Trish Knits.com

I was having a great day today. I went shopping with my mom, who bought me some really gorgeous amethyst earrings for my new earholes. It’s been a while since we’ve been able to go shopping together but I think she finally feels well enough and that feels really great to me.

Then I took Diana to the pool where she met up with a friend and I settled in for an evening of knitting.

That’s when I saw it. a dropped stitch, right at the cable cross of my baby sweater. I managed to rip back to the row with the dropped stitch:

closeup of cable after ripping out

But am doubting my fortitude for picking up ladder by ladder and re-knitting. This yarn is so splitty and hard to do cables with. But tonight, I got some encouragement, of a very high order.

I did a search on Ravelry for fixing cables and up popped a message by Janet Szabo, the Queen of Cables, in my book, where she stated that she’s about to have a DVD come out on cables. In the DVD are techniques for fixing them She invited folks to drop her a line and say if they wanted to be informed when the DVD is released, which of course I did. I mentioned that I am in the middle of trying to fix my first cable. She must have been online because she replied within minutes and offered to look at a photo of my poor cable if I had one. (I had taken the photo for this blog post not 10 minutes before… LOVE my macro photography settings on my camera!)

So I sent her the photo, and basically she suggested that I do what I had been planning to do, that is, re-knit, ladder by ladder, but she also suggested that I use some straight cable needles, like the Brittany cable needles, so I ordered some. Hopefully they should be here soon. In the meantime, I’m stepping back from the sweater.

Thanks, Janet!

Just When I Thought my Birthday Was Over…

My DH told me before that something he got for my birthday didn’t come in time. Well that was two weeks ago, so I was starting to think it was becoming a non-issue. But then, today, this came:

Namaste Newport bag in the peacock colorway

It’s the Namaste Newport bag in the Peacock colorway. I know folks are simply rabid for this bag in this color so it must have been backordered. I’m going to love it… it’s smaller than my others but it does have a firm bottom. Great for knitting in the car, which is where most of mine gets done.

It does, however, have an imperfection:

closeup of bag handles showing excess threads

It looks like it got caught in the sewing machine! It has several places where it is stitched with several layers of thread and there are extra strings. I’m going to try snipping them and see if it holds up. If it doesn’t, I’ll send it back… but I think this bag and I are going to be fast friends. Thanks, hubby!

I so wanted to kick off Summer of Socks 2008 in high fashion while knitting by the pool on Saturday evening. But alas, we were all tired, and I had trouble getting started. Earlier in this evening, I cast on for about the 10th time my first pair of real socks. I don’t know why I have such a hard time getting started, but I can’t seem to do the toes until I’ve started at least half a dozen times. So this is all I have to show. Whoop-dee-do.

I recently bought a Namaste Cali Malibu bag in Hollywood Pink. But I also found a mini sewing kit that nearly matched. I don’t really sew at all, but it’s good to have an extra tape measure, scissors, buttons and thread on hand. It matches the bag, and is SOOO cute. For that reason alone, I had to have it. Shallow? Don’t answer that!

Here are two views, one with the kit closed and one with it open.

Howdy, Peanuts! Do forgive me for not so much with the blogging. My mom’s been ill and was just released yesterday after 11 days in the hospital. She’s had a tough year but I’m hoping now she’ll be turning a good corner.

So, what I left out of my blog the other day, was photos of The Haul from the Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival. So here goes.

First and foremost was this:

It’s a Strauch Jumbo Ball Winder. I’ve been wanting one for a while because I tend to buy these really huge hanks of yarn when I go to fiber festivals. This year was no exception.

These are both Mountain Colors Weaver’s Wool. The top one is Mountain Twilight, which is deep blue and dark purple, and Sun River, which has oranges, purples, and burgandy. I love them both and couldn’t pass them up.

I also have to admit that I am no longer a Socks that Rock virgin! I did NOT, repeat, DID NOT subject myself to the craziness that is is the now legendary Saturday Morning Sock Line at the Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival. No, I was saner than that. But, I admit to being mildly curious, and at just after 2:30 in the afternoon I got a whim of “what the heck” and went to The Fold’s booth and was pleasantly surprised to find that there was some sock yarn left to look at. The one at the left is called “Purple Rain” and of course I love it!

I also got these:



Socks that Rock Mediumweight, colorway: Hot Flash

Socks that Rock Mediumweight, colorway: 24 Carat

I guess the truth is that I could not just pick one color. I now know why the stuff is so adored by the people who buy it. It’s Soooooooooffffffffttttt. It has to be the squishiest sock yarn I have ever felt. Charmin Soft. Really.

Also in the booth at The Fold was this yarn I had never heard of:

It’s called Seppho, by the Sanguine Gryphon, and the color is Purple Breasted Muses. How could I pass up a name like that? It’s laceweight, which I generally don’t use, but I have been searching for the perfect laceweight yarn that I would use, if I had some. I think this is it.

There was one more batch of sock yarn:

This is Wullenstudio Merino Sock Yarn, in a colorway also called Purple Rain. I bought two because I have a friend in mind for a pair of socks out of these, and she has some unique requirements that could take more than one hank for a pair. There was a sample pair of socks knit up at the CloverHill Yarn booth, and they were so pretty that they had this friend’s name written all over them. Hopefully I’ll knit them up someday soon!

And so comes the end of the haul. Thank goodness! My wallet is definitely thinner. But there was one last little thing:

I got myself the much-coveted Ravelry tote! Their online store isn’t quite ready for prime time, but I was able to get one at the party. Should’ve gotten the lapel pins, too, but they’re patiently waiting in my shopping basket of the Ravelry store. I needed another tote bag, didn’t I? Suuuuure I did. You know it. (I won the Namaste Needle Cozy at the party. Since I don’t use straight needles anyway, Diana found a home for it right quick.)

Phew! Aren’t you glad that’s over? PS… don’t show this post to my husband. He’d faint.