Whirlwind

This past week has been something of a whirlwind for me. I haven't felt like i've had much slow-down time in quite a while. And not all of its been good.

And I had written an entire post about this.. then realized that I don't really feel like screaming and yelling at people I consider friends so openly. So I deleted it.. and posted it on my more private blog. If you are one of those friends, and have the wish to learn the nitty gritty not so nice parts of my opinions that may or may not include you, ask me to send you a link to that other blog.. and I will. But I don't feel like being quite so open where everyone can read unless they are prepared for it.

In other news, that I will share... Ryan's grandmother passed away yesterday. She went easily, though unexpectedly, and I know we will all miss her. I packed Ryan off on a plane this morning so he can attend her funeral services. I decided to stay home, as I did not know her very well and he is going to be there for quite a few days - that it'd just be better if I stayed home. Besides, we've got a kitty recovering from surgery and my parents are also coming up to visit.. and the other cat..and the dog.. and the fish..and the turtle... we have a lot of animals - lol.

But, that's a while without Ryan. I'll miss him. But him going up there is good for him. I know losing his grandmother was hard on him. I will miss her as well. Rest in peace, Therese.


And here's hoping to a better weekend this week.

Lacking in the knitting

So yesterday was my first time to pick up my knitting again in a little over a week. Ever since I had to rip out 20+ rows in my Primrose (Friday before last), I sat my knitting down and didn't pick it back up. I took a week off. Honestly, I can also lay the blame on a new game the hubby has been trying to get me to play with him - Rift. Its another mmo similar to world of warcraft. Less players, and a major story-event-based game. I've pretty much just played that when I get home. Although there was my Idol nights.. where I sat on the couch and watched them sing their flu-infested hearts out.. when I would normally be knitting.. and I just didn't. I think I just haven't gotten up the nerve to try the row-counts again on that sweater. Its intimidating me. I just that I'm going to lose track of what row I'm on because I'm watching tv.. or doing something else.. and lose track and have to start that section all over again. Its like I need a pattern as a basis to count with in order to not lose my place. Basic stitches are somehow difficult for me to count. I dunno why. Grrrr.

I did work on my sock last night though. Still absolutely love the malabrigo sock yarn - and the colors of Abril are gorgeous!! And I turned my first heel last night!! I even slipped it on my foot and it fits great :D So now I just have to take the cuff up as high as I want it..and I'll have my very first sock done. Yay! I only screwed up on that heel once - cuz I didn't read the instructions right the first time. Looking at it a second time and I knew what I'd done wrong, and it was simple enough to fix. Works for me. I can definitely do that again a second, third, fourth + time. For, y'know, that next pair of socks I do. Toe-up (where I knit the toe first then continue from there, as opposed to cuff-down) is definitely an easy way for me to do it. Dunno why you'd ever do cuff down and not use magic loop :D


On to other news - anyone else loving this season of American Idol? They are all so damn good!!! I was a little sad with the performances this past week..but half of them were really sick. And so their voices didn't carry as well, of course. Though Lauren belted through her flu and did a fabulous job anyway. And I can't help it, but I'm in love with Scotty McCreary. He may sing country, but that deep voice just has me hooked. Of course, I also really like Casey - and his performance of Smells like Teen Spirit just has me shell shocked. I am also impressed with James Durbin - his rendition of Judas Priest was really good too. Who knew we'd have such amazing and varied talent this year. Although I think Pia has them all beat just by pure vocal skills. She's like the new Whitney Houston/Celine Dion/Mariah Carey all rolled up into one. Damn that girl can sing. I hope every single one of these people make records when they get off of Idol. They all deserve it.

Well, okay, I don't think Ashton deserved a record..she was too "overdone". We've seen her like before, and she didn't have anything special to bring to it. Boring. And Karen, although she had some potential, was just outshone by everyone else in the competition. I think my next choices for voting off are: Naima, Paul and Thea. Once we get down to .. what is that.. Top 8? Then those will be the real stars. I've been voting for like five of the contestants each week. I have no idea who I'll vote for when it gets tighter than that.

And that is my Idol experience :D

A perfect day

Saturday could only be called one word: "Perfect".

The morning began by getting picked up by D&W to head out to a Chocolate Festival. That's right - a chocolate festival. $15 and you get 10 samples of super-special super-delicious super-decadent chocolate. Count me in! It was a bit of a drive to the festival, but that was okay, because I always like catching up with D&W - the one couple that actually still likes hanging out with us. Only thing that could have made the day better was if the hubby had had the day off from work, but work with what you got.

By the time we got to the festival, the next "wave" was sold out, so we bought tickets for an hour later, then set off to enjoy downtown Grapevine shopping. And let me tell you, downtown Grapevine is incredibly quaint, especially considering its proximity to the greater DFW metroplex. And that was when we got to enjoy the absolute bestest part about Saturday - the absolutely gorgeously breathtaking..75 degree weather!! It was sunny, a little breezy..and 75 degrees of beautiful. Couldn't ask for better weather, and it just made everything better. I love spring. Love love love it.

So in our escapade around downtown Grapevine, we stopped at a few stores..but one in particular had us entranced. It was the Grapevine Olive Oil company. They make all these different flavors of oils and vinegars. And they had bread available so you could try them all!! I fell in love with a "Cinnamon Pear Balsamic Vinegar" and D fell in love with a "Dark Chocolate Balsamic Vinegar" - appropriate for the festival we were about to enjoy. So we just had to buy them. And then we find out we can get them refilled at a lower rate in the future - nice!! We'll just have to get back there when we run out..which I'm sure will be soon.

After dropping off our finds at the car, we headed back to the festival. We got our little trays..and headed in. So the room with all the chocolate had waaay too many people in it..but.. the chocolate was well worth it. I know I had some tiramasu of delicious, a chili chocolate pudding of the yum, several chocolate chip cookies, an orange tart that was quite orangey, and some toffee..of zomg!! The toffee was sooo good..that I just had to go back and buy more. Sigh. I'm a sucker for toffee - grin! The rest of it was uber delicious too.. just the toffee beat out all the rest for me. I think most people really liked the chili chocolate pudding though.

So after the chocolate.. we headed over to California Pizza Kitchen - my favorite pizza place - because, well, we were in town, and its otherwise hard to make it there cuz there is only 2 in the entirety of the metroplex!! You may ask - how the hell could we eat after all that chocolate?? Well, see, we were smart, and planned this lunch, so that we would know not to eat all our chocolate. No no, we took a tupperware full of chocolate home with us. For later enjoyment - and so that the hubby could have some too. And the pizza was a very nice break to the day.

We then headed to a miniatures store/warehouse that is semi-nearby to that part of the metroplex..because, well, we were on that side of the metroplex, and we normally aren't. ((And for those not used to the DFW metroplex..let me just say that it is enormous. It'll take you 1-3 hours to cross the whole thing, dependent upon time of day. We try not to cross the whole thing very often.)) Anyway, I picked up this mini. I picked up another one, with a bad-ass elemental cloak looking thing... but I can't find a picture of her. Not sure why. D's going to paint them for me - in exchange for some fingerless gloves. Need to start looking for a pattern for those for her.

Following the miniature buying spree (on D&W's part, more than mine), we headed back to their place to wait for my hubby to get off work so we could play games. We played a new game they bought.. Mansions of Madness. The game seemed near impossible to beat. I hate games like that.. I get that Cthulu games are supposed to be all about the horror.. but I still like to beat games. So not sure how I feel about that one yet. I didn't enjoy my time playing it that night. But it may just have been first-try vibes. I ended up grabbing my sock that I'm knitting to help keep my anger in check. Yay for knitting calmingness.

But, all in all, the entire day, was just perfect. Hang out with my best friends.. enjoying gorgeous weather..eating chocolate... playing games.. Perfect.

Birthday Present from Hubby

So my birthday is next Tuesday, but hubby decided to get me my birthday present a week early. We both have bad habits about doing that. I haven't taken a picture of it yet, probably should.. but.. he basically bought me between 10-15 skeins of yarn (some very weird stuff.. including chinchilla and fancy fuzz stuff), and he "hung" them up on the wall in the middle bedroom with these hook things. It was quite cute, really. But he said that I get to have that wall - and we're going to build some diamond shelves all along that wall so i have it for yarn storage!! I know the shelves are the *real* gift, and the extra yarn is just fun stuff to try, but I really appreciate all of it. I can't wait to hit Home Depot and buy the materials so we can try working on the shelves soon. But I'm doubly happy that he considered my knew yarn love for a birthday present. It is definitely warming. And I must say - he doesn't have the worst taste in yarn, even if most of it is acrylic since it came from a big box store.

In other news, I'm doing my darndest not to cast on yet another project. I keep itching to, mostly cuz this sweater really does go on and on and on and on and on... as sweaters tend to do. And I keep wanting to work on something else. Well, in truth, I did cast on another project... my first pair of socks, done in gorgeous malabrigo sock in Abril. But I did that cast on mostly to learn a new knitting technique so I could try working on his ipad bag... Not my fault that the sock technique turned out to be a piece of cake and now I'm loving loving loving knitting the sock!! Probably has something to do with the absolutely luscious yarn in the most perfect of colors. >_> <_<

So the ipad bag has been put back on the waiting list. I need different needles. The two pattern ideas I had for the bag just did not end up working out.. at all. The first pattern simply didn't work when I shrunk it down to ipad size. The second idea (the magic loop idea, which is why i cast on the socks first to learn the technique) requires a much longer and more flexible cord than the one I have currently (in that size needle). So, that pattern is back on hold till I can get to the Woolie Ewe. At least he can't much complain about me needing yet another set of needles..since its for him XD.

I'm pretty sure the next pattern I pick up is going to be my attempt at colorwork. Its the last major technique that I've been wanting to learn, and I have the pattern and the yarn to do it.. just need the time in my queue to get it going. But there is this other shirt thing I would like to work on too... I also get this feeling that I'm going to be knitting this Primrose sweater forever!! And not because the one that is almost done will never get done..it will.. but because I think I have two requests by others for that exact sweater. Lol. We'll see how quickly they buy the yarn I suppose for me to start on it.

Ethereal Final Pics

And here's my best post-blocking picture. I've got pictures of it blocking and more of it finished here. Its absolutely perfect and beautiful. The above color is also just about accurate as well. All my little knitting holes are mostly gone now that its blocked.. And it came out to 58 inches long, and 24 inches wide - a great size.

Definitely plan to wear this on Monday and show it off. Yay!!! Done!!

Its DONE!

There it is! My very first ever lace shawl, completed completely by me!

I'm not shrinking that picture, because its hard to see much smaller than that. Plus, damnit I'm proud of that thing. I must show it off in all its glory!! Hehehehe. Anyway, that's an unblocked picture. I plan on soaking and blocking it tonight (a process that is supposed to help even out stitches, as well as stretch it out so its full glory is appreciated forever in the future). I'll post more pictures once I've done that. And hopefully one of me wearing it.

Almost there!

No pictures yet, but I'm 7 rows from being done with my Ethereal! I know I won't be able to finish it tonight, as I have DnD taking up my evening, but I'm hoping between tonight and tomorrow night, I'll be able to bind off the last row of work, and set it to blocking by Thursday. I'm so excited!! This has been one hell of a project, and its taken me pretty much the entire month of February to complete it (couple extra days still counts since its a short month, right?). But it is very fulfilling knowing I've worked hard on this piece and it is coming out absolutely beautiful. I still can't tell exactly how big its going to be. Really hard to tell while its scrunched on the needles. We'll just have to see in a couple days.

Clapotis Thievery

I'm gonna steal my blog space for a bit today to make some comparisons for one of my readers. My mother has requested that I make her a shawl - and she even picked out the pattern - Clapotis. Its a lovely pattern, and well-loved by the knitting community. Hell, I want one of these for myself one day. Its also a wonderful choice for Texas, as it can be light and airy as well as warm. Anyway, I'm stealing the blog space so I can show her some color options and get an idea of what I can get for her. So don't mind me - nothing to see here - unless your mom - or just curious.


So this is in Noro Silk Garden - that stuff you liked at the yarn store, with the long color runs. This is in a lighter weight yarn, so I'd only need 2 skeins of yarn, running somewhere between $10-$20 per skein (depending on sales). The one on the right (in browns) is also Noro, just a different type. Very pretty too.





This is just a fingering-weight yarn that I actually can't get. So I'd need to look for a replacement - BUT - I *love* the color of this. The variegation of the colors in this yarn are very subtle (light blue to dark blue) and I think it adds a lot to this scarf by having that extra bit of variegation in it. Compared to...
this pink, which is pretty as well, but has a little less depth to it, imo.

Of course this is for you!
Here's another example of a single-color option that did come out quite beautifully (the yellow).

And if you go with variegated yarn, of course we'll need to be careful we don't end up with something that has *this* much variegation --> as that is just way too overboard, and a little ugly in my opinion. Subtle is better for this pattern.


And I just needed to add one more picture - this one is done in Chroma (that stuff I talked to you about that is like Noro, but cheaper ^_^) which I think I can get the shawl done in 2-3 skeins at $9 a piece.










So that gives you some ideas about effects depending upon style of yarn that we choose. I am pretty sure I'm going to do this in the lighter-weight yarn. I'll get the size but keep it light, for less money - all good things. I also have the most choices in that lighter yarn as well.

I just need color preference and style as per above (either long-run colors, variegated yarn or single color) and I can start the process of hunting the actual yarn!

Bored out of my mind!

I don't know why..but for whatever reason, for the past week I've pretty much had absolutely nothing to do at work. Sure, I'll find some miniscule project that will occupy about half an hour of my time..then go a couple more hours with nothing..then get another small 15-minute project.. and that is the cycle of my days for the past week or more. Yesterday, I don't think I did a single piece of work all day. It makes the days *extremely* boring, and downright painful. The only reason I go to work it seems is to sit at my desk..and answer the 10 or so phone calls we get during the day, only to transfer them to their respective recipient. Really - my entire purpose there is superfluous. To be honest, its gotten me a bit depressed this week. Hell, last night I decided that if they fired me, and replaced me with 4 additional licenses of the time-keeper program, they *really* wouldn't need me, and they'd be saving money to boot. *Sigh* Guess its time to look for a new job - one that needs me - since it seems this place just doesn't have the business to use me anymore. I'm not saying they are firing me, that's just my depressive state talking, but they could.. if things don't get better.

What I really wish I could do was knit while at work. If I'm just sitting at my desk doing nothing but answering the phone once an hour.. that's eight-plus hours I could be knitting!!! But yeah, somehow I think that is just a bad idea, no matter how great it sounds in my head.


I haven't done much knitting this week. I haven't even caught back up to the spot on my shawl that I frogged from sometime last week. I think I frogged something like 10 rows.. and its taken me more than a week to catch up to 1-2 rows from there. Yeesh. Part of that is I did focus on my Primrose sweater for a couple nights. While at the vampire game on Saturday, I knit on the sweater mindlessly for several hours. I knew I was getting close to the spot where the armholes start as the night started drawing to a close, and so I thought to actually check the chart to see where I was. Thank god I did!! I was on row 85, and I needed to break for the arms at 87!! Talk about cutting it close! So the next night, I decided I wanted to get those armholes started, so I could get back to the basic pattern without having to think about it before I set the project down again for mindless-knitting. That was only about 20 rows or so, so it went easy enough. I'm currently only knitting the back-side of the sweater, and will pick up the front to finish that after a while. Then to the sleeves...and then finishings... and its done!!

I also tried on the Primrose once I'd gotten the armholes put into place - because now I could tell exactly how long it was and how it fit on my torso. Turns out, it stretches around my torso just fine, looking exactly like I thought it would look. This picture's blurry..but it shows it, I guess. Anyway, that's promising. It is a little shorter than I had hoped for, but that just makes me *that* much more thankful that I added four inches!!

Plugging along..

All I've wanted to do this week is knit. I've *almost* been able to satisfy that craving.. at least in the evenings. I went to visit my parents this past weekend - mostly for the selfish reason of showing off my lace - and I got a decent amount of knitting time in while I was there. And I suppose I've just been on a roll.
I've made decent progress on my Primrose Path pattern. I worked out the math and figured out what row I was on, and I think I'm about 35% through with this project. It'd go a lot faster if I hadn't decided to focus on the Ethereal this month - haha.

I'm about 25 rows (i think) from starting on the sleeve holes and upper torso (front and back) sections. Once I get to that part, I think the back will be the only part that has any lace, and the front will go super fast. And then I still have the sleeves to do as well, obviously. Once I get this Ethereal done, I can actually *really* focus on this piece..and hopefully get it done before its too much into March.

My Ethereal is coming along nicely. I'm on row 58 out of 78 of the second chart. So only 20 more rows!! Woo! The rows are obviously getting longer and longer and longer..but I can see the finish line - and its not too far off. I don't have a good picture at this stage, because its too wide now to stretch out on my current needles, and doing a small section just doesn't do it justice. Just trust me in that it looks good :)

I do have one little hiccup in the shawl..about 8-10 rows back.. where I forgot to put in a yarn over. (I do have a picture of that, at least.) So this stitch that is supposed to go straight up the shawl..jogs over and connects with its neighbor stitch, instead of having a big hole between them. I "caught" the mistake, when I realized I didn't have enough stitches to complete the pattern.. but rather than dropping it to fix it..i just added another stitch somehow (don't think I could explain how), and kept right on going. *sigh* Now..instead of being 4-6 rows..its 8-10 rows I have to fix back to. But I've asked my KAL friends for advice on how to fix it, and they've given me suggestions on how to fix the lace pattern by *just* dropping the stitches around the mistake down to the boo-boo, and picking them back up correctly. I'll be giving it a shot tonight - I really hope it works.

In other news - I ordered the yarn for a bag that the hubby has been begging me to make him. It should arrive this Saturday, I hope. I'm making him a felted bag to hold his ipad. I've never worked with a felted project - and considering that this project will need to be of a generally specific size, I'm going to have to do some test knitting and math before I can actually start up on that project. Hopefully I can finish up the Ethereal fairly soon so I can get started on that. Oh - and I should make some more headway on my sweater first too. Haha. But then I'm also antsy to get going on my first pair of socks too!! So much to do..so not enough time in my day!

Valentine's Day

Warning - gushy lovey V-day stuff below. If you don't like gushy lovey vday talk, I suggest skipping this post :)


Hubby and I decided to make something of this year's Valentine's day. I told him sometime last week that I wanted a necklace for Vday. I real one - real diamonds, gold setting and chain. While the weather was bad, we thought we'd go together, as I always have the car. But he just asked what type of necklace I wanted. So I showed him some pictures from Kay that I liked. There was this one that I particularly liked.. and that was I think the first picture I showed him. He told me on Saturday that he'd gotten me my present (so to watch my spending - lol!).

Sunday night, I give him his present - its a night early, but as we wouldn't see each other till 9:30 Monday night, I figured it'd be better to swap gifts early rather than late. So I handed him my gift - a nice card, and a box of ferrero rocher (those crunchy ball chocolate things that the "gods gave to man" from the commercials?) that he likes. He gave me my necklace. And it was exactly the one I wanted!!

Its 10k white gold (my favorite), with one side done in all white diamonds, and one side done in black diamonds. Its actually more meaningful to me that way. Hubby is a dark-haired Italian man, and always likes wearing black (and looks damn good in it, too). So in a way, the heart represents the two of us. (Not that I really wear white..but I can be white diamonds just fine XD.)

He even posted on my facebook after I posted the picture of it that said "He was the dark half, only really made special by being attached to [me]." Awwww!!! He really was being a super sweety all day.

So I decided close to the end of my work day that I just *had* to do something super nice for him. We'd been bemoaning the fact that we couldn't really go out to eat any time this week for V-day due to his work schedule. His only night off was Tuesday, but we already had plans to hang out with friends that night. So I determined that since we couldn't go out, I'd buck up and cook a fantastic dinner for him. I decided on shrimp - and it was just a matter of how to cook them. It took at least an hour of hard thinking to remember that I had a recipe for Shrimp Paesano - only the best shrimp dish ever invented! Its from this restaurant in San Antonio (called Paesanos), and the shrimp recipe was leaked after a family squabble, and I had it!! Couldn't quite decide on an appetizer (I thought prosciutto would be nice, but didn't really feel like doing asparagus with it), so I went to a favorite of his - Tomato Mozarella Campisi. Easy easy to make, and he always loves it.

So even though it sounded all super nice and expensive looking, it was fairly easy to whip it all up. But *definitely* not something we can do all that often. That shrimp recipe tastes so good because the sauce is really just 3 sticks of butter!!! But hey - my hubby *loved* it. Seriously loved it. Hell, I loved it too. And I don't generally like my own cooking. But that came out divine. Probably should have opened a bottle of wine to go with it all, but it was still a perfect way to end a wonderful Valentines day.

Iced in

Yesterday we had a shadow repeat of last week's winter storm, and I decided I was too scared to try driving with idiots again with more ice on the road, so I stayed home. Which meant I got an entire day for knitting. And that is exactly what I did. I sat on the couch, watched tv and knitted on my Ethereal . I had the goal that I was going to get through the first part of the shawl by the end of the day, including all the repeats of the current design, so I was starting on the very large border section, or at least prepared to start on that section by the end of the day. Alas, I didn't get that far. I knew how big I wanted to make the current section, and although I am really close, I didn't quite make it. I screwed up about three times yesterday - whether to not paying attention, or just the inevitable dropped stitch, but I'm something of a perfectionist, so when I find a big mistake that is noticeable, I rip it out and fix it. Unfortunately, I'm not very good at picking up stitches in a twisty-lacy project yet.. and tinking back a few rows generally doesn't work for me either, as I inevitably drop more stitches that way. So if I find a mistake, it means ripping out to the lifeline and starting over from there. I've been putting in lifelines every 10-15 rows or so, so its not a HUGE thing to go back and do them over. But it does take time.

I worked on the ethereal on Tuesday night too - while at DnD. And it was going quite well. Till I dropped a stitch close to the end of the night. I had to rip out everything I had done that night, and had just enough time to get it back on the needles before I needed to put it away. *siigh* Losing two-three hours of work is always frustrating. I'm not sure I can even measure how much time I lost in my three rips yesterday, as I kind of lost track of time since I knitted All Day. But considering I was generally able to get a repeat done in 3 hours - and I only got two repeats done in all of yesterday.. I suppose that is sort of telling. Frustrating!

But, I think if I can sit down and focus on it tonight, and pay enough attention so as not to have any mistakes, I can get the last life line in for the current section, and start on the large border. Yay!!


On another note, I did make it to the Woolie Ewe on Tuesday evening. I'd been needing to go to get new needles for this lace project. My interchangeables were snagging the yarn every RS row, and it was getting tiresome to pull each stitch over that bump in the needles. So I knew I wanted new needles - smoother ones. I did end up getting the Addi Lace needles for their super pointy tips. And yes, Lynn, they work like a dream.

I also picked up some Malabrigo yarn in Sock and Laceweight. I decided I wanted to pick up some of this yarn since the Woolie Ewe started carrying it, and I'd only generally heard good things about this super soft loveable yarn. I'd also decided I wanted to try making a pair of socks. So I grabbed up a pretty Sock yarn in a purple-pink-blue mix (i think the colorway is Abril). then happened to notice this one skein I'd been fingering was actually Malabrigo laceweight. Its in a green, going from light light green to very dark green (colorway likely called Verdes - shocking, I know). It was so pretty and extremely soft. And it wasn't too expensive either..so I sucked it up and got the three skeins of that they had. The sock-weight was a bit more expensive than I would have liked, but I chose to suck it up and try it for this miracle yarn I'd heard about XD.

I haven't added them to my stash on Ravelry yet, because I've really just been focusing on that Ethereal for now - haha - but i'll take pictures of them and get them added soon.

I *will* get to the 2nd part of this shawl tonight, though. That is Goal Number 1!!

I can do Lace!

Yep - that's the shawl, as far as I've gotten with it. And its all correct so far. I've got another couple of repeats to do to add two more rows of those leaves, then i'll start on the border, which is a very large border - probably about the size of what I have here for length(width?).

Let me just say that I am blown away that I am making this. As I get through with each leaf repeat, I look back at the whole thing and just can't believe that I've done this. I mean, when I picked up knitting - I thought you made sweaters, hats and mitts..all of which are close-knit with few holes, sturdy fabric. I had no idea I could make lacy airy delicate things like this. The yarn I'm using is laceweight, which is pretty much a heavy thread. To think I'm knitting with it...it still seems weird. Its definitely a bit difficult to work with, just because gripping it and keeping tension is hard on something so small. The work barely weighs anything at all. I'm just - I can't believe I can make this :D

First attempt frogged

And I thought I was doing so good...

I started up the Ethereal Lace project last night. I got through a nice amount too - 40 rows or so done. Put it away for the night..wake up this morning.. and realized I'd done it wrong! *sigh*

I was comparing my work with the FO pictures.. and noticed that I was only working one half of the shawl. The three motifs i have currently worked all go one direction..but the final pictures all show those motifs going two different directions... one way on one side of the shawl, and a different way on the other side. I'd somehow only worked the right side of the shawl! And I had no "center stitch" that is the turning point to going to the left side. In looking at the chart..to figure how i'd done that.. because I honestly thought I was reading the chart correctly.. I noticed that there is a "center stitch" indicator....AALLLLL the way over on the left side. Hardly part of the rest of the chart at all (easy to miss, that is). But where was the other side of the shawl on the chart? ((this is one of those moments where I felt a little dumb.))

I did ask advice on the KAL forum for this pattern. And a few nice individuals helped me out. Turns out I'd skipped a row. When the instructions said "CO 5 Sts, then start up at chart row 1 with k2, yo, k1, yo, k2"... that was for both sides of the shawl. I'd read that as row 3 of the chart.. (which is exactly that notation, but for a single side), and ignored the 2nd side. So I'm supposed to knit up the chart, single knit stitch for center stitch, then knit the chart row again for the 2nd side. So simple!

But really, I suppose that isn't all that intuitive for someone who has never knitted a triangular scarf before (read: me). The instructions didn't ever say "knit chart twice, once for each side of center stitch" or anything like that.. it just kinda assumed I knew how to make a triangular scarf. Which, in the future, I will. Its just a hurdle I had to get over to learn!

But, it does mean I have to frog the whole thing and start over. *grumble*

Catching up

I ended up getting pretty sick the last few days of last week. Sick enough that even sitting up required too much energy most of the time. You'd think that staying home from work would give plenty of prime knitting time, and I'd certainly hoped for such. But as it turned out, I was nearly too sick for even that. *sigh* I did get some knitting in, in that hour or two just after eating or just after taking medicine, whenever I could stand to sit up for a while. Just not as much as I would have liked.

I'm closing in around 10 repeats of the flower pattern on my sweater. I think thats about 10 inches of work. I just don't sit down and focus on it as much as I probably should. But one things for sure, I'm definitely starting to feel the weight of the piece as I work it. I'm doing this sweater in cotton, so it definitely has more weight than wool would have had. But I also know that once its on, the weight won't be that noticeable, or if it is..it will only be there to accent the drape of the fabric.

On another note, I've decided that I want to dare lace. I don't mean simple lace mixed into a larger pattern, like the primrose path I'm working on now. I mean *real* lace. A shawl or scarf done in delicate laceweight yarn that will be silky and airy and delicate. I joined a group on Ravelry called Beginning Lace Knitters to see if they had suggestions about a good starting lace piece. The group does knit-a-longs (KAL), and when I went to look they were just voting on this next month's KAL - which turns out to be this absolutely lovely piece called Ethereal Triangular Shawl. It is really quite pretty! I already have a lace-weight yarn in my stash, a bright blue bamboo called Azure, that I think will work just perfectly for this shawl. And since its a KAL, I can get help along the way as I get stuck. It'll be a challenging piece, but hopefully with the help of the others I can actually get through it.

So here's to a third piece going on the needles! I really should try to finish that project bag...

2011 January Stash

I've collected quite a few yarns since I started knitting just a few months ago. Perhaps it was a want to build a stash - through stash envy - or simply my eyes being so drawn to certain yarns/patterns that I just had to go ahead and have the yarns on hand so I could start them as soon as I was ready! Or it could just have been the awesome deals the Wooly Ewe was having for an end-of-year sale. But whatever the cause, for a new knitter, I do have a fairly nice stash. And I thought I'd link some pictures to show it off.





















That's the whole of it. Not the best picture, but it shows the quantity at least. I've got closer shots below.




This is a closeup of my WIPs. The far left is a roll-up of the project bag I'm working on in Thick & Quick in Oatmeal. The gray (and corresponding yarn) is the afghan I started way early in my knitting career. It has been taken off the needles and put onto scrap yarn, but it is still quite nice.
To the right of that is the Patons bamboo silk and the pile of remnants from all my previous projects.








This is mostly all my acrylics. All except for the large pile lime green on the left - which is Ultra Pima (Cotton), currently being used on my Primrose Path. I inherited most of those acrylics from my mom ^_^.




This last batch is my favorite. Its most of my nicer yarns that have yet to be delved into. Wools, Tencel/Viscose (the light pink), another batch of Ultra Pima (the wine colored), and a cone of laceweight bamboo. My absolute favorite is that variegated dark blue - its Berrocco Borealis, Super Bulky. I *Have* to find a use for it..because it is just sooo damn pretty!

Primrose Path

It has begun! My very first sweater is well under way at this point. I have knitted over 4", closing in on 5" done. Woo!

So last I left you, I was still working up my gauge swatches. I liked the look of the swatch on the US 5 needles much more, so chose to go with that one. The swatch only added about 4 stitches to the gauge, surprisingly, and when I did my math.. the appropriate addage of stitches also equaled the largest size the pattern came in - talk about luck! So I'm just knitting the sweater in the largest size of the pattern, and I *think* it should work out. Its really freaking hard to figure out gauge on 2x2 ribbing, let me tell you. There's no way in the world to know how much to stretch the rib to count stitches. The pattern said 'slightly relaxed" but yeah, no idea exactly what that means. But I think it'll work out.

I added 4" to the bottom of the pattern (extending the lace-flower pattern further across the front) because I tend to like longer shirts. I figure I'll try this baby on as I get a lot further up the back and make sure I am liking the length on it. I can always add more at the top too. But since I added 4" to the bottom, that means I've only just begun the actual pattern itself! Hah! And I've already used a whole skein of yarn. Something tells me I may need to buy more yarn. Oh well. At least its an easy yarn to come by.

I will say the pattern looks beautiful. I showed it off to a few friends this weekend and they were much impressed. *Squee!*

Finding Gauge

Working on this new sweater that I fell in love with - Primrose Path - its the first time that I've had to seriously contemplate gauge. I wasn't too impressed with the yarn used in the pattern, according to comments about the yarn that says it fuzzes really fast, which just doesn't seem to fit my ideas about what would be good for that pattern. So I decided to look around a bit. I still want something that might have a little shine to it (which the original yarn gets from the silk), but that hopefully won't fuzz up much. I've fallen in love with Cascade Yarn's Ultra Pima, and when I went into the LYS it was on sale. It isn't the most ideal choice for this pattern, as it doesn't really fit what the pattern calls for, but I am determined to make it work. For one, Ultra Pima doesn't fuzz or pill very much, and it does have a little shine. Its cotton, so it won't stretch very much - but the pattern is ribbed, so I think it'll stretch enough thanks to that. I'm just hoping it will work out okay. I stuck with a color similar to that used in the pattern, because I just think its a good color for a spring-time top.

So here's the specifics that I'm going to have to work with. The pattern calls for worsted yarn, 22 sts x 28 sts = 4" in 2x2 rib, or 21 sts x 28 sts = 4" in St st (using size 6 needles). The Ultra Pima (considered a DK) gauge suggests 22-24 sts = 4" in St st (using size 5-6 needles). That's really really close. I'm hoping that it won't take too much finagling to make this yarn work. I'm doing a large swatch now in 2x2 rib to get the measurement using size 6 needles. It looks a little..open.. to me, so I think I may do a smaller second swatch on size 5 needles and see if it looks better. Then I'll compare stitch counts and see what I need to do from there.

I'm sure I'll have to add a few stitches to the pattern no matter which needles I end up using, its just a question of how many. I'll have to test my math skills and hope I know what I'm doing!

Cherie Amour pausings

Not sure if it was the troublesome untangling of the bamboo silk, or just rethinking what I was doing.. but I'm gonna re-stash my Patons bamboo silk rather than use it on the Cherie Amour. Which means I need to find new yarn for my Cherie. Affordable yarn. I may try to locate a couple skeins of Malabrigo - i've heard its a really nice yarn that a lot of people like. And the "velvet grapes" colorway even looks close to what I'd like to emulate in the Cherie. I may keep looking, but I'm leaning that way. Will probably require some online ordering, but oh well.

Cast-off Day

I'd gotten so close to finishing up my mitts last week that I was adamant that I would finish them over the weekend. Normally, I take my knitting with me to my vampire game on Friday night, and if things get a little slow I pull it out and work on it a bit. Doesn't always happen, but sometimes. Turns out Friday night was an interesting game for me and my character so that totally didn't happen.

But Saturday, there was no question, if I was getting anything done - it was those mitts!! Woke up sometime before noon, and immediately pulled out my needles and wrapped them up. Really, all I had to do was about four teeny-tiny thumb rows, and then weaving in the ends, and sewing down the hems. Really only took me like half an hour. You'd think I'd have found time to do that before!! Or I just kept putting it off because it was so small a job. Anyway..they are done.


And I wore them all day Saturday, and all day Sunday, and all day today... yes, I love them ^_^. They may not go with everything, but they sure are warm. Maybe I should put a pair of neutral gloves on my queue list so I do have a pair that goes with everything. Someday.


Following the mitts getting finished, I decided I needed to finish up another project - the Serendipity earband mom had asked for. I'd finished the main band, and really just had to crochet up the flower and sew it on. Another half hour project or so and that too was done. Yay!



So with two projects done, I only had two other projects still on the needles. My lover's knot afghan that I started...a hell of a long time ago, and the project bag in thick-n-chunky oatmeal. I still want to finish that project bag..but I need to take a break from it. I knitted up one whole skein of it using the wrong size needles, and so it kinda hurts my head to look at it. I'll finish it up eventually. But I don't despise it enough to take it off the needles. The afghan, however, I've had sitting at the bottom of my knitting bag for months. I think I stopped working on it before October. I still love the pattern, and totally intend to work on it more, I just have other things I'd like to focus on right now. Sweaters, specifically. So I took that project off the needles and put it onto some scrap yarn for hibernation.

I must say - it is nice to finish up some projects and then look ahead to starting up new ones.

So with all my needles ('cept one set for the project bag) freed up, I finally get to consider an entire set of new projects!!! There was one that I knew I'd be working on next - the Cherie Amour that I fell in love with early on my arrival to Ravelry. It is absolutely adorable. I realize that a lot of people have problems with the pattern, and yarn choice seems to be crucial as well as design choices. But I've just got to give it a shot. I'm going with a double-strand of Paton's Bamboo Silk in Orchid and Coal. I'm hoping it works out okay. I threw that yarn in my bag for Saturday night's vampire game, and actually did spend a good deal of time while there working on it. I got quite a few rows done...and then noticed I'd twisted the work. Siigh. Tried to pull it all out, but I think I got distracted...and it got all very very tangled. Spent the rest of the night trying to untangle it. What a way to start the project. Still haven't finished untangling. I'll try again...soon. When I get up the courage.


Additionally, I found a new pattern that I (and my friend D) just fell
in love with!! Its this Primrose Path sweater. I showed it to D and her immediate response was "so when are you going to make that for me?" Haha. We're actually likely to go yarn shopping either this weekend or next for the yarn for it for the two of us. That'll probably take me a few months to finish two of those, but it sure is pretty enough for it. I can't wait to get that one going. It'll be a completely different type of knitting from the Cherie Amour too - ribbing, rather than lace.

So looks like 2011 is starting off as the year of the sweater. Jumping straight in and going for the big pieces. Wish me luck!

Building a stash

So my last impromptu and surprising trip to the Wooly Ewe gave me a chance to start building up my stash of yarns so I have a bit more to work with for future projects. Now i just need to pull it out of the plastic bags currently holding it all, and figure out a way to store it in bins or baskets or something so that I can actually see what all I have. I did buy one basket that I had been keeping in the living room next to where I sit to knit. But when the hubby wanted to clean up the living room, he made me move it and hide it. Sigh. Actually, I was surprised the cats didn't find and destroy any of the yarns in that basket!

I've been thinking about getting some plastic bins, or possibly metal-cage bins and setting them up..somewhere.. Still trying to decide on where. The middle bedroom is a possibility. Problem is, that room doesn't have all that much extra space as it is..and the one wall I'd have "room" to put in some bins, is really the only extra space there is in the room at all. And I'm sure our guests appreciate having just that little bit of space for them to dress in. So honestly, I shouldn't put it there. I could confiscate some of the back closet, if I move some of our militarily-inclined roommate's binned items into the garage. That's a possibility. Then it doesn't screw up any of the hubby's ideas of a clean house :D


Alternatively, I have one part of stash building that I'm struggling to understand. When I went to the Wooly Ewe, I had a shopping list. I knew of a few projects I wanted to work on in the future, so I went looking for yarn specifically for those projects. Which was good - because they all required a good deal of yarn (400yds plus for almost every project). So that meant I was buying 5-6 skeins per project! That added up to a lot..which meant I couldn't just go buying yarn just because it was pretty/soft/touchable/loooove. And to be completely honest, I'm afraid to buy yarn "just cuz" when I'm not sure how much of that yarn I'll need for a particular project - afraid I'd not get enough and then be unable to get more in the future. I did inherit a few yarns from my mom over Xmas, some yellows and blues for future baby projects, but those are going into a "someday in the future" part of the stash that will have very little viability for random projects. But generally, I'm not sure how to just shop for yarns, without a particular pattern's requirements in mind. Not sure how to ensure that I will get enough for whatever future project I'll want to do with it.. Maybe its just a spontaneity trait that I don't really have. ^_^