comments on their blogs. So why not get 'em all together in one place I say.
I've hesitated for months now to develop this blog, imagining myself running out of steam in a month and being one of those folks who never updates. But I'll try to avoid that, hey nothing ventured etc.
So here goes :)