My New Sahara

AKA, I'm-not-photogenic.

The following is a public service announcement in pictorial form. Don't ever let your spouse photograph you while making fun of your bad modeling form -- especially if you have a sense of humor about such things.

First he says, "Smile and open your eyes." This is me saying, "huh?"



"No, OPEN your eyes..."



"You look like you've got a lazy eye now."



"Okay, now you have no eyes..."



"And now you just look insane..."



And because Mary requested the details... the pattern is Sahara by Stitch Diva (short-sleeved version), worked up in Tilli Tomas Pure & Simple in the medium size. It only took 2.5 skeins. I didn't use Rock Star or Disco Lights for the trim because, uhm, I have little children. :) I did the diamond rib pattern on the neckline and I have to say that P3togtbl is a complete pain in the rear.

Mark Your Calendars...

I've been invited to do a spinning demo at the Ravelry Meet-Up on March 16 at The Knitting Nest. I'll also be bringing some hand-spun yarns for sale, which means that for the next week and a half, I'm going to be spinning like a mad woman (which shouldn't be a far reach for me).

Want to see some of the stuff on my etsy? Click the link to the left!

I'm also working on a pair of Biker Chic socks of my very own, although I'm cheating on Angelina with some Claudia Hand Paint Fingering Weight sock yarn in Just Plum. Sorry, Zen!

It's Been A Busy Month For Me

Let's see.... first there was the Lace Shawl from Best of Knitter's Shawls and Scarves. That was done in technicolor cashmere/merino for my wonderful friend Ana. Only for her would I graft 100+ stitches in violet/fuschia/tangerine tweed.







Oh, and I dropped off a great big load of handspun at Gauge Knits today. Support your local LYS!!!



I dropped off some free-with-purchase scarf patterns for the laceweight handspun at Gauge as well. The sample is knit with the Victoria colorway -- last I checked, there is a skein still for sale left(hint, hint).

Mittens for Richard

Whee! Handspun mittens for my little boy. Made from the "play yarn" that had been sitting on the kids' bookshelf for the last month.

Pattern from PSSO.

Land of the Living

I really do still exist. First there was a family-wide sinus infection. Then there was Christmas. Next, a trip to North Carolina, during which I got a lot of knitting done. Then, alas, another family-wide sinus infection, this time with ear aches. I'm back. I hope. :)

So, first up is the Moonshadow Stole that I'm still working on. I have to find my beading needle so I can string the second half of the beads onto the second ball of zephyr.



Next, the Lace Shawl by Deborah Newton (creative name, yes?). It's about 75% done. I'm doing this out of cashmere/merino for my friend Ana. This is a pretty wild color, even for me. A lot of fun, though, and plenty of practice for the Princess Shawl.





Oh, you haven't heard about the Princess Shawl??? My lovely buddy Ana got me both the pattern and the yarn for my thirty-first birthday. Pretty damn cool, isn't she?

And now for the Klaralund. The yarn was a present from my husband's grandmother. (She sent me the money, I knitted it, then finished it in time for her to see it at our Christmas trip.)

Piece of Advice (non-knitting)

Unless you are adept at coercing feral cats into performing military drills on a regular basis, do not ever, EVER attempt to mount a 46" flat panel tv on your living wall while you and your spouse are suffering from head colds.

These are the things which cause marital strife.

Fortunately, we live in a town big enough to order Tom Kah soup for lunch. I think it saved our marriage.

Max's Staircase Tam

Size: Child/ Adult Small

Materials: Malabrigo Yarn Merino Worsted (Shocking Pink) 1 skein
1 set US #8 dpns or 16" US #8 circular needle.
Tapestry Needle
6 stitch markers

Gauge: 20 stitches over 4"/10cm

Pattern:

Cast on 84 stitches with a stretchy cast-on.
Join, place marker, and work 4 rounds in stockinette stitch.
Work 10 rounds (or 1.5") in 2x2 ribbing.

Increase round: *K2, M1* Repeat to end of round. (126 stitches)

Work 2" to 3.5" even in stockinette stitch, depending on desired depth of brim.

Begin crown:

*K17, K2tog, YO, K2tog, place marker* Repeat 5 more times (to end of round).

Continue in pattern as follows, until 4 stitches remain between each marker:

*K to 4 stitches before marker, K2tog, YO, K2tog, slip marker* Repeat to end of round.

When only 4 stitches remain between each marker, *K2, K2tog* 6 times.

Next round: *K1, K2tog* 6 times.

Final round: K2tog 6 times.

Run yarn through 6 loops, pull tight, and weave ends on inside of tam.

Sterling's Cable Hat

Size: Child/Adult Small

Materials: Malabrigo Yarn Chunky (Blue Surf) 1 skein
1 set US #10 dpns or 16" circular #10 needle
Tapestry needle
5 stitch markers

Gauge: 12sts over 4"/10cm after blocking in stockinette stitch

Pattern:

Cast on 52 stitches in 1x1 rib . Join work, mark beginning of round. Work in 1x1 rib for 8 rounds.

Increase round. *K6, M1, K7* repeat until end of round.

Begin cable pattern.

Round 1. *K3, place marker, P2, C2F, p2, K3* Repeat until end of round.

Rounds 2-4. *K3, slip marker, P2, K4, P2, K3* Repeat until end of round.

Repeat rounds 1-4 three more times.

Beginning on round 19, begin decreasing on odd rows while maintaining cable pattern.

To work decreases, *Knit to 2 stitches before marker, K2tog, P2, K4, P2* Repeat until end of round.

Continue decreasing in this manner until all 6 knit stitches between cables are gone, then cease cabling and begin decreasing every round as follows:
*Work in pattern to 2 sts before marker, K2tog.* Repeat to end of round.

Continue decreasing until only 8 stitches remain. Run yarn through 8 loops and close top. Weave in ends.

AARGH!!!!!

That's the kind of day it's been.

Hell, that's the kind of WEEK it's been.

*headdesk*

I desperately need some sleep.

(and, as you might've guessed, the tam & hat patterns are delayed some more)

Tam, Tam, Hat

New patterns. Woohoo! And they'll be free. Probably won't be up til the end of the week, though, cause I'm wrangling monkeys all by myself.

FOs -- Recent and Not-so-recent

Well, I just finished pattern number 3 from Elegance Knit 11. Japanese is fun! (Actually, those charts beat the pants off of anything I'd knit lace from previously.)





Yes, I know the pictures are bad, but DH had already packed the usual camera in his luggage by this point in the day. Unfortunately, his just-finished Vinnland socks were still damp and I didn't get a picture of those before he took them to Poland.

Speaking of... FINALLY some pictures of the redux of his felted jumper...





And not to be left out, the long-awaited picture of our herd of coffeepots.



And now for the list of knitted objects my husband is currently carrying in his luggage... 1 wool sweater (the cabled jumper in Patons above), 3 pairs of wool socks (Cherry Tree Hill, Die Wollemeise, and Wildfoote), 1 cashmere blend scarf (Truffles), and 2 hard hat liners (Austermann Step and KP Essential Stripe).

I Love Sivia Harding.

I mean, I really do. Love, love, love her lace designs.

So much that the newest one made me totally forget about all the angst regarding the white zephyr and the Mediterranean Lace Shawl.

And really, it suits so well, considering the fact that I was knitting her Faroese Peaks Shawl (for myself) while I was in labor with Toddler Boy.

(Ok, she's soooo going to think I'm stalking her now... but I'm really a nice little stalker... really... I am.) (Just kidding.)

My Deck Has a Hole in it.

But at least it's not my roof.

Look what I woke up to this morning.



I would much rather have a hole in the deck than a hole in the roof.



Fortunately, it missed the new (to us) pedal car.



And it missed the grill, which is under the roof line, just to give you an idea of how close it was to the house.

The really strange part is that, apparently, it didn't wake any of us when it fell.

Sarah's Pinwheel and My New Shawl

When everything goes pear-shaped, what should you do??? Cast on a new shawl for yourself, of course!! I started this one week ago today and I'm almost halfway through the repeats. It's the Flower Shawl from Elegance Knit 11 (Japanese knitting mag) and I'm working it up in Jaggerspun Maine Line 2/8, color Emerald, from the biggest yarn cake ever. Ana is a glutton for punishment so she wound my pound cones into gigantic yarn cakes. They're scary.





Also up are finished pictures of Sarah's new Pinwheel Sweater. These are FUN to do, especially in my own handspun. Gotta love that stuff. :)

Mediterranean Lace Disaster

You'd think that I'd used up all of my bad knitting mojo with that felted jumper, now wouldn't you? Alas, that is not the case.



I have another disaster. I've been working on the Mediterranean Lace shawl on and off for a year for my mother.

I borrowed a friend's Gathering of Lace for the pattern and happily used the printed yarn requirements to order 1800yds of mini-coned zephyr, thinking I would have more than enough.

(The edition I was using called for 8 (200yd) skeins of Jamieson & Smith laceweight.)

Here's the kicker. After turning the corner on the first large segment, I started hitting lots of chart errors, so looked up the errata. I had noticed that I was going through yarn quickly, but thought that maybe that first section was just much larger than the "wings." Oh my. In the errata, I found out that the actual yarn requirements were FOUR TIMES what I had ordered.

(Actual yarn needed is 16 (360yd) skeins of Jamieson & Smith cobweb-weight.)

Gah. It's been a year, so no way am I going to try to match dye lots now.

There is no way I can salvage the original piece without tearing my hair out (I really don't want to turn it into a big rose-trellis triangle). So, instead, I need to figure out something I can knit with 1200-1800 yds of white zephyr without driving myself crazy. My mom likes the stole-shaped stuff the most, so I'm looking heavily at a madeira-based Japanese pattern.

Sorry for the novel, I just needed to unload a bit. Maybe another cup of tea will make the pain go away a little.....

It's Been A While (no pics)

I haven't blogged in a while because I'm a bit down.

LYS (local yarn shop) that I was really digging is now dissolved. Urgh. We were hoping to move our Sunday knitting marathons over there, but that's not going to happen now, so we still have to look for a new location.

Best friend, Renee', whose daughter Sophia is beloved by my daughter, is moving to Dallas at the end of the week. I'm taking the kids over to say goodbye this evening and am quite torn up about it.

I don't know how to write about being upset, really, so that's why this sounds so stilted.

Oh, yeah. And there's also the fact that my daughter has woken up (for the day) at 3am the last 2 mornings. Apparently, she inherited her mother's insomnia.

ETA: Good-bye went much better than I thought. Sophia, Skull-crusher (my mom gave Toddler-boy that nickname), and Pooka (can't really call her Toddlerette anymore) had a wonderful play-date this evening and Renee' and I gorged ourselves on Chinese take-out. No better cure for the blues than spicy, greasy food -- that and theatre candy (don't tell DH about the Junior Caramels in my knitting bag). I'm still feeling down, but I think I'll be ok now. ;)

2 Weeks Work

Ok, so there was a LOT of other stuff going on these 2 weeks.

Here ya go...



From left to right,

440yds LW / Light Fingering 2-ply Superwash Merino in Agate from Zen String.
220yds DK 3-ply Superwash Merino in Splendour from Zen String.
475yds LW / Light Fingering 2-ply Superwash Merino / Tencel in Autumn Sunset from Spinning Bunny.

Goodies In, Goodies Out

First up are the incoming goodies. My bestest SP ever sent me a big box of goodies. Half a pound each of white and black churro roving. Yay!!!! I have yet to decide whether it wants to be a zebra 2-ply or spun separately into 3-ply and have a colorwork party. I'm leaning towards the colorwork. Also in the box, in the baggie, is some buffalo down. A little hairy and veggie, but very interesting. Be forewarned though -- do not dehair your buffalo down inside your carpeted house. The guard hairs are auburn, short, and curly, and they get everywhere. Mr. Robincat said I looked like I was involved in illicit activities when I came in the house covered in guard hairs yesterday. Yikes!



Goodies out are the annual socks for my dad and brother's birthdays. Dad's are the peacock blue ones in Cascade 220 Superwash. Jason is (gasp!!) allergic to wool and gets the brown ones, done in Lion Brand Cotton-Ease. They were both knit on US 6 dpns.

Happy Birthday Jason!!

I have to give my brother a little happy birthday shout since I gave my dad one on Saturday.

Jason is 33 today and still as hilarious as ever. Brilliant, too, I might add.

Happy Birthday Dad!

Yup, that's me in that picture. And no, I have no idea what he was eating.

Ok, he'll probably never see this because he lacks the interwebs and he really, really does not like computers, but I can't let his 58th birthday pass without a little tribute.

My dad is probably the best dad ever. Yeah, I know everyone says that about their dad, but it's really true. He's got the most strict ethics of anyone I've ever met, but he doesn't judge others if they don't live to the same standards. He worked as a Wildlife Biologist for the State of Louisiana since before I was born and just retired a couple of years ago from the same job. Even though he and my mom divorced when I was 4, they've never been bitter and have been great friends since... well, since forever.

My son Richard is named after my dad, and the three of us (me, my son, and my dad) are three peas in a pod when it comes to a sense of humor. The more slapstick, the better. I was raised on Bugs Bunny-filled Saturday mornings and Three Stooges on VHS.

But for the most part, the best part about my dad is his absolute kindness. He'll go very far out of his way to help a stranger, and even farther for friends and family. I've worked in a soup kitchen with him on Thanksgiving Day, and that was probably the happiest I've ever seen him.