Tuesday, May 30, 2006

Almost There!

Two more fallen squares!



I think this will be the last one with eyelets... but I've learned to never say never.


As if I could make an afghan for a wedding gift and not include a square with a heart pattern!


I have Knitting On the Edge on its way to me, and it looks like it will arrive just in time to choose a border and frantically knit it. My new deadline? June 10. My BFF is coming up for her bachelorette party that day, and it seemed like the perfect time to give it to her and her fiance. If I don't have it done by then, I fear the project will languish until the July reception, and I'll be frantically finishing up the border then.

I think after this project... SOCKS.

Thursday, May 25, 2006

Let's try this again

When I check the properties on my images in my last post, I get a very strange image address. So I thought it might work if I try to post them in a new post. Plus, this will disguise the fact that I only have half of one square done this week.




Sunday, May 21, 2006

Vacation Knitting

Sorry about the prolonged silence... I’ve been on vacation and away from the Internet. The downside to this is catching up on my email. The upside is the knitting that I was able to accomplish! I finished six squares! This brings my grand total to fourteen completed squares. Just six to go, and then I can begin thinking more seriously about borders. The more I consider it, the more I’m leaning toward the classic simplicity of the icord border.






Of course, no vacation would be complete without a good yarn crawl. The very first day of vacation, I went to the New Hampshire Sheep and Wool Festival; It was my first time attending. Unfortunately, I didn’t get any pictures, because I feared for my camera. It was absolutely pouring rain, and the fairgrounds were soggy and flooded. Even though I was soaked through, I still had a good time. There were many, many adorable animals such as angora goats, sheep, alpacas and BUNNIES. I saw some interesting demonstrations, and learned a little bit about needle felting. I almost bought a drop spindle, but then came to my senses. I barely have room for my yarn stash, let alone a fiber stash! Fiber takes up a lot of space, you know. I also saw some weaving, which renewed my interest. Again with the space issue, though. If I’m going to weave, I want to be able to make fabric, not just scarves and belts. No sheep and wool festival is complete without yarn, of course, and I partook of the offerings. I picked up some Spirit Trail sock yarn in a beautiful gray color, and some hand dyed sock yarn from Dorchester Farms. And that was it. There were a lot of alpaca and mohair blends available at the festival, but I’m trying to avoid adding more of those fibers to my stash.

A couple of days ago, my boyfriend and I took a nice long drive (238 miles roundtrip!), and went on a yarn crawl. Why yes, I do have the best boyfriend ever. We first stopped at a brand new little yarn store in the area, which has Koigu, Trekking XXL, and Manos Del Uruguay. These are all yarns that were previously hard to get in this area. She also has a large trunk full of vintage patterns, and an adorable little dog. I began my yarn journey with a skein of blue Trekking XXL. After that, we stopped at three other stores (two of which I’ve been to before, one I had not), and I picked up a skein of Opal sock yarn in the Tiger colorway, two skeins of Frog Tree Merino in charcoal gray, and a ball of the most heavenly soft lace yarn I’ve ever felt. I’ve had a hard time finding the Frog Tree Merino in any stores locally, or even online, so I was glad to get back to this particular store and pick some up for some soft gloves. The word “buttuh” comes to mind when touching this yarn.







Have you noticed the sudden increase in sock yarn acquisition? I recently purchased Nancy Bush’s Knitting Vintage Socks, and have fallen in love with half the patterns. I kind of feel like this might be the summer of the sock around here. But of course, I don’t want to get ahead of myself.

PS: Photobucket appears to be having a fit right now and won't upload my pictures. I'll upload them as soon as I can to share!

Wednesday, May 10, 2006

Distractions

Why, yes! I am trying to distract you from the distinct lack of knitting content today. I've not so much as cast on for another square, nor have I swatched any of the fine new yarn I got recently. I have no good excuses... just somehow they days slithered through my fingers and I found myself here at Wednesday, without a stitch. I guess it happens sometimes.

I was quite excited yesterday to open my mailbox and find the Summer issue of Interweave! I like many of the projects in this issue, most notably the Marseilles Pullover, Cambridge Jacket, and Eyelet Chemise. The baby cardigan set is so cute, I wish someone I know would become pregnant so I could make one. I am also intrigued by the use of plastic canvas in Veronik Avery's bag, and I love the resulting shape.

Anyone else subscribe and have opinions?

Sunday, May 07, 2006

More Squares!



Square #7!


Square #8!


Not much time to write right now, but I love posting my progress! I had a brainstorm this afternoon regarding the border of the afghan. What if I did an icord all around the edge? I think it might be nice to just neaten the edge, and an icord would accomplish that nicely. Of course, this is subject to change.

Wednesday, May 03, 2006

Hip to be Square!



Square #5!


Square #6!


I am over 25% finished with the afghan, and it's not seeming so crazy to try to get this finished by June. I'm researching borders right now, but may have to pick up Knitting on the Edge for more inspiration. I have Knitting over the Edge, which has some truly bitchin' borders (I'm especially fond of the cherry and duck borders), but not much for lace borders. Since the squares and the yarn are pretty traditional, I'd like the border to be so, as well. Besides, it's just fun to do eyelets.

I've been thinking about what I'm going to do with the blanket when it's finished. I'm assuming that washing and blocking each square (blocking is so essential in this case) will result in a clean blanket, but maybe I should wash it as a whole piece, too. If I do that, will I have to somehow block the entire blanket? How the hell does one do that?

Thanks for the compliments on the sweater. I wore it all day yesterday and got tons of compliments. Everyone thought I had bought it. It was so comfy, I know I'm going to be wearing it a lot. I highly recommend the pattern to anyone looking to add a fashionable bit of warmth to their wardrobe. The pattern is very well written, and gives different options for collars and ribbing. Check it out!