October 27, 2005

Genny's Hat!

This is Genny! She's my cousin from "Heidy-Ho," as she calls it. Almost two years ago I showed her a picture of my purple hat, and she asked me to make her one. Well, it was about 9 or 10 months later before she actually had it, but I did it! And I finally got the photo in the mail today. And doesn't she look lovely? You can't see it in the photo, but the hat has a plaited cable hat band made with ivory colored lopi. (Here's a photo of the hat band in progress.) So pretty! This is my most favorite hat I've made to date. I used Brown Sheep Lamb's Pride in two shades of medium brown, and the Fiber Trends AC-1 hat pattern. I love this pattern because it's super-easy and the hats are versatile and easy to embellish and folks think it's very fussy and fancy! My next one will be a bright pink smaller version for my daughter, with a garter stitch hat band and rainbow butterfly pin. Sweet!

Will I Be Done in Time?

Ok, the purple scarf is getting longer, but time is getting short! I decided since the last time I wrote that this scarf would go to my buddy Carrie, who is as passionate about purple as I am. Carrie lives in Denver, but this week, she's HERE! And we're getting together at my house on Saturday. Yay! I am knitting as fast as I can so the scarf will be done in time!

Poncho Update

Here's the latest pic:

Round and Round and Round she goes... where she stops... sigh. It is a bit bigger, isn't it? Some weeks it doesn't feel like it. I can't wait until the day when it is finally done and Alison can wear this beautiful poncho. Til then, I am knitting away! This week I demonstrated the technique of cabling without a cable needle to a coworker who was watching me knit at lunch time. She said she had no idea something that looks so hard could really be so easy. She's a brand new knitter and I will have loads of fun showing her the world of knitting during our wintertime lunch hour in the conference room.

October 17, 2005

Sometimes, You Just Need Somethin' Easy

Ok, so I haven't updated in a while, with good reason. My dad is ill, and I've had a tough week or so. So yesterday, when I was in AC Moore, I became tempted by the strange, funky black and pink circular needles by Susan Bates. They were size 17.

I am SO not a floofy scarf girl. But for some reason, I had to have those needles. But what to make with them? I looked at bin after bin after bin of floofy yarns, and still couldn't bring myself to buy them. What I did find was coordinating colors of Lion Brand Suede and Lion Brand Color Waves (purples, of course!) and I decided to hold these two strands together. Look at my results so far! Here's the stitch pattern:

CO a multiple of 6 sts.
R1: K3, P3; continue to end
R2: K1, P1; continue to end
Continue until desired length is reached and BO.

Surprisingly yummy, yes? Well, I have to say that the yarn is stiff and hard to work with (probably the Color Waves, as the Suede seems very soft... and it looks good and feels nice but I don't love it. But it's just the sort of thing that's bound to get compliments, and it is fast to knit and a diversion from the never-ending poncho. From which, I've digressed too long...

Poncho Update Again

First, here's the latest photo:

The photos purposefully do not show the sheer width of the poncho, so that the patterning shows very well in the photos. I still do love the poncho! But at this stage it is still not nearly long enough for its tall recipient and my squatty 50g balls of yarn are producing very little length anymore. So, of course I had to get more, which is why I went to AC Moore in the first place.

Given that my last purchase of this yarn was two months ago by now, I knew matching the dye lots would be impossible, so this poncho will have two strategically placed thin white stripes that will become a "design feature" that allows me to incorporate a new dye lot without the eye being any wiser. OOOOH I am getting sneaky! Haha. But next time I make this project, I will order whatever yarn from an online retailer that can provide a large quantity up front. My AC Moore dude said he only ever orders 20 balls of this stuff at any one time, and I didn't want to special order, because that could have taken weeks or months. I'm too impatient for that! Oh well, live and learn.

It's the Monday before the Second Tuesday of a pay period which means that my housekeeper is coming tomorrow. Gotta go clean for her! Isn't that ridiculous?

See ya' next time!

October 6, 2005

My Daughter is Right...

I never finish anything! The reason is I'm always finding excuses to cast on something new. Yesterday I was supposed to go on the subway for a fairly long ride, and I debated long and hard about which project to bring with me. I decided (after midnight) that I didn't have anything small enough to take along on the train. So I dug through my stash box for something that I could use to cast on an impromptu project, and came up with this one. I've decided to make a skinny, scarfy Clapotis, to work on here and there when I need a break from one of my long-term projects. I'm surprised by how nice it looks, even if the yarn is a bit stiff. Of course it is. But hey! This is the first time I'm using my luscious ebony needles that I gifted to myself for my birthday. Boy, are they yummy! I didn't uncurl the cable before casting on and probably should have. But I'm enjoying knitting with them.

The Postman Bringeth...

Thanks to Amazon and my mailman I got the new book, Handknit Holidays : Knitting Year-Round for Christmas, Hanukkah, and Winter Solstice, by Melanie Falick. This book is LOVELY! The patterns are gorgeous and the photography is gorgeous and I just love it! I've only just begun reading so can't give a full review just yet, but the book is a beauty to look at.

October 1, 2005

Happy Freakin' New Year!

Yes, I've made it! In the world of Federal employees, October 1 is the start of our new Fiscal Year. A new beginning. A new start. New contracts. New spreadsheets. More new contracts. More new spreadsheets. Stop Me!! I digress.

I'm using Dreamweaver for the first time to update my blog! Wow. Let's see how I like this. Not a lot of progress in my knitting world this week. Why, you ask? Happy Freakin' New Year! That's why. Now, it's back to things that are really important:

As you can see, it is a smidge bigger. Just a smidge. You might recall that last week, I had been having a conversation with someone on the Knitlist about my increases. She was fairly convinced that they were asymmetrical and that there was something wrong with them, and it was driving me absolutely batty trying to find my mistake. Thankfully, my knit-buddy Alison (coincidentally the same name as the poncho's recipient) assured me that I was not making a mistake with my increases and that the other lady was seeing an optical illusion. Phew!!

Finally... A Safe Place Just to Chat About Knitting

Some folks on the Knitlist have been a bit uptight lately about the restrictions that the listmoms have been enforcing on the content of posts. Seems they're trying to keep that list solely for the technical aspects of knitting, and trying to limit the social posts drastically. Personally, I loved the social posts much more than most of the technical stuff. So now, there's a new group available to just "talk" about knitting. How refreshing! It's called, surprisingly enough, KnitTalk, and it's run by Margo Lynn and Sarah. Lots of the knitfriends I've gotten to know are on the list now and I think it's gonna be great! Check it out.

That's all for now, folks! It's late here. Here's to hoping that now that things have settled down at work, I can post more than just once a week. Happy knitting!