MEGAupdate!

monkee has been complaining that I have only updated 3 times in the past six months. maybe because i was busy gradumutating and other fun things. did you know I'm getting married? ;-)

anywho. time for the mega update. with actual knitting content. oh. that reminds me. forgot to take two pictures. hang on.

*muzak plays*

...

back!
okay then. here goes.

Last night was an amazing time! tons of people, great yarn sales, good snacks, time to knit, meeting new people and chatting with old. so so much fun. my first ever experience of any sort of knitting group thingie. yeah.

It started with me travelling to the next train station over to meet up with Tucker to drag her into the city. i informed her of all the local LYS' and which were must-visits. also the location of the nearest Hobby Lobby for all her crafty needs. we are debating starting our own local knit group, even just in our houses and maybe just once a month. but just something we could do! because we had a blast the rest of the night!



and the back row is Kristen (purrl); and oh boy...i forgot her ID. was there with her hubby (?) and they were both a stitch to be around!!; next up is the darling April the Okie! she stated we needed a photo to prove to monkee we were in the same room at the same time. heh. bottom row is me, of course, and the lovely Tucker!

Kristen helped organize our Knitty meet-up there. we also met Celtic Coyote and her friend who doesn't post often. There were also regular Friday peoples hanging out and knitting, and then extra people since Stitches Midwest was going on this weekend. It was SO very cool to put faces to names!

not only was everything 20% off, there were yarns for $1. some were frou-frou Berocco and other things, but there were some cute balls of wool that Tucker and I were eyeing. But then Kristen walked up, "you girls ready?" and she dumps the most stunning colours of yarn in, and goes back and grabs more. we got first dibs because we were right in front of the rack, and then other people caught on to our excitement and flocked. so very cool!! and a while later, She walked by with a basket of other yarn that i had been looking at and said it was going in the $1 bin as well. i pounced again. i haven't bought yarn in months and months. just been gifted and swapped. and i couldn't very well leave it there for $1 each, could I???



lookit the bag o yarn i brought home! bigger than the knitting bag i took with!

what's inside?

YAK YARN!

Karabella Superyak. 50 yak, 50 merino and it is SO.SOFT. four skeins, 125 yds each. beautiful deep colour.

but see?

innerestin.

see this too?


mmmm. Lorna's Laces Dove. 80 wool, 20 cotton.


oh the green! it was so lovely I snatched up all i could. 165 yds each.


true view of the blue here....denim.

but look at them together!

so very nice! the pink is greatly varied, compared to the other two. they will go so well together. i'm thinking simple top-down raglan, striped. maybe slightly belled sleeves. according to Ann Budd i have more than enough yarn for a raglan for me. SO exciting! will do it top-down to use as much yarn as possible. yippee!

see???

amazing!

craptastic pics to follow!

nifty how this:


turns into this:


Matt wasn't too enthused. i said look, mister. you said we could knit flowers. it'll look really neat once it is finished (when i get wire and leaves and accents for his!) and i think it's great to have something to keep, especially for the parents and wedding party (and us!) as well.

today i also went to B&N and got the new issues of VK and IK. so many wonderful things! most especially the first pattern in VK. fair isle and cabeled long sweater coat. i want i want! thankfully i had already "read" IK online, since it was plastic wrapped with a little booklet gift. it's just scarves though. whoop-d-doo.

i also finished knitting Trellis during the knit party, but forgot pics. will seam, then find buttons and knit the collar. go me go! i love baby knits!

so hopefully this satisfies wee little monkee, off at camp for the weekend!

leavin' on a jet plane

so...now the Amazing Lace has a pit stop, and the five people on the participants list above me will (hopefully) stop in to say hi.

unfortunately, i haven't updated lately, har har. that is because i have literally been too busy to knit. at all. i squeezed in maybe 10 rows yesterday, but the purl rows seem to kill my hand. so i have to stop for a few minutes after every wrong side row. it's quite beautiful though. i love me some Zephyr. mmmmm.

and i have one "wedge" done on my lorna's laces Helen's lace shawl. and once i get a swift i can wind the knit picks alpaca cloud for my other shawl. my summer of lace is turning into no knitting.

but now on Friday i am leaving for Leeds, England with my church group. we're gonna hook up with a church there, and run VBS for a week, and also do some construction. plus some site-seeing in London and Edinburgh. maybe i will even meet a Knitty-head or two, but it's not looking too likely. i am plotting taking knitting on the plane. it seems i should have no trouble leaving the US with knitting in my carryon, but might have trouble coming back. i'm taking size 1 bamboo dpns (which almost break in use! therefore, how could they hurt someone??) and some Denise. i might even finish the baby sweater during the week, which'd rock. but if i stash the needles with my pens and stuff, and bring nothing else knitting....and have nothing near the needles that'd show up on x-ray, i might could possibly get my knitting for the ride home. i mean, it's 8 hours of straight knitting time. c'mon! on the way there i may try and sleep a bit to ward off the time change. we shall see.

okay then! welcome! hopefully updates upon my return.

how many words....

are this picture worth?

(not so) RAK

here's my goodies, at long last.

VAL! she sent me handspun handdyed yarn! in yummy greens. i saw the roving on her blog and when i commented on it, she said it was mine! awww. used the crappy camera. it didn't focus on the yarn. grrr. but it's nice stuff.



and then Yorkie and i did a swap. because i needed more spotted dick. yup.



Yorkie Bar! mmmM!!!! and other brand jaffa cakes, and blue can HobNobs (fabbo, they are!) and a sweet coffe mug. yay Brits!!

supposedly i'm getting a totally random giftie from MJ....sadly, it has yet to arrive

(almost) instant gratification

yay!!! I had forgotten how much i dearly loved quilting. although bending over the sewing machine makes my back ache.


start with a pile 'o t-shirts.


chop 'em up, and buy nifty cotton batting and some border material (with gratuitous cello shot for Laura)


sew 'em up nice and straight


and add your border. voila! a quilt top.

Now waiting for the backing material which is a gift from a really super friend who wants to de-stash.

so much lace...so little....no wait, i HAVE time!

so now that i have gradumatated, i have plenty o time to knit. so lace seems like a good thing. i can concentrate on it instead of homework. so i now introduce my three teammates. they have not come to me free of error and worry. instead, they are mainly messes. but i am intent on fixing them all!


First up is the project dubbed "Lace Insanity." I'm test knitting this for my good friend Ana, and, as you can see, it has its own set of worries. Fit was a problem, but not too much had to be frogged, and all 200 stitches were easily returned to the Addi. It should be a happier design overall, once lost time is caught up. Brown Sheep Cotton Fine is quite delightful to work with, because the small wool content makes the cotton easy on my hands. Otherwise I don't use cotton.


Next we have the (ironically named) Helen's Lace. MMMMMMMM first time using any sort of silk. cannot wait to start in on it. using the free pattern that comes on the label, as it should be easy enough to follow while living in the KnittyChat this summer.


Lastly, the bane of my existence. I am clutching the iron grip of fuzzy alpaca yarn stuck in the evil evil nupps of Madli's Shawl. The end border of the shawl will not frog, and i have already wasted yarn by starting over. That shawl was horrid. It looked oh so pretty, and yet...ARGH. now my Knit Picks Alpaca Cloud is going to become a much greater thing...Shaped Triangle from Gathering of Lace. This is the pinnacle of my summer lace experience!

of course, it's not as much lace as monkee has on her plate, but i can try!

Oh, the irony!

yup yup. first time for many things. i got to meet a knitty! yay!

Marcy (mittenfarce) and i went out for yummy Thai food, mmmmm. then we headed to Loopy where we met Purrl behind the counter.

here we are!


the lady working had us hold props..Marcy's is some bamboo yarn and the latest Knit.1, which she bought to knit hubby some shorts, heh (the magazine, not the yarn!) i'm holding a felted bowl they had on the counter as my goodies were already wrapped up.

speaking of goodies...i went hog wild and bought me some Helen's Lace in "Black Purl" mmmm, mmm. pardon the crappy pic as the day is gray...yeargh! Plus a 40-inch size 0 addi. mmmm, socks...



and on my train trip in and out i did this, evidence of "you get what you pay for"


Moda Dea Sassy Stripes. Colours darker than photo suggests. but whaddya expect for cheap yarn. at least they're soft enough.

i wore my socks from Ariel today, to keep me nice and toasty throughout the day. happy times!

a sockapaloooza thrill!

so...friday was a fabulous mail day. a card from my monkee, and a padded envelope. my mom's like, oh, those must be your socks! I just said they probably were, then headed up stairs. maybe ten minutes later, i finally glanced at the return address. guess who!

if the return address didn't give it away, the signature blue tissue certainly did...



they fit like a dream!





i love love love them. Pattern is Elfine's Socks (PDF) and are in Knit Picks' Essential sock yarn in Grass. oh so machine washably yummy!

even if they aren't machine washable purple sheepies...

Knitting Burnout

i am so tired of things that do not fit. my olympic sweater wasn't the best fitting sweater i have made. my latest tank top sucks as well. my jaywalkers? don't fit over my ankles. so they are banished. i think i will go start my test knitting (heh. here i am complaining about published patterns not working, and i'm gonna go knit something not even completed by the designer yet. teehee. but i love the designer. so off i go!!)

an update, at last.

soo... i just knit a hautter. it was a meh experience. i used Patons Fresco, which is discontinued. the hautter pattern is also 'discontinued' as it is not currently available. anyway. here it is, in all it's unflattering glory:



urgh. i don't think the elastic in the band will help much, but i'll put it in eventually. it makes me look flat as all get out. here's how i shall wear it to school tomorrow:



and then, a little while back, Laura was talking about her wonderful Kinder egg surprises. my daddy brought us back three packs from the netherlands. my uncle had really fun toys. so i couldn't wait to eat mine. imagine my reaction when i open my first egg to find this:

yeah. more cracker jack than kinder surprise. but it is a nicely made puzzle, as the pieces interlock solidly and one can pick up puzzle without it falling apart. it is one of four to make a larger picture.

if i get two more parts of the puzzle, i will be seriously mad.

next up: jaywalkers out of some lorna's laces. mmm. socks for myself!

no knitting today...

cuz my graduation gift arrived...


oooh, a box in my room!!


talk about excess paper!


at least i have two desks in my room so i can set this one up while not disturbing my old one so i can uh...do homework. right. four more weeks.

oh boy Missy. wait'll you get yours. i had to uninstall tons of crap...since this came with XP-Media Center. ugh. now Norton Internet Securites is telling me i have installed the program more times than is allowed and it will not activate it. grrrr. daddy will call and see what they can do. :D meanwhile, i now have to install things bit by bit, then transfer over all my crap, then back it up, then go through stacks of floppies to see if they contain anything useful since new comp has card readers instead of floppy drive.
and SIX USB ports! yay! two of which are on the front. thank goodness. makes life MUCH easier.
and 1GB SDRAM. and a 160 GB hard drive. a 17" LCD. *happy sigh*

sockapaloooza complete!

here they are!! bound off yesterday afternoon. so glad to have them done. they are slightly small for me, which means they should fit my pal just fine. hoping they get over the ankles alright.





I used Regia Mini Rengel Stripe. i got so worried when i pulled them out of the stash because the numbers didn't match. not just the lot number, but the COLOUR number! huh?? i bought enough yarn for like 5 pairs of socks last year, and i don't know how i missed this. i got so worried, but cast on anyway. i have made some socks, and NEVER gotten the stripes to match up, no matter how hard i tried. so i didn't try. and you can see the toes started a bit off, but then on one sock i think i missed a row in the heel *ssssshh* and they matched the whole way up the leg. go figure!

i used addi turbos, size 1, and a size 4 for the bind off at the top. free pattern from elann.com. link not handy at the moment. did two socks, two circs, first time, all on my own, from a pattern written for dpns. yup. proud of myself.

new specs!

i was so, soooo tired of my old glasses. so for graduation i got new ones. plus a year's worth of contacts. *happy sigh*

OLD ME:


NEW ME!!!


in the SHADE!


top 'o the line, all sorts of extras. i love them both! makes me want to wear glasses more often just so i can wear the sunglasses. hehe. must go PM anne baby, and tell her my deals...

now that my hair is dry, i have one question. i'm debating bangs of some sort. what do y'all think??

it's getting hot in herre

man, this sweater is really warm on my arms. hope i can wear it this season. just took this pic then slid the needle back on to the body sts.

i really like how it's coming out. now to pick up underarm sts so there is NO seaming! yay! then some quick decreases to tighten it up and we're off! won't be making it too long...don't have much yarn, and need button bands.

Knitting Update

so...my top down sweater has one complete sleeve on it. i think a picture is on my memory card, except that i am at school and that is at home, so i do not remember if i actually took that pic or not.

but here's my current WIP list:

1-sockpal socks
2-supersecret small thingie ;-)
3-test knitting...Ana?
4-Trellis for gift

those are the required things. then i have so many WIPs it ain't even funny, especially because they don't get worked on. i was hoping to finish this top-down sweater to wear it this season. we shall see...spring is a strange creature in Chicago!

Stash Flash?

erm. sorry. maybe Sunday? but no promises. because i am a busy college gal with six weeks to go til graduation. so i will hopefully get it going for y'all. enjoy everyone else's for now!

and thanks for all the sweet comments about me 'an DBF ;)

a night out on the town

and some knitting...


yup yup. i am LOVING this top-down thing. for sure. and it has a STEEK. man oh man. it is quite liberating to not really be using a pattern. just the guidelines. and using about 30 balls of recycled, dyed yarn. haha. it is the softest stuff! and bulky (3sts/inch) so it is going really fast.

then we have my delicious dinner:

Salmon cooked on a cedar plank, smothered in BBQ sauce, with mashed potatoes and corn stuff. oh goodness. the size and taste was worth the price ($19) and really, it was quite reasonable. for two dinners, a cosmo, glass o wine, liquored up coffee and a latte, plus tip and ridiculous city tax, total was $83. and SO GOOD.

and the happy couple:

sock progress!

okay, here's how far i was by wednesday:



and more of the heel:


yup. that was after casting on late sunday, and doing ten rows of heel. all this was mon-wed, during train time. gotta love the commute!

should have these done by next wednesday, no? no knitting right now. homework calls! ack.

sockapaloooza update

yup. with Olympic knitting outta the way, here come my socks for my pal!
using this pattern i made one sock before, but it was with patterning yarn like they used. i think solid stripes are MUCH more attractive!
using Regia Mini Rengel Color, and it is gorgeous. will explain why stripes don't match later on. but yeah. fraternal is good.

tried them on for this photo shoot, but not once i get to the heels (in about two more inches) because my sockpal has way smaller feet than me. maybe my mom can model the FO (then i shall wash it, of course. hehe) AND i taught myself two socks on two circs! had to do some acrobatics after toe increases because i needed one heel stitch on the instep needle so i could end the row on a K1 and NOT a YO. whew. will have to juggle it around again when i get to heel.

It's Sweater Time!!

yup, hand over the Gold Medal. I finished my sweater in record time. 13 days of 'calendar time,' but there were about three whole days i didn't knit a stitch at all. WOWSA! (by the way, i really enjoy being a red head. maybe when i am rich i can pay people to keep it that way)

and closer to see the cables:

Pattern: #13 in Winter 05/06 Vogue Knitting
Yarn: Araucania NatureWool in colour #46
Needle: Denise size 8
it was quite a joy to knit! how the cables just naturally came out of the ribbing. The yarn is slightly thin for an 'aran' knit, but i do not need really thick, warm, wool sweaters or else I will overheat. The yarn is fabulous to knit with. really niec colour (it's hand-dyed) and spit splices beautifully. It only took 5 skeins to knit this (size 40, largest in the pattern). this means i have 2 skeins left, which I would love to swap for two skeins of Cascade 220 Superwash in some sort of bright and cheery, unisex baby colour to knit Trellis for a baby coming in October. so trade is not necessary immediately, but sooner is better. anywho, back to the sweater...wore it today, and the colour works well with my skin and hair tones. so that's great. DBF loved it, so that's gotta count for something, right?

Really, all else that matters is that I finished knitting a day before monkee did. ha. erm, i mean. go Olympic knitters!

Next up, knitting socks for my sockapaloooza pal! I have some Regia Mini Ringel Color in a really pretty red/pink/orange/yellow mix. but no pattern yet. this is my biggest sock knitting problem. finding sock patterns that fit without alteration because i have only made one successful pair of socks. thinking thinking hard! i would much prefer a toe-up pattern because i want to knit both at once on 2 circs, and want to be sure and not run out of yarn (by doing toes last) and having to undo TWO socks instead of one.

lookee here!

awww, DBF surprised me last night by picking me up from the train instead of my daddy! and he had a slice of my favoritest pie! and on my desk was this:

two dozen red roses and six pink carnations!
suh-weet!!! he's the greatest. made my birthday SUCH a special day!!

as for olympic knitting, made some more swatches. determined whole sweater to be made on size 8 needles. and it is looking to be a challenge because i have TONS of homework, and on friday i work til 2, need to call one friend, pick bro up from school at 8pm, then hang with a friend home from college...so maybe 4 hours knitting time? can i make an entire sweater in 16 days WITH work and school? i dunno!!

notice....anything?

hmmm. this really neat thingie...snapshirts is a really interesting tool...cuz it takes all the words on your blog (i dunno from how far back)...and makes this cool 'word cloud.'

now....take a look at it.

seriously.

just look.

who's name is really big?? (otter)



yeah. that's what i thought.