In November I started Camden from Knitty Fall 2008. I had three skeins of Sundara Yarn in Arabian Nights (delectable combo of rich browns, purples, blacks). Rather than knit it flat, I knit it in the round and got as far as the armpits.

It's been sitting in my knitting basket since December, and is now covered in cat hair.

Rather than figure out the yoke situation for Camden - which isn't going to be hard, really, I just didn't feel like thinking about it - I decided that if I didn't finally knit with Aran Silky Merino once and for all, I was going to die. So I winded up one skein of ASM in Charcoal over Blue Lagoon and started the Just Enough Ruffle scarf.

2.5 rows and one bind-off away from being completely finished, I used up the one skein and didn't feel like unwinding another. And then I didn't feel like knitting altogether.

A couple of weeks, maybe a month passed before my fingers started to itch, itch specifically for US 1 needles and some sock yarn. Out came Sundara Yarn in Bronzed Forest which I have been stashing for awhile. It's now or never.

What is this pattern, you ask? It's a Wackadoodle sock, a strange mix of Child's First sock, some random ribbing, and slipped stitches on the foot. I didn't have any intention of knitting it other than a full-blown Child's First sock. My wandering brain had other ideas. I decided I wanted to only knit the first 6 rows to see how that would look (spirals!), but then after a few repeats of that I decided to break up the pattern and do some ribbing in between. And then as I was doing the heel I decided it might be cool to use the same slipped stitch pattern on the foot.

I would start the second sock, except the first looks so schizophrenic that I am slightly afraid of what might happen with the second...and also because recently at the bookstore, I spied Cookie A's new book Sock Innovation and snagged it without so much as opening it.

I had to start right away. Out came Sundara Yarn in Candied Chrome, also cooking in my stash for god knows how long.

This is Wanida. It is freaking brilliant. I can tell it's going to knit quickly.

But I'm not going to know for sure just yet because I just got my hands on another Cookie A pattern that I've been pining for - PINING FOR I tell you! - and I have to set Wanida aside (for which I set aside Wackadoodle, for which I set aside Just Enough Ruffles, for which I set aside Camden) in order to knit Marlene.

So that's the State of the Knitting. No. It's not pretty.

My head is very elsewhere these days.

I'm going to be hanging some of my prints at a local and popular bakery-by-day and restaurant-by-night. The foot traffic - both bi and quadrupedals - is huge here, so I'm really excited about this marketing opp. The owner doesn't care WHAT I put up, just as long as it's "big." He even wants prints in the bathroom. EEEE!

Duck and I went over one evening just before closing to do some measuring of the wall space. This is the bakery/coffee area, with my mockup of what prints will go where. Not a ton of wall space here, but that's good actually. If I have to spend another minute trying to decide which photo I should use and where and in what size, I will go absolutely mad!

The little wall space next to the sugar and cream station I think will display a framed 5x7 of Logan, the puppy I just photographed.

No it's not a big size, but I figure I HAVE to squeeze something in there. While people stir sugar in their coffees, they'll glance up and see that Logan with his baby eyes and oversized paws, and walk away with a big smile on their face. It's inevitable.

The column in between the large windows will have a 30x24 canvas of the owner's three dogs.

You can see more photos of them here. :) With their own cupcake incarnations, they truly live the sweet life.

Oh it's been a long loooong time since I've had a finished sweater in my knitting portfolio. I've been trying though.

Here are 2 of the 4 skeins of heavyweight Socks That Rock yarn I bought to make the Rambling Rose Cardigan from the IK Winter 2006 issue. I think the magenta/pink cardigan in the magazine is a little jarring, a little not my style, too much cotton candy and Hawaiian Punch, like a junior varsity cheerleader threw up all over it. So I'll be taking the cardi towards more of an Edgar-Allan-Poe-ish direction: Pond Scum (pond scum!) and Haida, from the new Raven Series.

Here is a tunic sweater, knit in the round with Malabrigo worsted, that has been stalling at the underarms for several weeks now. I can't decide how to proceed next, mostly because I don't know what kind of sleeves I want...and also because I don't know what kind of new knitting technique I want to try. If any at all. Cast on more stitches for capped sleeves, and then continue knitting in the round? Divide for front and back, working separately, and then seam raglan sleeves to it? Long sleeves or short sleeves or 3/4 sleeves? Make it a vest? Steek it (eee no)? Yoke it? I just want to finish it with the least amount of thought as possible, really. Wish I had just done this from the top down.

Until I finish those up, I have a few things that will tie me over, cuz I just scored me my most favorite thing in the world: a sweater on sale at anthropologie.

Let's be honest here, it's still kind of expensive even with the mark down. anthropologie is like that, hit or miss with the styles and the prices. But let's be honest again: those 4 skeins of yarn cost more than this finished cardigan (which totally looks handknit, by the way), and Rambling Rose cardigan, assuming that it will actually turn out to my liking after spending 10,000 hours to knit it, does not have penguins for pockets now does it?

All I need to do to finish Tate's sweater and get it - and Charlie - in the mail before Tate turns 30 is to do the miniscule amount of seaming necessary and to sew the collar to the front.

Peekaboo

I just keep putting it off!

I like to knit. And to layer.
My outfit I wore this past weekend to a little house party,
topped off with a dash of Chevron Scarf.

Not all knitted projects work out the way you might initially envision it to,* but I don't think I would knit at all if I didn't like some of what I make enough to wear it out in public.

The Apricot Jacket is nearly two years old. It's practically vintage, and given the haphazard way I "sewed" on the buttons, I can't believe that small children haven't yet choked any! And how little the yarn has pilled! Go Brown Sheep Cotton Fleece, go!

Do you wear what you knit?

* Some FO's that have departed to the Great Knitted Graveyard in the Sky:
Electra, due to poor color choice and ill fit (I gave it away).
Ballet Top from Loop-d-Loop, due to incredibly stretched-out fabric that led to unflattering drape.
Tank from Rebecca 29, due to undeniable fugliness. What was I thinking with that one?

I was flipping through last week's Improper Bostonian last week when came across on article about Spark - the local craft studio where you can get all your crafting groove on, including jewelry-making, paper crafts, and of course knitting, and do it all in a social, collaborative setting. I've mentioned Spark way back when, and even though I was really excited about its concept back then, I found that it just wasn't for me. Not much of a surprise is it?

But the real issue is everytime I go in, I don't exactly get a cozy, inviting vibe from the decor and general atmosphere. All the plastic bins and cubbie holes of scissors and rulers and various crafting materials remind me of a first grade classroom or an after-school daycare center. I would know, as I have been both in first grade and in a daycare center. May your children never know the horrors of the latter. I can still see Bobby in the corner eating glitter-covered glue or David sticking playdough up his runny nose, amongst other things. Little children can be so vile, especially when there's more than 50 of them in one room.

And the piles of dog-eared magazines laying the tables, meant for crafting inspiration, are also how your doctor's waiting room is decorated. It's very bright, clean, sterile, uncomfortable. No disrespect to Spark, mind you. It really is a cool place. My reactions are all very unexpected ones, and entirely my own.

"Knitting supplies include inexpensive, colorful lion wool for beginners..."

That one little phrase is just so rich! So delicious! Lion wool! LION WOOL, with a lowercase "L"!!!

Can you just picture a non-knitter reading this line, and thinking, "Lion wool? Wool made from lions? Is inexpensive? And colorful? And for BEGINNERS?"

I am sure they meant to write Lion BRAND Wool, which indeed is inexpensive, colorful, and for beginners (I guess? Whatever "beginner" wool means), and in large supply at Spark.

But then I thought maybe I was missing something. Maybe there is such a thing as wool culled from lions, the same kind of lions who are usually caked in dried blood from eating wildebeests all day, and who use their ribs as toothpicks afterwards. I mean I am still rather new to the knitting scene, learning new stuff all the time, so why not? You get nice wool from rabbits, goats, yaks, camels...why not a lion?

And I could imagine a lion's mane as very amenable to being made into fiber. Afterall it is thick, long and lush. I don't know if it's soft as I have never had the pleasure of petting a lion, but it couldn't be any more coarse than the hair of a yak? (Never petted a yak either though.)

After much thought - probably too much thought - I realized that lion wool just can't possibly be. Can you imagine the logistics of it? Keeping a farm full of male lions, next to your merinos and alpacas? Shearing lion wool? Would you tranquilize them first? What to feed them? So many questions, not enough money.

However there's a market for everything, so perhaps cultivating lion wool is not entirely out of the question. It could happen one day. I mean through sheer force of imagination man has taken seaweed and turned it into yarn. For crying out loud, how is lion not the next logical step?

Lion wool, lion wool...There is something very pleasing in that concept. A lion is a cat. A very big cat. I like cats. I like it when they purr. Mmmm. I can just picture it now: Scout or Hello Yarn carrying lion roving in their shops. It wouldn't be cheap, oh no, but imagine yourself spinning lion yarn - from a real live lion's mane! - by the fire. How old-fashioned and wildly exotic at the same time! And wouldn't you just love to knit your own pair of socks made from Sundara Yarn 100% superwash lionwool?

I am sure that someone, somewhere, someday, will make this lion wool dream of mine a reality. I myself would totally turn this blog post into a business plan, but alas. I am too busy organizing a penpal club.

Above: Artist's rendition of a sheep and lion farm, for the cultivation of fine wools.

I have had this annoying, inexplicable habit of buying single skeins of sock yarn, the ones that are no more than 175 yards and obviously not enough to make a full pair of socks. See this. And this. And also this. There are more bachelors and bachelorettes hanging out in the stash. When I approach that wall dripping with those Koigu colors, fighting the urge to grab every skein and stuff them in my mouth, I think to myself: Why buy two skeins in one color when for the same price you can have two skeins in two colors? More for your money! I'm so smart! Not a bad shopping practice in general, but when the whole point of buying sock yarn is to uh make socks, full-grown socks, which you now can't do because you don't have enough yarn, well then really how smart are you? I tried justifying my single purchases by convincing myself that I only wanted to knit anklets. But again. Wool anklets. What's the point? In the end you end up wasting. These Spring Anklets I made in that buttery Sundara yarn has been worn maybe all of five times in the last year.

So I'm totally loving this Chevron Scarf craze. It's the perfect way to use up the single skeins of sock yarn, and to pair up colorways that are not particularly matchy-matchy. In fact the less matchy the colors are, the better! I'm also trying to wean myself off of making socks, and the Chevron Scarf is the perfect in-between project. Still using yummy sock yarn but not making socks. Yay!

I'm using Sundara yarn in "Troubador" + Louet Gems Pearl in the lightest green. Instead of the fan-and-feather pattern I'm using this simple chevron pattern with eyelets:

Across 33 stitches:
RS rows: [k4, yo, k, yo, k4, double-decrease] twice, then k4, yo, k, yo, k4 (35 sts)
WS rows: p2tog through the back, p to last two stitches, p2tog (33 sts)

Double-decrease is: slip 2 stitches knitwise together, k next stitch, pass the two slipped stitches over.

This makes for a skinny scarf. For wider chevrons increase the 'k4' part to your liking.

After the first foot of the scarf I switched up the height of the chevrons by knitting 4 rows of one color and then 4 rows of the other. So it'll be 4x4 for the middle, and 2x2 for the ends of the scarf.

I'm using US3 needles on the fingering weight yarn, and as a result the fabric is loose, but not lacey, and the sides aren't curling in. Woot! Very pleased with how this is turning out so far.

P.S. I also finished the back of Kooch. Just the sleeves left...I see the light! Slow and steady wins the race, right?

Look at us, so romantic and glamorous in the glow of the setting sun.
Oooo aaaah.
Why don't you knit us already? 

Here is a skein of Sundara Yarn in "Troubador" on top of a skein of GEMS Pearl in a light green. I bought the Sundara Yarn waaaay back when pureknits was selling them. It's definitely vintage, and I still don't know what to do with it, having bought just one very inconvenient skein. I attempted this awhile back and decided I didn't want to knit socks with them. I still don't. I think it's about time I knitted something other than socks for a change.

I smell the heady scent of a Chevron Scarf...

I was here. And I bought...nothing!

So proud of myself.

Happy Birthday Yarn Cake for everyone!

My first post two years ago today. I just started knitting and maybe you can tell that I was rather ecstatic over completing my first sweater (there was a lot of squealing). Two years later and knitting still gets me excited in that "eeeYAAAAAAAAAAH!" sort of way.

Thank you to everyone who has taken the time to share your love of knitting with me!

A scarf came in the mail today! And here I am modeling it, with my new purple peacoat, indoors, because it's too cold - not to mention very unsafe - to go outside.

Thank you Elemmaciltur for sending this beauty over! He wasn't so into the So-Called Scarf he made, but I was, and half-jokingly commented that I would take it if he didn't think he could wear it. First, I need a scarf. Second, it's in a pattern that I've been wanting to knit myself, if I could ever yank myself away from knitting socks. Third and MOST excitingly, it's got my #1 all-time Never Realized It Was My Favorite Color Combination Until I Looked Around My House and Realized Everything Is That Combination color combination - green and purple! Purple and green!

OK so the colors are really more magenta and green, but close enough. I love it. Magenta is like a drop of blue away from being purple anyway. They all compliment each other very nicely.

By themselves purple and green are not my favorite colors. But I naturally gravitate to them when they're together. They're everywhere.

My purple peacoat, lined in apple-green goodness.

Ah purple and green. You're the perfect couple.

In my purple coat with my green-magenta-almost-purple scarf on my purple and moss couch in my green living room with purple curtains that's adjacent to my dining room. Which by the way is purple.

Thanks again Elemmaciltur for the beautiful scarf! It will be well-loved and well-worn.

It's just useless. Utterly, completely useless. It's so less than useless it's usenil. Usezilch. Usekaput.

Mwahaha, I win! Again!

I simply cannot stop knitting socks.

I give up.

In case you missed this really important headline, here's this morning's Breaking News from cnndotcom:

"The musical 'Dr3amgirls' led today's Ac@demy Aw@rds contenders with eight nominations, but was shut out in the best picture category for which it had been considered a potential front-runner."

Stunning. I mean. 8 nominations - but no best pic? I knew it - there is no god. I'm completely shattered.

Even so, I'm not quite as shattered as I was when I read this truly Breaking News-worthy breaking news from Nov 7, 2006. It's possible you fellow Americans might have missed this one because you stepped away from your desk to perform more pressing matters, like to refill your cup of coffee. Or to pee. Or to vote.

"Br!tney Sp3ars files for divorce from her husband...citing irreconcilable differences."

I caught it though. As soon as it happens, I know about it. Thank you cnn.

Here's my own very exciting breaking news: Hatred for knitting by hand convinces handknitter to buy knitting machine.

Slow, torturous progress on my Kooch. I've decided it needs to be a given a more flattering name and will now call it My Albatross.

Waaaah you guys waaah. Finishing this is going to be a huge struggle. I want the coat a million times more than I want to knit it. After knitting with fingering weight yarn for so long, the chunky is doing a number on my hands, not to mention the return of Reynaud's on my ring and pinky fingers making chunky knitting that much more unpleasant. I've been fantasizing about a knitting machine more and more. If I had a knitting machine I'd use it in a heartbeat. If I had a knitting machine I'd have a sweater coat in another heartbeat. No more languishing as a WiP for a year...the whole thing would finally be done.

If I get one though would that be like going over to the knitting darkside? My mom has one and I always poo-poo it. Because isn't the fun of knitting doing the actual knitting? The yarn, the color of the yarn, the feel of the yarn through your fingers, the clicking of needles, the mechanics of it all motivate us more than whatever the outcome will be.

But not in this case! Stockinette stitch to infinity, scratchy yarn, chunky needles...Kooch is officially Not Fun to Knit. I have no tactile motivation; I just really really want to wear it. 

This is where the practicality of hand knitting comes into play - as in, it's just not there! So to machine-knit or not to machine-knit...that is the question...

This is a well-fed red chest.

*burp*

Yarn is literally bursting out of the red red drawers that once you manage to wrestle a drawer open, the yarns are like RAAAAAAR IMAGONNAEATCHOO!!! I have more laying around in other cubby holes around the house, and probably still more in bags lurking in some corner of some closet that I've totally forgotten about.

Sometime between Saturday and Sunday, the yarn stash became unacceptable. I toss and turn at night thinking of my treatment of those poor yarns that are constantly being one-upped with newer, more exciting purchases. Sitting there, unloved, depreciating with every second.  The madness! It must stop!

So I have deemed 2007 as The Year I Buy 100% No Yarn Ever At All I Mean It. There's that knit-from-your-stash-along going on that has some exceptions built in - sock yarn is ok, new yarns for a knitted gift is ok, etc. But because I am a SUPERHERO with amazing SUPERPOWERS, I can tell the world with full assurance that there will be NO EXCEPTIONS for me. Absolutely no more purchasing yarn in 2007. None. I won't even accept yarn for free.

The path to stash freedom is clear. I am George W Bush. I am Condi Rice. I am possibly very, very stupid. But nothing will shake this resolve. Do you see my hand? How it doesn't quiver, not even in the slightest? I don't even blink! It is because I am strong! I am determined!

(I am going to fail!)

But look, I've already made progress. I picked up a little something-something that has been in the WiP state for over a year. It's about time!

Hi. Remember me?

I can't wait until it's finished, so - yay! -I can move onto the other yummy yarns in my stash!

So this new year will be a good year, full of new socks and sweaters. But no yarn.

None.

Zero.

I mean it.

Really.

Hold me.

Behold. My Christmas knitting, actually completely and totally finished before Christmas! It's a Christmas miracle!

From top: Pomatomus anklets in Koigu
Jaywalkers in Yarntini
Red Sox in Baby Cashmerino
Cable Twist Socks in Socks That Rock

Since the Cable Twist Socks have not been given their official debut, here they are.

Then there's this, Ms. Clapotis, finished months ago...

No idea how to wear this, so hopefully my mother-in-law can figure it out! And wear it!

And I'm gifting the Mermaid Gloves as well.

Along with some other non-knitterly items, I am on time, on schedule, and 100% done with Christmas shopping. And I didn't step foot in a mall once! Let's dance! Or take more pictures!

Cleeeck!

From this post forward (actually from yesterday's post forward), all photos on this site shall be courtesy of my very advanced, rather heavy but TOTALLY AWESOME new camera and lens. Thanks - or no thanks! I'm broke! - to Kathy for getting this ball rolling. And many many thanks to brooklyn tweed for answering all my incessant emails with great info and advise. I've wanted a dSLR forever and ever but not too long ago they were for people who were either very rich or who were actual photographers. I wasn't any of those things, I'm still neither of those things. However technology keeps getting cheaper - and better - by the minute. And one of the funny side effects of knit blogging is the desire to not only become a better knitter, or even a better writer, but a better photographer as well. I don't know what's in store for 2007, perhaps not better knitting or better writing, but by Jove there will be better photos!

There will be!

1) 2 skeins of Five Spice from HelloYarn

2) One skein sock yarn from HelloYarn
AH! This colorway just sold out?!

3) "MiamiInk" Razr. I'm not a huge fan of the Razr and I hate the user interface on Motorolas, but these are SEXY.

4) Dye kit from HelloYarn

5) Socks that Rock in Amber

6) Yarntini self-striping in Pure Fall

7) A chateau in France (optional)

8) A bunny rabbit

Entrance fee to Bandelier = one skein of Koigu
Entrance fee to Pecos = half of skein of Sundara Yarn

You better be enjoying all this culture.
It's costing me a sock and a half.

***

Sterling silver and turquoise bracelet handmade by local artisan = 
one skein of Yarntini + one skein Habu Silk Mohair

Lovely souvenir from Santa Fe...or more sock yarn?

***

Two fat burritos from the Santa Fe Baking Co. = one skein of Kidsilk Haze

That's one tasty bargain!
But then, KSH lasts longer...

***

Drinks, dinner and dessert for two at Mu Du Noodles = 10 (!!) skeins of Silk Garden from WEBS

I ordered the Vietnamese cod,
but I'm eating a pretty sweater.

Yes. These days, everything is in terms of yarn.

On the left: GEMS Opal merino yarn in teal, bought at a lovely yarn store (Loop) in Philadelphia. They stocked a variety of colors but this one was the only I came away with. When faced with so much variety, I freeze instantly with indecision, until of course I get home, 500 miles away, and then do I think, Oh why didn't I get that or that or that when I had the chance? I'm wishing I picked up a skein of red to make my Boston Red Socks. This is some nice yarn.

On the right: Self-striping sport-weight yarn from yarntini in colorway "Three Rivers." Yay! I've been coveting yarntini's goods for awhile, admiring from afar...Finally broke down and asked her to dye me up some in sport-weight when all the stock from her store and pureknits were gone. That's of course when I wanted it the most. What a pretty, pretty skein, so pretty I could eat it.

So now that I have more than enough inventory (including these yarn here that I haven't yet touched - except for the blue Koigu) for Christmas socks, I have to go through the task of determining WHO is worthy of receiving socks made from which yarn. The obvious answer is ME, but me is not the right answer.

I started knitting another Pomatomus with the Opal, and since it's sport-weight, I had to adjust gauge and rewrote the chart to be a 8-stitch by 14-row pattern repeat (as opposed to a 12x22 pattern repeat). I decided I would finally do this one cuffdown for once.

Help me.

But look how ugly it is. I always have a problem joining the round after casting on. I can't avoid the little gap or a having a sort of tier form between the first and last stitch on the cast-on round. Usually I go back with a tapestry needle and sort of tighten it shut, but it still doesn't look clean, and this tier here is particularly bad and annoying. Waah.

I cast on long-tail, and usually doublestrand with the long tail for the first two stitches when joining the round...what else can I do neatly join a round?

Koigu yarn, all wound up

So I'm a little late to the party, but better late than never. The winder is to a knitter like the Kitchen Aid is to the baker. Why did I wait so long to get one why?

Spring is in the air you guys. I can almost smell it, I can almost taste it. I was just out on the town (buying this winder and having sushi for lunch, yum) and there are daffodils in places where there was just dirt, and pink magnolias on once barren trees, and in my own backyard, the fluffy heads of peonies making a showing. Woooooooo. I am in a grand mood at the prospect of nice weather, that it has prompted me to devise a What I Will Do This Spring/Summer List, 2006:

• Go to at least 5 Red Sox games.
  I'm totally into baseball this season, don't ask me why. I don't usually start following or caring in earnest until around August, but this year I've already watched/listened to all six games so far.
• Have a clambake.
  Or at least, boil own lobster in kitchen.
• More weekdays lounging at Singing Beach.
• Knit a three-quarter sleeved cardigan using Mirto yarn, in a chevron pattern.
  I've been thinking about this one a lot. I want to use Mirto yarn again very badly.
• Go biking on Carriage Road in Acadia National Park, Maine
• Go sea kayaking.
• Go strawberry-picking.
• Bake a strawberry banana cake.
• Attend at least one Tanglewood concert.
• Plant more mint for mint juleps and mojitos.
• Throw at least two barbeques.
• Eat more peaches.

Speaking of peaches, I'm headed to Georgia for an extended stay at my parents' at the end of the month. They are (possibly) putting the house on the market by the end of the year, and I thought it would be nice to hang out in my hometown for more than a couple of days like I usually do. You know, just relax, cook, knit and sew (?!?) with my mom, garden with my dad, go to a Braves game with my high school friends...And I'll still be able to work from my parents' house. While there we're going to make sidetrips to Savannah and the GA islands. I haven't decided which. Mmmm, Spanish moss...bumblebees...azaleas...magnolias...warm southern rays...

Clearly something has happened and I now love socks, right, because how else do you explain this little pile, this little pile that some might call the beginnings of a stash, of sock yarn?

Regia Crazy Color in Bonbon and some Koigu

At the same time, why do I find myself again straining to finish the rest of my first PotamtowoasjfsPochahontas sock? (Maybe because I can't ever friggin remember what it's called??)

Look at my pretty pretty scales.

For whatever reason I am just determined to make a pair of socks. It. Must. Happen. Truth be told I'm enjoying Potomac quite a bit. Thumbs up on the merino sock yarn (so soft), love the twisted ribbing, love the scallops. My problem seems to be when I turn the heel, I feel like I'm on the home stretch, woooo yeah a finished sock is in sight! but really the party is only getting started. One is in for the long haul when one finishes the heel and the gusset, and is faced with finishing the rest of the foot. That part is murder on my psyche. It's where I am now.

But I will finish I will I WILL.

So what's up with the yarn stash, you ask. Well for one, I am super obsessed with self-striping yarn. Even though I'm not 100% about knitting socks, I am 100% about self-striping sock yarn. I approve of the concept. That you see up there is Regia Crazy Color in Bonbon! which I got on sale at littleknits.com. The good thing about this yarn, aside from the color which is like hundred million gazillion times better than the first sock yarn I bought, is that it's 6 ply. Yes my friends, read it and weep. I can knit fun socks in well-mannered stripes using #3 or #4 needles and my knuckles will be happy.

I also recently bought Koigu sock yarn. I will admit this was more of a "charity" than a gotta-have-it purchase. Sigh. Do I even want to get into this...? OK, long story short, I was out walking on NewburyStreet and decided to duck into N3wbury Y4rn$. (Sorry for the f'ed up typing but I don't want this page to come up on a search. Because I might say some sad things about the store. Henceforth I will refer to it as NY)

I go in this store, praying that there is at least one other patron in there so that I don't feel totally guilty if I walk out of there empty handed. Does that happen to you? Go into a tiny store, two pairs of eyes watching you, wondering what you'll do next, and you feel obligated to make some sort of move that will ultimately involve an exchange of money? Or am I the only sucker here?

95% of the time I go in, NY is devoid of patrons but stocked to the ceiling with yarn. On this day, the store was empty save for the owner, her daughter who was at the table planning her wedding, and her mother who was knitting. The owner's on the phone with a supplier, telling supplier to "hold my order on such-and-such because it has been so slow and I'm not moving inventory. I'm sorry to have to do this to you again."

A little family business without any business! It makes me upset.

So there's the Koigu sitting in my stash.

Seriously I don't understand what she's doing wrong. But something is amiss. W00Lcott & Co in Harvard Square isn't much bigger, isn't any better stocked than NY. But there are always people in there. I'm actually not a fan of W00Lcott because they never have what I'm looking for, and most of all, their inventory/cash register system is a bloody nightmare. Lady spent 20 minutes once trying to process a return of a single ball of yarn because she couldn't find it in the system, and this for Cashmerino Aran.

She's like, "I'm sorry, people just enter yarn names differently and so I'm having trouble finding it." I'm like, WHERE IS YOUR LASER BAR CODE READER? Why is there SO MUCH TYPING?

Anyway, what is NY doing wrong? Aside from arranging her yarn by color so it's hard to find shit? Can that be its only downfall? It's in a great location, center of town, steps away from the subway, coffeeshops, antique shops, and other fine stores like...Cartier and Burberry. Is that the problem? All the people roaming up and down Newbury won't give a little knitting store even a single glance, among all the 'glitz'?

Whatever the case, I'm not married to any one local yarn store in my area, so I might as well try to go to this one more often (I have definitely said this before). And curb the online purchases.

Maybe you area knitters could patron NY a little now and then too? You know, before your lunch date at the Armani Cafe?

In some fun, positive, feline news...Kitty has finally gotten with the program and started writing about her knitting endeavors on her blog. Check it out. It seems like just yesterday that she showed me a picture of her wobbly stitches, and now she's already making her first adult-cat sweater. And some other cool stuff. You just know that as a kitten she was the first in her litter to climb to the very top of the tree. Makes a mama cat proud.

(The scene: Kitty's boyfriend has just had several wisdom teeth wrassled out of his mouth. He is swollen and groggy.)

Kitty: HAHA I've just employed some practice knitting to hold his ice packs in place.
Me: Oh yeah?
Kitty: I made a nice little tube the other day, just the right size for his head and two bags of frozen cranberries.
Me: Take a picture PLEASE. Then I will put it on website for all to see
Kitty: I have to ask permission... he's a little grumpy right now.
Me: I'll black out his eyes to protect his identity.
Kitty: I just asked permission and he flipped me off. I'll wait until he's asleep.

A few moments later...

Kitty: He's asleep now. Maybe it's camera time.
Me: Heh heh do it do it. Turn the flash off. Shhhhh.
Kitty: Just did it.

Sends photo...

Kitty's Brace Holds the Crans in Place!
Taken without consent due to unconsciousness.

Me: HAHAHA!
Kitty: HAHAHA!

* 30 minutes and quick trip to yarn store later *

Kitty: mission accomplished! three balls of rowan cashsoft baby DK in a nice lavender. they were really nice in there. the girl who rang me up was wearing a horrible loose knit yellow SHRUG though
Me: Ha ha
Kitty: i was disheartened by the shrug
Me: did it look like she made it
Kitty: oh yeah it looked like a MONKEY made it
Me: dude you could potentially go down a bad road with knitting
Kitty: what road?
Me: a bad one kitty. a bad one. like one day you'll start wearing that shrug simply because you MADE it, not because it's NICE.

Kitty: um.  mayday?  my scarf is getting wider.  i cast on like 75 and i'm at 100 wide now.  what's happening.

* sends photo *

Kitty's first attempts. On the left is the beginning and end of a very wide, lacy, curvy scarf. On the right is a more advanced sampler scarf. All on the same day!

Me: I JUST REALIZED
Me: i thought you turned the scarf 90 degrees when taking the pic. THAT IS A WIDE MOFO
Kitty: YES THAT WAS HORRIBLE
Me: HAHAHAHA
Kitty: and I was like, it's taking me 15-20 minutes to do a ROW what the hell. on my little needles. oh it was so cramped
Me: HAHAHA!
Kitty: everything JAMMED together. i was like, is this how it has to be?
Me: what made you cast on so many stitches. what made you
Kitty: it looked too little and I like my scarves to have width
Me: i'm surprised it didn't come out worse actually. all those stitches jammed together makes it hard to see
Kitty: it didn't help that i added like 30% over the course of 12 rows or something, hahaha
Me: no wonder you have lace
Kitty: yeah well, i kept busting through strands and being like what happened there
Me: so how many did you cast on?
Kitty: if you blog about me you'd best paint me in a good light
Kitty: yeah i cast on like 70. but ended up with 102
Me: HAHAHAHAHA

But look at the improvement from just a few days later.

Seed stitch! I'm so proud. Welcome Kitty to the so fun and the so obsessive world of knitting!!!!

I have made hardly any more progress on the sock. I have a feeling if I finish this one I will not make its pair. I'm SORRY I'm just NOT INTO SOCKS!

Cabled Toad is finished. I wore it to the office yesterday. There is a major flaw in it but I am viewing that flaw as a special feature. Pictures forthcoming.

What do we have here? Could it be, the beginnings of a sock?!

No. It is the beginnings of a mitten, a mitten that if all goes well, will have a bushy-tailed squirrel on it.

This is the beginnings of a sock.

I am nauseating. I am ill-fated.

Let us all gather 'round and revel in all its hideous, hideous glory.

The yarn is Regia Mini Ringel in color #666, get it, because it's so evil and nasty. I didn't have much of a choice though. I was determined to try to knit a sock, and I would only do it with Regia Mini Ringel or Regia Banner. But after scouring through three yarn stores, nothing! No one carries these Regias. It took a special trip to yarn store number 4 - Wild & Wooly - to scrounge up the yarn you see above. I mean I really had to dig deep for these trolls. The two skeins were the only left.

I was disappointed. They really didn't have a great selection of sock yarn. If you can't get it at W&W, which is stocked with two floors of yarn, then where I ask you? You all talk about Lorna's Laces and Koigu and whatever this and that and I could find nothing of the sort.

Anyway, I was going to make the best of it and chalk this up to a learning process. I too would like to experience the magic of TURNING THE HEEL.

But right off the bat the squirrels in my head start rotating the wheels too quickly. I decided I would use my own a pattern for the leg, and came up with this wavy pattern, which in theory would be nicely accentuated by the stripes. I thought I could make it more 3-D by adding a row of purls here and there.

After several pattern repeats I decided the wave pattern was unexciting and the purl rows were disgusting. Instead of ripping back, because that would require starting over, which is a horrible thing for me to consider, I switched gears midway and started Jaywalking. I didn't last long. Of course the peaks of this pattern did not match the peaks of mine, so the sock became distorted and now looks like a crushed Coke can.

About this time my hands started to burn. Isn't it funny, knitting with size 1 needles hurts about as badly as knitting with a size 15. At some point the sizes become too ridiculously big or small that it doesn't matter what size they are exactly. It just hurts.

In conclusion, I suck, I do not sock. Sad face. But I do want to learn, so I'll give it another go later.

I hope to fare better with the mittens.

SO. Speaking of the JAYWALKER socks...I was at a certain yarn store in Harvard Square on certain evening on a certain this past Thursday, looking for those certain yarn socks that I didn't find, and spied in the store a certain celebrity knit blogger roaming about.

We made very brief eye contact while walking past each other. In that millisecond, I recognized who she was, didn't know why, thought about it (college? work? neighbor? tv? internet? internet? INTERNET?), then realized who she was, then wasn't sure, then was sure, then went "Hee hee" because she had just left a comment in my last post not half an hour before, how funny is that? then went back to my own browsing.

Before starting on the other sleeve I seamed the first sleeve on and seamed one side. Seaming is so nice and easy with raglan sleeves.

Did you know that last week I made up my mind to knit my first sock? But I haven't done it. Turns out I have this bit of fear and loathing...not of a learning new techniques, but of sock yarn itself. Honestly I abhor variegated yarn in all forms and colors. All of them. (OK except for the handpainted ones because I know a lot of personal love and care goes into making those.) And the self-striping yarn in the skein form just, ugh, I don't know, I don't like the way they look, like shards of dirty crayon in unmatching colors all carelessly piled together, which then recalls for me unpleasant memories and smells of daycare.

I went to the yarn store during my lunch break and nothing appealed to the senses, not the Cherry Hills nor the Lana Grossa nor the Reynolds or whatever. I went back the next day to see if I had changed my mind and I had not. Damnit I can't seem to get past the icky pieces of stripes! I contemplated the solid-colored sock yarns but they were curiously itchy, but then I decided solid is boring and it would be fun to knit with self-striping yarn. But then I don't like how they knit up!

But but but! Oh why can't I just be happy? If it has to be striped let it be large blocks of stripes. I've seen socks made with Regia 4 Ply Nation and I like the way those knit up a lot.

Regia Banner types are also good. (These, and these, are not.)

The yarn store did not carry any Regia's. So I left there empty handed. Boo hoo.

Is it OK, or not OK, to wear a red silk dress with white polka dots, to an October wedding, in the Deep South? And with white heels. Or offwhite heels. And perhaps a white shawl. What if I told you that for all the polka dots, this dress is way chic, in the way of say, Valentino? What if, even though it is fall, the weather is forecasted to be in the summery 80's? Would I still be breaking all the fashion rules?

I really do not want to do anymore shopping for something to wear.

The baby jacket was a hit at the baby shower this weekend. I think. I'm not sure. What I think is obviously fabulous may be out of whack with what other people think is fabulous. Someone at the shower thought it must have took me 6 months to make the jacket. Compliment, yes?  I'm so insecure when it comes to giving other people handmade crafts (not that it stops me from doing it every Christmas), especially to people who don't craft. Anyway mine was the only handmade, not-from-registry item. Unique at least. But maybe they thought I was being cheap. If they only knew cost of time and materials that goes into a knitted piece, right?!

Here's the progress on Butterfly, in all its lacy glory:

Instead of knitting through the back loop (SO DIFFICULT for me with this wispy KSH), I'm doing ssk. Is that OK or am I committing some knitting faux pas. Whatever, both techniques lean to the left so it's all good in the neighborhood.

Since I'm feeling comfortable with Kidsilk Haze, I went ahead and bought a few more for Aimee from Rowan Vintage Style, in Liquer. Beautiful color.

So. I really have to cut back on knitting for awhile. As I say this I might as well cut out my spinal cord instead. No more coming home from the office to an evening knitting on the couch. I have tons of other (paying) work I'm procrastinating on. Tons! And I'm procrastinating right now! Shoot me, this is going to be murder on my willpower. Boo hoo why can't paying work involve knitting?

My very first crochet scarf. Thanks for modeling, Bunny!

Hey! It was August of last year that I learned how to knit and crochet! Bust out the confetti, it's Happy Crafty Anniversary to me! And all the squirrels playing ping-pong in my attention-deficit-disordered head can scarcely believe that interest in ONE craft has been sustained for so long. This ranks up there with landing a long-term boyfriend.

Today, and maybe everyday hereafter, we're talking about the amazing, satisfying, beautiful craft of knitting. KNITTING. Knitting. I have taken up a lot of things in my lifetime, all sorts of things that after a few weeks were abandoned for interests in other things, only to be abandoned for interests in yet more other things, ad nauseum.

Second crochet scarf, with flowers.

But knitting! Knitting trumps them all! And it was such randomness that decided to learn. Wasn't wowed by a handmade piece of knitwear, wasn't swayed by some knitting movie that was based on some best-selling knitting book, nothing like that. I was at my mom's house, saw a piece of yarn next to a pair of needles, and said, "Ma. Show me."  The dormant domesticate in me just woke up that day and decided it was time to understand the mysterious construction of the doily and the afghan (neither of which I have made, btw).

More scarves, and a hat.
Left: Own "Neopolitan Ice Cream" scarf - first time with cables!
Right: Plain hat in Rowan Polar - first time decreasing and seaming!

A year later...how I love knitting. Love it til my teeth hurts. Love it til my knuckles bleed and elbows creek. Love it til I just want to quit working, quit sleeping, quit eating so I can keep knitting.
 
A year later is a good time for a retrospective/critique of the pieces I've made. What turned out great and what turned out not so. Shall we? From the beginning...

Simply Marilyn
Made with alpaca, wool blend. My first sweater, so soft and cozy, will always hold a special place in my heart. I wore this plenty of times during the winter. The yarn isn't holding up terribly well though. Lots of pilling. But I still love it.

Sweater with Diagonal Ribs
Made with Lion Brand Kool Wool. I wore this several times, ignoring the linebacker shoulder pads from the messy seaming I did with the sleeves. I'd knit this sweater again (but not in Kool Wool).

Savanna
Made with DB Merino Chunky. A definite favorite. Love the pattern and the yarn, even though it took like 10000 skeins and ended up costing a million dollars. Extremely warm and cozy, and not itchy. I wore this a couple of times before the winter was through.

Rebecca Eyelet Cardi
Made with Classic Elite Lush. Well, here's a downer. I've gone from loving this piece, to not at all. It's too big. And the more I wore it, the fuzzier it became, like cotton candy, except cotton candy that did not dissolve in your mouth. Rabbit hair in the back of the throat and in the eyes is not pleasant. Lush was not an appropriate yarn substitute for GGH Softkid (duh), but I wanted to make it work. It did for a little while. I wore this piece at least 6 times before the fuzziness became out of control.

Rebecca Apricot Jacket
Made with Cotton Fleece. I wear this piece all. the. time. I've lost count. I wore it this weekend in Vermont in fact. The color is fading a little, but overall Cotton Fleece is holding out well considering how much I wear it. And the buttons are still intact.

Dianne
Made with Adrienne Vittadini Dianne, cotton and acrylic blend. I realized after this sweater that I'd have to be really careful with sizing. Ease is appropriate with winter sweaters, but not with summer ones. Dianne was a balloon. I wore it once, hoping to love it and I didn't. Next spring I plan to rip it and start over in a much smaller size.

Coral
Made with Cotton Fleece. I didn't seem to learn from my previous mistake. Too big. Haven't worn it once. Sucks.

Orangina
Made with Filature di Crosa Mirto. This is when the resizing fiesta begins. I sized Orangina way down and tada. It's MY FAVORITE PIECE OF ALL TIME. Perfect yarn for perfect pattern for perfect fit. I have worn this a million times.

Loop-d-Loop Ballet Top
Made with Organic Cotton. It's ok. Worn it once and it stretched to my knees. Once I wash this we'll see how I feel about it.

Celia
Made with Rowan Linen Drape. This piece was an accident. And it turns out to be my SECOND FAVORITE PIECE OF ALL TIME. Generally after I've worn Orangina, the next day I wear Celia. They tag team. I love this piece.

And that's the year in knitting. Here's hoping to at least another year. I think I just might make it.

Help me.

Here is the front of Allegra after having just done the tie-twist. Knitting the front took a lot of effort up to this point, and now that I'm at this point, I'm totally not into this piece anymore. After all that work, it just looks unsatisfyingly...weird. I've had so much stop and go with Allegra that now I'm thinking we just weren't meant to be, so though I loathe to do it, I'm dumping it. Sorry dude.

What do we think of this bolero jacket, from the new Debbie Bliss Simply Soft. I saw this last week at WEBS, didn't buy it, but have been thinking about it everyday. It uses the new Cashmerino Chunky, and I definitely want to have something in Cashmerino. This would be perfect for the chilly to really cold weather transition.

What I do not definitely want is to pay $16 for a so-so book with hard-to-read instructions for that one pattern I want. So um if anyone who has a copy of Simply Soft um wants to do a one-for-one pattern swap, like a copy of the bolero jacket for a copy of one pattern from whatever books I have, so that I don't have to buy the entire book, DO NOT (as in please DO) give me a shout.

Woo! I have a name!
And it's not Mona Lisa

Hey! I have ID'd the ubiquitous knit model. Aren't you excited, because now I can finally shut up about it. I found another blog that was wondering the same thing, and the answers were the same, different but funny to me, identical in the difference: she's Pam Allen's daughter, she's some relative, no she's a good friend, no her name is Christina Allen, no her name is Caitlin Fitzgerald. I had to find out once and for all.

So. I got caught in a sudden rainstorm while in Harvard Square on Friday, ducked into the bookstore and decided to do some sleuthing. In America Knits(aka Knitting in America, circa 1996), there is a contribution by Pam Allen, and her "daughter Caitlin" is modeling the piece. The girl looks about 10, 11 years old in the photo, sporting an open-mouthed smile. Ah, so it starts young. The grown-up Caitlin does only Mona Lisa smiles, and even though the hair looked exactly the same, you still couldn't be sure if it was the same girl.

I grabbed another book next to it, Weekend Knitting, and boo yah wouldn't you know it, there she was again. I think the editor was the same as for America Knits, and again Pam Allen had a few contributions. I flipped to the acknowledgment section in the front or back hoping to find names of the models used, and noticed one "Caitlin FitzGerald." It had to be her. Crikey does she have to model in everything her mother does? I'm starting to get a little annoyed/jealous at this point.

I took Scarf Style off the shelf, found the acknowledgments, and there was CF again.

Thus my super powerful skills of deduction leads me to positively say that the girl we see here and there and everywhere is Caitlin FitzGerald, daughter of Pam Allen. I'm guessing she's probably 20, 21, and does not color her hair. And that's the scoop. THE END.

DAMNIT. Lately I've been receiving referrals from SPAMMERS and now they've managed to leave comments. I HATE THEM I HATE THEM SO MUCH.

So now I've had to enable Captcha in comments to prevent these disgusting filthy bastards from infiltrating. To submit a comment you'll have to enter one more field - please don't let that stop you knitters from commenting though!

Ergh.

About that popular knitting model. It turns out afterall that all those publications I mentioned below DO have something in common - the author/editor. I didn't even notice. Pam Allen. Would make sense if the model was her daughter. Nepotism is a good thing.

OK this has been driving me coo-coo for awhile. Can someone please ID this model? She in every other knitting book/magazine on the planet, across different brands or publisher or whatever. Why does everyone use her? Who is she?!

Hi, I'm ??? You've probably seen me in
publications such as Knitting for Dummies, Scarf Style, and all the Interweave magazines.
I am very wispy.

Another reason to love summer besides ice cream is summer cocktails. We're big boozers here, and during the summer, the mint out back is flourishing (mint is scary aggressive like a weed, but a weed we're happy to have around). So in addition to the requisite glass of wine or pale ale at dinner, our livers are working overtime to break down the vast amounts of mojitos and mint juleps we're knocking back. Yeah!

The mighty mint julep

Growing up in the South I had always thought mint juleps, along with Coca-Cola, as one of them Refreshing Southern Drinks for Civilized Ladies, Particularly Those from the Civil War Era Who Wore Petticoats and Owned Slaves. I thought it was some special kind of lemonade. Excluding the slave part, everything about a mint julep screamed Southern gentility and charm.

That was until I actually had one. We were 19 and my friend and I drove to Louisiana JUST after they increased the drinking age from 18 to 21, but that didn't stop us from trying to get ourselves into any bar in the French Quarter. Eventually the popular Pat O' A Brien?slet us in without checking our ID's (suckers!). I ordered a mint julep and ah yes when it came, in a tall hurricane glass, stuffed with mint and icy condensation beading along the side, it looked delicious and refreshing and exactly how I had pictured a mint julep to be. I took a big long swig, and gagged. Coughed, choked, eyes watering, nearly died. Southern ladies drank THIS?! That liquid swirling like an oil slick in between the sprigs of mint was 110% straight up bourbon. In a decidedly non-genteel and suddenly vulgar HURRICANE glass. I kept at it anyway, hoping the more I drank the more I'd like it, when really the more I drank, the more my vision blurred, the more I felt like I had been conned. Mint julep, you were supposed to be dainty.

The back of Allegra. Underneath is my first attempt at the back, in the petite size that's still too large.

Back to knitting. I've finished the back of Allegra and am in the middle of the front. Pictures of the front to come. It's a very interesting construction. I had to read the instructions a million times to understand it. I like having a preview of the outcome in my head before I actually do it, but it turns out if I had just followed the instructions as written it would have all fallen into place.

The back piece has a little hole smack dab in the middle, of course. It was an errant yarn-over. I noticed it maybe only 5 rows after the hole was made, but did I rip back to do it over? No. Am I stupid? Yes. This hole is going to be SO noticeable when the piece is on and stretched. I will figure out a way to sew the hole shut later.

This weekend we were in western Mass for a birthday party. We stopped at WEBS, the most glorious discount yarn store on the East Coast, and ladies and gentlemen, I came out of there EMPTY HANDED.  I had loaded up my basket with some DB Cashmerino and Classic Elite Lush (it's not even on their website yet), but had nothing specific in mind for any of them. So, after wandering around asking myself Do I want or do I need? I put them all back.

Now matter how reluctant I was to walk out of there with nothing, at the end of the day I dislike stashing. It's a pretty recent discovery. I find myself getting stressed out about yarn that's just sitting there, continuing to be a yarn ball and not a sweater. And I know myself. Unless I will cast on within 5 minutes of bringing the yarn home, chances are, I won't use it. Chances are, I won't love it anymore. Then it becomes backup, or something you feel you need to get rid of, and I want to treat my yarn much more nicely than that.

It's weird the things that drive me nuts (yarn stash) and the things that don't (extra YO hole in sweater). I think most people are the exact opposite.

I never meant to like it but somehow I did. There's something about the models in the book that are unsettling enough to divert attention away from the knits, at first. They look haunted, anemic, in need of a trip to the Caribbean (me too though, me too). And some of their hair styles...woof! So my first impression was NO THANKS, GET AWAY. These people and therefore these knits are FREAKISH.

But I kept picking it up everytime I'd happen on it at the bookstore or yarn store, and now I think most of the pieces in there are very very cool. Some are still wacked out, as are the models, but overall there are plenty of pieces I would make.

I still hate this guy though.

The last several weeks, 4 separate couples announced they were pregnant, and funnily enough ALL are due in October. What's in the water? A strange global phenom as they're all from different parts of the globe. One couple includes my cousin, and the other, Duck's brother. Hooray, we're officially off the hook! Finally someone in the family is stepping up to the plate. Duck and I get to practice before...anything happens. Anyway now it looks like I'll finally have a chance to knit for someone other than me. Cute baby things!

Any recommendations as to a book of the cutest baby patterns? If you were a new parent, would you like receiving something that your newborn could wear now, as a 3-6 month old, or could wear a year from now? Babies grow so fast...