Thursday, April 27, 2006

To answer questions from the last post's comments:

At Stitches Midwest, I'll be taking Collar Obedience Training and Short Row Savvy, both with Maureen Mason-Jamieson. 

In the past, I've taken classes from Beth Brown-Reinsel, Chris Bylsma, Lily Chin, Edie Eckman, Jean Frost, Susan Lazear, Melissa Leapman, Debbie New, and Joan Schrouder, and I've slept with Beth Walker-O'Brien (my roomie from Knitting Camp!).  If you have any questions about those instructors, I'd be happy to share my experiences with you via e-mail. 

For weeks now, we've been getting ready for our neighborhood's annual garage sale.   We've never participated before, but this year it seemed like a perfect idea.  I'm taking this opportunity to purge EVERYTHING that we don't need from the house.  Drawers and closets are uncluttered for the first time in decades.  Our basement is almost completely empty (if you've ever been in our basement, you know that that's quite an accomplishment).  The kids even volunteered most of the toys that I thought they'd have trouble letting go. 

The weather had better be good this weekend -- I want everything to sell so I don't have to take anything back into the house.

I'll give you this to ponder while I'm (hopefully) raking in the big bucks small change:

This was a commissioned sweater -- one of my more interesting custom knitting jobs!

I don't know if all of you know what I do for a living, so here's a link to introduce you to my work (although the home page is a little out of date -- it's on my list of things to do).

It's a pretty darned good job.  Not much money, but enough to cover my knitting expenses with a little left over for chocolate. 

Thank goodness for chocolate.

Sarah

Tuesday, April 18, 2006

I've gotten a few things finished up lately.  Thank goodness!  I don't know how many projects I've got going right now, but it's too many.

(I counted.  There are five.  Five projects are currently in my knitting basket.  That's not so bad, is it?  Let's not count the ones that are marinating, okay?  Please?)

These are done:

The ultra cool (that's a pun!) Tank Top from One Skein:

One half is stockinette stitch, the other half is reverse stockinette stitch.  Hence the weird foldy thing happening at the bottom (it's the same length all the way around -- really it is!).  I haven't tried it on yet, as it's still a bit damp, but it fits Dummy Sheila pretty well!  I used three hanks of MerLin Tristsan from Louet Sales (the people who make Euroflax), purchased from the Little Red Schoolhouse Yarn Shop.  It's a yummy MERino and LINen blend (get it?  MER-LIN?).  The One Skein book called for a doubled strand of Lorna's Laces Helen's Lace, but I'm a rebel. 

Here's a Project Spectrum qualifier (April is orange/yellow):

Doesn't this stitch pattern show off the hand dyed yarn beautifully?  The yarn is Riviera II, hand dyed by Nancy McRay at Woven Art in East Lansing.  The pattern is "My So Called Scarf", from the free pattern posted here.

And I finally completed a repair I've had lying around:

Not bad, eh?  I was patting myself on the back for a whole weekend.

This was already done, but you haven't seen the new version:

That's Krystyna, overdyed to hide the dye lot "issue".  Compare it to the earlier version:

Can you see the mid-chestal stripe in this photo?  It's gone now!!  And the color is just a tad darker than it was in the skein.  These photos were both lightened up considerably by the camera's flash.

These are done, but they don't count as finished objects until I make a matching pair:

On the left foot is a completed Pomatomus sock from the Winter 2005 issue of Knitty.  To the left of THAT is all the yarn that remained from my hank of Koigu -- about a yard.  Phew!  Kim at The Yarn Garden had extra if I needed it, but I didn't!  Phew again!

On the right foot is a completed Moc Croc Sock from Knitpicks, done in Trekking XXL sock yarn, from ThreadBear Fiber Arts Studio.  There's orange in that blend, so this is a Project Spectrum project, too. 

Both are free patterns, and very fun to do!

The Mystery Blanket from the Almanac-along (the April chapter), also a Project Spectrum candidate, proceeds apace:

I'm gonna say I have 17 squares done (out of 24), but I could be wrong.  I don't think so, though!  I'm out of the orange and the purple, and I have enough of the pink to make at least two or three more squares, and I have tons of the blue, but I kind of wanted to save that to make another baby sweater from the February chapter of the Almanac.  This blanket has definitely been a successful stash buster!

The Cable and Moss Stitch Panel Cardigan consists of a back and two sleeves, and a little bit of ribbing for the left front.  Still no photo until I get some of the finished pieces on the blocking board.  Since the yarn is salmon-y, I say it's Project Spectrum-y too.

What's coming up next?

Well, there's this:

Amazing microfiber ribbon from Tess's Designer Yarns, purchased from Sharon's stash.  As soon as I saw it in the hank, my mind pictured it worked up in this slipped stitch pattern.  I think it's a winner!  This will be a sleeveless shell.

And there's this:

Purple heathered Cascade 220 from ThreadBear Fiber Arts Studio (back when they were in Columbus -- or maybe even Bloomington!) which seems to want to be an Entrelac pullover, which would be a great addition to the collection of samples for my Entrelac Design class, and it would work up really fast, but I'm not sure I want to proceed with this.  I had pictured making something cable-y with this yarn, which is the "leftovers" from Uberimma's Fern sweater -- if fourteen hanks can be considered "leftovers".

I had thrown the spoon in for scale, so you could see how big the squares are, but now I realize you have no idea how big that spoon is, so it's not much of a comparison.  A teaspoon?  A tablespoon?  A serving spoon?  I'll leave you in suspense . . .

And last but not least, I really need to get started on my bag for the Guild's exchange, which takes place in May.  Tick tock, tick tock!  I've got everything I need, but I wanted to get past some other deadlines first.

Oh!  I applied for Session 2.75 of Knitter's Camp, and signed up for two classes at Stitches Midwest.  It's gonna be a great summer!!

Sarah

Thursday, April 6, 2006

Hi.  I'm not in the mood to write anything, but I feel guilty that I haven't posted anything in over a week, so I'll give it a shot.  Everything is fine -- it's just day seven of Spring Break, and I've been home with the kids every one of those days, with three more to go.  'Nuff said?

Let's check the camera, shall we? 

Here's Mica (the "old" cat) inspecting two face cloths I made for a Guild project.  Yarn and pattern provided by the Guild, but I see that the designer is Nanette!  It's a fun, easy pattern, although I accidentally switched the right and wrong side at one point and didn't notice until after I had bound off.  That's what I get for knitting while reading my book club book (Birth of Venus -- I liked it!).

Oh!  I just Googled Nanette's full name (did it tickle?) and found the pattern here.

Here's a sorry photo of April's Almanac-along/Project Spectrum entry:

These scary things are squares for Elizabeth Zimmermann's "Mystery Blanket", which will be grafted together, mysteriously, at some point in the future.

I'm using Kona Superwash left over from multiple projects (recognize the orange yarn from February's baby sweater?).  I thought it would be clever to end each square with a contrasting color.  Now I'm thinking that with those bright colors surrounded by all that green, it could look very flower-gardeny when complete (I'm thinking zinnias).  Not a bad thing, but much more organized than I was shooting for.  I've got some purple (of course) and some turquoise, too, but I seem to recall that the turquoise didn't really go very well with one of the other colors.  I can't remember what it clashed with, though, so if I use the turquoise I think I'll be doomed to repeat the mistake.

These squares go quickly, and I was making two a day, with the intention of having all 24 finished by the middle of the month, but after 3 days I got distracted and haven't added any more to the pile.

What managed to distract me?

You mean besides two young boys annoying the crap out of their mother all day, every day?  (Okay, it really hasn't been that bad, but I'm ready for a little alone time now.)  (Please?)  (Now?)

I've blown my project monogamy all to hell, which we all knew I would.  I don't like it, though.  I'm flitting from project to project again, and not getting anything done.  Here's what's "on the needles" right now:

• Cable and Moss Stitch Panel Cardigan -- back and 1/3 sleeve complete.  Still no photos.
• Introduction to Aran Knitting class sample -- needs a lining, but the knitting is done.
• Pomatomus Socks -- the leg and heel of the first sock are done. 
• Tank Top -- my go-everywhere knitting right now.  One side is done, the other is about half done.
• Mystery Blanket  -- see above
• Entrelac pullover -- I swatched for this last night, as a possible alternate class sample for my Entrelac Design class.  Do I really want to start this?  Not sure yet.
• Afghan repair -- overdue.
• Silk and wool shell -- in the swatching phase.
• Microfiber ribbon shell -- the yarn is wound, the stitch pattern is planned, but swatching has not yet commenced.
• Purchased the rest of the yarn I need for the Guild's bag exchange next month, which means I need to knit the bag before next month's meeting.

So from one project to ten, in one short month.  And that doesn't count the other three (oops -- four!) knitting-for-hire projects that I need to work on, or the projects that are marinating (Fair Isle Cardigan, Sweet Cardigan, Celtic Dreams, Mitered Cardigan . . .).

Off to knit and watch Memoirs of a Geisha . . .

Sarah

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