I was packing up all my knitting goodies - preparing to start Lucetta on Christmas Eve...I double checked the pattern one last time to make sure that I'd be bringing everything I need.

I did have everything, but the tension gauge indicated that the yarn should be doubled.

I was doubtful that if I didn't have enough for Glad that I would have enough for Lucetta.

So, I left it all at home and went on my way with my two almost finished projects.

On the drive, I finished Wright. I couldn't wait to try it on, so I switched tops in the car. It's so cute!

And this past week as I was finishing up the Drops Cabled Cardigan, I got nervous that I wouldn't have enough yarn to finish the piece, so I bought the LAST skein from Elann. It's on it's way with the knit.1 with the boatneck sweater that I've been coveting.

The body of the cardigan looks good, but the sleeves look horrible. I'm going to rip them out to the where the cable pattern stops and re-knit them. I knit them a size too big, plus I may improvise and make use less increases.

I started Dave's UCLA scarf:

And I started the Starfish Shawl! CO 730 stitches - join in the round - being careful not to twist the stitches - and cross your fingers and hope for the best - because it was a crap shoot with all of those stitches squished on to a 24" cable. Yikes!!

getting it wright

My Glad wrap has been set aside, alas I will not have enough yarn. *sigh*


I'm going to rip it out and try Lucetta, from Rowan Studio 4.

Mind of Winter posted on Ravelry that she used only less than 800 yards to complete hers!
I'll be printing out and using her pattern corrections faithfully! >>thank you!!<<

I'll be doing that as soon as I get done with Wright.


Which I have had to rip and now re-rip
to-get-the-decreasing-"every other RS row"-but-not-really-because-I'm-knitting-it-in-the-round
twice.

Wet, Garden State

I thought maybe it was just the standard answer for knitters who wanted to knit on planes, but apparently it's the standard answer for astonished travelers who sit next to knitters on planes.

A gentleman with a thick New Jersey accent said, "They let you bring those one the plane?!"
I said, "Yes, you're the third person to ask me that."
He said, "They don't let you bring a FRIGGIN bottle of water on the plane, but you can bring those."

And even though I was using two sticks, I overheard a man behind me telling his friend that I was "crocheting." He then nudged me and said, "They let you bring those on the plane?!"

I was making great progress on my projects until I realized that I failed to bring the additional circulars with me that I needed to continue....

home sweet home

life is busy
I don't blog much because I don't knit that much
but this should get you up to speed

we went to LA yesterday for a baby shower
I made booties, but forgot to take a picture, anyway, the important thing here is that after the party, I went to Wildfiber!

When I saw that picture on their website yesterday, I said outloud, "Holy crap."

That place is amazing. Natasha came up to me and commented on my Chevron Scarf.


I originally bought Koigu to go with with it, but found some Nature's Palette that worked better.
So I brought my Koigu


with me in hopes that I could find it a friend.
We did!



I want to make some socks and want to strategically incorporate this bit of color somewhere....I'm thinking maybe the top part of the foot. TBD... And note to self...want to try Magic Loop Cast On and garter stitch toes and heels!!

I also found a great Rowan Studio Issue 4 pattern book.
I particularly like Iras and Portia!

I also got birthday presents for my sister-in-law, but I can't say what they are because she reads this blog! :-)

They had some Socks That Rock there, and I deliberated over it, but wasn't in love with the colors that they had, so I stepped a w a y from the STR.

It felt so good to be back in LA. I remember the first time that my uncle drove me there. The minute we got in to Santa Monica, I felt instantly at ease, like it was where I had always belonged. The minute my feet touch the ground there, all is right in the world.

As I left Wildfiber, I saw a guy was riding his bike down the street. He seemed to have all of his worldly posessions attached to this bike. I noticed him right away because he had a Home Depot plastic gallon container turned upside and attached to the front of his handlebars. As he was riding along, he was playing his "drum."

I got sidetracked in Santa Monica by a pair of shoes. [They didn't have my size :-( ]

And finally made it to A Mano Yarn Center.

It was much smaller than I had imagined - they had a lot of great yarns. They had the laceweight Malabrigo which was so incredibly soft I thought I was going to faint.

I found a better yellow for Dave's UCLA golf club covers.



The new Cascade is a little more yellow than the Elann yarn that we bought, which is more gold.

And as I was getting ready to check out, I noticed that they had some Lorna's Laces. And I almost plotzed when I saw that they had the Tuscany color way. Did I ever mention that I met Lorna.

In Oakland she came up to the Argosy booth and said, "Hi I'm Lorna Miser, I just wanted to introduce myself." We were replied, "Hi. Nice to meet you."

We had no idea who she was, just thought she was being nice.

Then she says, "I'm Lorna Miser. From Lorna's Laces."

And we like, "HI!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Oh My G-d! HI!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"
Bowing ensued and we were completely star struck. :-)

She complimented Melissa on her yarn and Melissa was over the moon. It was pretty fantastic!

I told Lorna that I had really wanted to buy her Tuscany colorway for my trip to Italy this past year. She told me that she made the colorway for a friend, who was going, or had been... I can't remember which...

In any case, I couldn't leave the store without it.



I'm thinking maybe I'll make another Clapotis out of it, *crossing fingers,* and hopefully this one won't felt.


You like the shawl closure*? I designed it and my dad handcrafts them! They're made out of different woods, lots of different colors. And they're for sale! If you're interested let me know, I can post more pictures. Or wait to see and touch at Stitches - we'll be there!

* This shawl closure is a one of a kind - he got his hands on some ebony and only made two. The other one was a special order.

When I was checking out, Shannita commented on my Chevron Scarf. She said, "You got that here, right?" And I said, "No, actually, I've never been here before. I'm from Orange County, and wanted to come here because I met Jerry/Twisted Knitster when he came in to La Petite, when I was working there, and I read his blog and he always mentions your store."

We had a brief conversation about a few yarn stores that are closing, she mentioned that someone had come in to the store and bought the same color combination for the Chevron Scarf,about more men knitting, her store being filmed, and the upcoming Knitty Gritty shows on men knitting. You GO BOYS!!

And last but no least, I am busy working FT...but, I do knit, really, I do.

I finished my self-striping socks. And I am working on the two most tedious projects EVA.

Glad - I'll let you know if I'm glad I started this project or not. Subtituting Argosy Haiku 2-ply (cashmere/silk) in Pale Wedgeood for the KidSilk Haze.



And a Drops Cardigan in Alpaca.

what she does in her free time

About two years ago I knit what at the time appeared to be a very wide and extremely long scarf for my co-worker.

I sewed part of it together and added fringe and Voila!

Now my supervisor, she just sent this to me this week!

I'm somewhat certain that this is the pattern: Fringed Shrug.

by popular demand

Hi Wendy!!!

The toggles didn't have a shank attachment, so I had to macgyver them.

And thanks for all the kind comments during our somewhat state of emergency.

Here was the view of fire/smoke from our bedroom window.

All is well now.

Although, it's been very foggy in the mornings and on the way to work, the toll road smells like a wet barbecue...

We now interrupt this knitting blog, with an important message...

Knitting, yarn fondling, pattern gazing, and *gasp* Ravelrying all came to a standstill this week along with less important things like work, sleep, and eating as fires raced through the foothills of my community's backyard.

On my way to work on Monday, the fire was burning on both sides of the toll road, so the toll road was closed and traffic was forced forced onto surface streets.

My office building was then evacuated two hours later because the smoke was coming directly into the building.

There is nothing comforting about leaving work to go home and begin driving directly toward where fire raging and smoke is billowing.

I spent two days in total anxiety because my friend lives off of Santiago Canyon and she was incommunicado.

I drove to work on the toll road Wednesday devastated by the black, burned, ashen, lifeless landscape around me.

I talked to someone on Thursday who spent the night at the QualComm stadium in San Diego.

My heart and prayers are with everyone who has been affected by this tragic experience.

Coco Wood Toggles

Dave changed his mind about the buttons for the Saturday Morning Hoodie.

He was afraid that the zipper might pull the sweater down too much.

We went to JoAnn yesterday, but they had a whole lot of nothing.

I did some research on Ravelry last night to see where the button group gets their buttons from. One suggestion I saw was mjtrim.com.

So we bought these toggles last night.

They're made from Coco wood. They are a little over 1.25" long.

I'm hoping that there is a shank back attachment...the description didn't include one.

one sock photos

Here is the Spiral Boot Sock from Interweave SU07:

And here is the sock I finished Friday night, it's my first toe-up sock:

look ma, I'm knitting pockets

The beautiful yarn, Araucania Nature Wool Chunky, 115, for the Lion Brand Saturday Morning Hoodie arrived:



The back knit up in about four hours:



I've never knit pockets before! It's EASY!

Classic Socks

Check out these FREE patterns from XRX: Sock and hat pattern
The socks are super easy for for sizes ranging from Child (S) to Adult (L).

how to attract men in bars

Friday night at a hotel bar, I'm at sitting having a glass of wine by myself and knitting until my friends show up.

My friend arrives and sits next to me.
Soon, a drunk man sits down next to her.

As I'm talking to someone else, the man says to her, "Is she crocheting?"
My friend says, "No she's knitting."
The man slurs, "That'ssss ssssso cool that she's crocheting. Crocheting is hotttttt."

By this time I realize that they are talking about me, so I look at the guy at say, "Yeah, I'm a knitting exhibitionist," and I turn away to continue my other conversation.

The drunk man says, "I bet you're REALLY good at it."

yarn for the hoodie

I'm happy to report that downloading the Saturday Morning Hoodie from LBonline was very easy!

And after much online searching, and double checking color accuracy on Ravelry, we picked out Araucania Nature Wool Chunky:





It's a beautiful brownish/olive-ish color that will look fantastic with Dave's eyes!
:-)

surprised by lions

Saturday Morning Hoodie

Dave said he would wear this if I made it - but "without the hippie buttons."

He said he'd like a zipper instead.

Can do!!

I got my Lion Brand Yarn lion design catalog this past week and was pretty impressed with a pattern called Cable Vision, which I couldn't find a picture of, and I am greatly enamored with this pattern:




Jacket Deconstructed

what my socks have in common with Flavor Flav

I finished Clapotis - it's beautiful - very long - more of a shawl than a scarf.

Every day I have to lug my laptop back and forth to work - and The Clap was weighing down my Timbuk2 quite a bit. So, I got a hankering for a sock.

I cast on during the Comedy Central Roast of Flavor Flav.

This is my first toe-up sock

I'm pretty excited about it - in fact I was so excited that I forgot that I wanted to do garter stitch for the toes and heels. And I forgot that I wanted to try the Magic Loop cast on.

I'm using Wendy's Pattern: Fingering Weight Toe-Up Socks With Gusset Heel.

This yarn, Patons Yarn, Patonyle, was a gift from my ISE4 Pal! Thank you so much, Helen!

(Somehow she knew I liked orange....)

I like how I can try it on as I go!!

Do you see how my foot starts to get narrow at this point in the sock? I'm wondering if I should decrease or not?

what is the sound of one hand knitting the clap?

Oh the drama of business travel.
I got a lot done on

the clap

(by the way, as I was uploading this picture, we had an 4.7 earthquake...)

I've got 11 of the 13 repeats completed - I may make it longer - just use up this yarn...
I knit the whole way to Cincinnati.
For my travels home, there were delays due to weather.
I knit on my last minute flight to Salt Lake City - but when I landed, I thought I had a quick stop over, but it turned out to be two hours. I was so tired and irritable I just sat and stared at the walls.

this is definitely an easy pattern to remember
and this picture doesn't do the yarn justice

I'm already dreaming of what my next project should be...

and I made out like a bandit at the Gap Outlet.
lots of BR tops and sweaters - including a $10 cashmere crew neck sweater for Dave - the collar had separated from the sweater in the front and back - but I sewed it right up!
a cotton kimono (reverse stockinette and stockientte, w/ a belt) sweater for me with a small dropped stitch - picked it up and sewed it back into its proper place
a cashmere and silk short sleeve top - opened up under one armhole - sewed it back up
it goes on and on like this
I am SEW happy! ! !

most of it is at the dry cleaners now - I can't wait for this 100+ heat to go away so I can start wearing my sweaters!

in the meantime I guess I'll wear one of my four tank tops - the 25-cent pink tank top will be the most enjoyable!!!

husks or niblets?

I was intrigued by Knit and Tonic's post about her new sock yarn.

I'm always interested in what they're making yarn out of now.

CORN

Check out all the colors at Jimmy Bean's.

I'm interested because {and this is how you can tell I'm a process-focused person}, how did they make that yarn?

Did they use the stringy part of the husks? Did they grind up the sweet, yellow corn into a pulp?

I have sock yarn that I need to knit up and I now I'm jonesing for this stuff. Call me crazy, but I really like the Iguana color.

I wonder how it knits up - stretchy like cotton and elastic? or with good stitch definition like a wool? It looks pretty bumpy.

Ahhh...here's a pictue:

I'm a little giddy!

Between finding my beloved orange tape measure,
having a non-stop 4-hr flight on Monday where I'll be knitting more of this:



the clap

and finding out that my plane lands on Monday at 6:22 pm and the Gap Outlet (Distribution Center) doesn't close until 9pm!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I can barely sit still!

I have been going to the Gap Outlet in KY for probably close to 15 years. It's a REAL outlet - a huge warehouse full of Gap, Banana Republic, and Old Navy items that you have to dig through to find the good stuff. Great finds have been tank tops in every color imaginable, beautiful BR merino wool sweaters for Dave, an ON angora sweater, and pants for work. It's returns, items where the hem fell, or things that have a little dirt on them. When I find a treasure, it's a wonderful thing.

Oh yeah - I'm traveling for work next week! My first business trip EVAH!

Doesn't the green yarn look much better in this project? I think the yarn is happy to have found a project with which it fits well.

I will only be gone two nights or I would try and visit some local yarn stores while I'm in Cincinnati. I was looking at the Raverly Cincy knitters group and it looks like the favorite stores are in KY - I'll be north of there - and don't really want to be driving around that much.

The baby dress is finished. NO! I'm NOT pregnant - it's a just a sample. Who doesn't want to put their baby in a 100% cashmere dress? C'mon!

Reunited!!

I put on my robe this morning and what did I find?

My old friend!!

Alas, my old friend has a new friend!

two hours a day

is about how many hours I spend knitting now.

I bring my lunch so that I don't have to waste time driving somewhere = more time for knitting!

People come in to the lunch room:
"What are you working on?"
"Oh, that's so neat, what is that?"
"Is that a skirt?"
"I want to learn how to do that one day."
"Ha ha, knit one, purl two."

Since I last posted - I cast on for Vestida Tura Maeve
I need to pick up one more skein of Zen 4-ply in Like Butta' and it will be a quick finish.


There is a major error in this pattern - when I complete the dress, I'll post the correction.

Excuse the crappy photos - I'm spending the morning in bed while my photographer is golfing.

See! I finished the Strapless Dress, I mean Sheer Poncho.


I cast off on this last night before we went out and tried it on. It smells like the perfume I wore last night... :-)

And the Beaded Cami was finished over a week ago.
On Monday I wored the Beaded Cami to work. I've gotten lots of compliments on it!



I promised to post the in the round directions - I will as soon as I get a good picture!

On Tuesday, concidentally, my not-so-Green Gable matched my skirt.



On Wednesday, it was so cold in the office, I wore my silk scarf from Venice and this sweater all day.

Photo Assistant

I haven't been called to go into work yet, so I got up today and decided to photograph and enter my stash into Ravelry.

Good thing I had an assistant, it took me about five hours to do it all.

She was playing with the Frog Tree Pima Silk tail of a skein and jumping over the plastic bins and piled up yarn.

Good times.

Now that it's all entered in, I will go through and put some of it up for trade/sale.

Another cute pic

Succumbing to the Clap

Why Ravelry is great:

I've tried to use the Merino/Silk yarn in two patterns, and it didn't work.
So I went to Ravelry and did a search of Merino Silk to see what other people did with yarn like this in a DK weight.

I'd say about 85% did Clapotis.

Wondering if Clapotis is really all that popular?
Well, Ravelers (7,162 users, as of 8/7/07) have made this project 1144 times.
Quite a few have done it three times!

You know I can't do math (well), but that's a lot!

Gonna go put Clapotis in my Ravelry Queue now!!!

Rêve

I dreamt this pattern.
And now you can dream about what it will look like once you knit it up!





Rêve Camisole
A-line camisole with cables above empire waist.
$4.99

SIZES
34 ½ (36½, 38, 39¾, 41¼)" bust circumference.

GAUGE
24 sts/34 rows = 4" in St st
29 sts/38 rows = 4" in Cable Pattern st

MATERIALS

• Argosy Luxury Yarns, Nicole Sport [100% silk; 160 yds/146 m]; color: Silver; 4 (5, 6, 7, 8) skeins
• 29 inch US 4/3.5mm circular needles
• Stitch holders
• Cable needle
• Tapestry needle

can you say...?

Stitch Definition

This is one skein (195 yards) knitted up of Bonsai Bamboo, from Argosy Luxury Yarns in the Kona colorway.

I've started the Beaded Cami, but will do it without beads.

I will also make pattern changes and drop the garter stitch to below the bust for an empire waist, as TragicHeroine did. I just ADORE her cami, can't stop looking at it!! :-)

When I look at this yarn, I can't decide if I want to drink coffee or swim in the ocean.

Maybe drink coffee, wearing my Beaded Cami, on a Kona beach...

I will definitely pack this in my suitcase when I take a trip to Kona...someday.