Hi, there!

So... long time, no update! Stuff's been going on, you know how it is. I've been doing some knitting, some stashing... so at least I have pictures to show you!

First of all, I didn't update over the weekend because I was in Vermont, visiting my best friend and her husband. Michelle isn't a knitter, but she understands the importance of acquiring accoutrement, and so she always makes a point to carve out some time for a visit to Kaleidoscope Yarns. Love this store! They had a few things I'd never seen in person before, including Tilli Tomas silks, Colinette Jitterbug (puuuurty colors), and Malabrigo laceweight (which I almost purchased, but their stock was very low and I couldn't get enough of the colors I liked). I ended up with some Berroco Pure Merino for a Christmas gift, and some stupendous sock yarn, Soxx Appeal by K1C2.

I also picked up a stole pattern. I was so taken by the shop sample of this stole, I wanted to cast on immediately. Unfortunately, I couldn't find anything non-alpaca in the color they used for the sample (a pale green), so it'll have to wait until I find just the right thing. I bet Ellen will have a good idea.

Speaking of pale green, look what I finished!



To recap: I used Wendy's Generic Toe-Up Sock Pattern, with a stitch called Grating Stitch from Mon Tricot's Knitting Dictionary, modified to be worked in the round. The yarn is SWTC TOFUtsies in lime green. I don't think I used even half a ball of yarn on these. The fabric was very floppy, and I was afraid that full length socks would droop. I shouldn't have worried, though. After a wash, the fabric firmed up nicely, and became very soft. It wasn't one of my favorite sock yarns, it was a little splitty and felt coarse while knitting, but I do love the finished product enough that if I found more of this in another color I liked, I would use it again. I used my trusty US1 needles, by the way.

I casted on for a simple seed stitch scarf using the Pure Merino I picked up in Vermont, but no photos yet (I'm sure you're on pins and needles). Cobblestone continues. It's time to start the sleeves, but I wanted to push through and finish the socks. I'm planning to swatch for the cabled sweater dress next, and also gear up for some Sidewinders!

Speaking of gearing up, it's almost time for the annual Alzheimer's Association Memory Walk! As usual, I'm walking! This year, I'm taking a cue from Claudia and offering prizes for donations! Watch this spot for more information!

Ramblings

I don't have any actual knitting pictures to share (for shame!), but will let you know that Rusted Root is so close to finished, I'm starting to forget it's a WIP. Two rows of ribbing on the hem, then just collar and sleeves. Easy-peasy, and I might have an FO to show this weekend.

Last weekend was my birthday, and I went on a Puffin Cruise out of Boothbay Harbor. I love birds, though I'm not an avid bird watcher or anything, and I've always wanted to see a puffin. Fortunately, that's not too big an order to fill, since the southernmost nesting place in the world for puffins is just off the coast of Maine on Eastern Egg Rock. I was expecting an egg shaped island with a bunch of birds sitting on it, but it's actually called Egg Rock not because of its shape, but because it's where the seabirds go to lay their eggs. I was not prepared for the vision of hundreds of birds flying around in one spot.

As is my wont on nature trips, I didn't try to take many pictures, and instead concentrated on finding the cute little puffins (they are so small!), and watching all of the terns and eiders and cormorants and gulls wheeling about over the water. It was incredible, and I'm sure I'll go again.

I also did some yarn shopping! One of my favorite yarn shops is closing for retirement. While that makes me sad, I'm pretty okay with it, since the owners are closing because they want to, not because they have to, and because now I have Purl Diva to fill the void. Also, the closing yarn store, Willows End is pretty freaking far away from me, so I hardly ever got to go there anyway. I scored a great deal on some Berocco Suede for Coachella, as well as twelve hanks of Classic Elite Renaissance in a fabulous dark charcoal gray. I'm not sure what to do with that yet, but I think it will be cabled.




Speaking of Purl Diva, on my way back home, I decided to stop in and pick up two things I had been thinking about since I attended my first ever knitting group there days before. Jo Sharp's Knit, volume 2, out of which I am most excited about the Ladder Stitch Cardigan and a lacy cabled pullover (I'm hoping Pure Silk will work for that), and a hank of Dream in Colors Gaia sock yarn.



It feels wonderful in the hank! It's a little heavier than I'm used to using for socks, but I think it will make nice, cheerful boot socks for winter. Who wouldn't love a little summer sky on their feet then!?

One last thing: I might be the last person in blogland to discover this, but did you know that WEBS has download-able knitting patterns? I purchased some yesterday and they were emailed today as .pdfs. I'm pretty psyched about the Deep Breath Sweater (which disappointingly doesn't have a picture on the site), a raglan pullover made with laceweight yarn and US8 needles. Also, if you do decide to order a pattern or two (or four), note that a shipping charge will show up on your invoice, but you will not be charged for the shipping when your order is complete. I was worried about that, but relieved this morning when I saw that I was only charged for the patterns.

Enough of my yammering! What's getting your senses tingling nowadays?

As one passes, so is another created.

The fingerless glove situation was worse than I had feared. After damage began to show on the gloves, my boyfriend continued to wear them (and says he will continue to wear them!), and it appears there are almost more holes than glove at this point. As a side-by-side comparison, here are the gloves I made for him last year, and the gloves I just finished.

So now I am at that wonderful place where a new project stretches before me like a tree-lined autumn road, and all I have to do is choose which fork in the road to follow. There are so many choices! Do I cast on for another pair of these gloves (my brother tried them on and asked for a pair), swatch for that Astrakhan cardigan (again), swatch for Ivy, or cast on for a pair of gift socks? I feel only the slightest pressure from the holidays. I've completed a stocking, my brother wants those gloves (see how things magically get added to the list?), and I plan to make a scarf for my cousin. I also want to make a couple of washcloths to go with some fancy soap I bought. Nothing big. I bet I could squeeze in a little somethin'-somethin' for myself. Right?

In non-knitting fun, we went to the aquarium in Mystic, Connecticut this week. It was amazing! Mystic in general was fun (though the shopkeeps could use a little friendliness training), and beautiful. Here are a couple of my favorite shots from the aquarium.








Oh! And I almost forgot one other thing! One of the first things I did upon our arrival in Mystik was check the phone book for yarn stores. There was one store in town, called Mystik River Yarns. They had a very interesting selection, including some baby camel yarn that I squeezed five times before deciding it had to come home with me. I want it to be next to my face, so I think a gator is in order. Another thing about this store, and I don't know if they do this all the time, but they had tons of sale yarn. They sold it by the bag, and it looked like it was just leftover dye lots. None of it caught my eye, but there were some very good deals. I also got a good deal on a Rebecca magazine. They had a huge stack for about $10 each. And can I just say? You know the aquarium is awesome when I almost forgot to include the yarn shopping.

New Book, New Favorite

Last Friday, I got out of work early to take my dad to an appointment. Since I got to town early, I decided a quick pit stop at Purl Diva was in order. This is my new favorite store, for several reasons.
1. When I walked in the door, the owner (whose name escapes me), said hello, clearly remembering that she'd seen me before, and said, "You're the blogger, right?" I had been in there exactly once before. I've been to the other yarn stores in the area (ALL of them) multiple times, and still no one recognizes me when I enter. It's a good feeling.
2. I was looking for something specific, which she didn't have in stock. She immediately offered to special order the yarn, and pointed out an alternative that she had in stock. Now, I've had other stores offer to order in yarn, but never so enthusiastically. And she had no problem whatsoever with ordering a skein or two of a few colors. I could have continued down the road to Halcyon and purchased the yarn there, but opted to wait a few days because of the kindness and courtesy.
3. I love this: while she had the Brown Sheep book out, she asked my opinion on some colors she was going to order for the superwash. I've had a couple of other stores do this, and I always think it's so fun! Looking through color cards seems as though it would be one of the most fun parts of owning a yarn store!
4. The stock is varied, with lots of weights, colors, textures and fibers represented. She has some yarn that is difficult to find in the area, like Lorna's Laces (she even has the worsted!), ArtYarns, and Cherry Tree Hill.
5. THE DOG! She has the sweetest dog EVER. I want to take her home.

So, if you're ever in Brunswick... now you know where to go for yarn!

While I was at Purl Diva, I picked up 50 Baby Bootees to Knit. The weird spelling of bootie notwithstanding, I love this book! There are only a couple of patterns I could never see myself making. I do wonder how practical some of the patterns are; there are some darling shoe shaped booties that look like they'd fall off at the first kick. I'm torn whether I should wait for someone I know to get pregnant before making a pair, or to just make booties with wild abandon and give them away as necessary. There is a pair of booties in there that look like bunny slippers. I think we all know what I'll be making first.

Quick PSA

Just until I can get my act together and take a picture of my knitting! I'm at the toe of my second Jaywalker, and the tank and I have made up and I'm hard at work on her front. (What about the back, you ask? C'est finit!)

I got a package today at work from the ubiquitous Knitpicks. A package containing two of their new fall 2006 yarns. The Telemark seems okay. It's a little rough in the skein, but I think it'll make a hearty pair of mittens (I got black and cream to do just that). What really got me moved to write though, was the Gloss! Of course, I have yet to knit with it, but judging the book by its cover, I'd say this is a great yarn! It's soft, but not floppy. It has a nice sheen, but it's not SHINY. The color I got (dusk) is fabulous! I can't wait to make it into some socks and put them on my feet!

As for the bat issue, we went the route of leaving the door and window open at dusk. Bets were running as to whether the bat was even still in the house. Everything was quiet until about 7:30, when I was starting to think that maybe the bat did get out the night before. My boyfriend went into the kitchen for a sandwich, when I heard, "I found it!" and rushed to see him fleeing the kitchen and the bat flying like mad. Long story short, the bat left the apartment! I leave the doors and window shut at dusk now.

I know I said I didn't have any pictures, but who doesn't like cute animals, right? We went to the state fair last Friday, and they had the cutest, tiniest little goats there! Like this guy:

I wanted to scoop him up and take him home!

Actual knitting pictures coming soon. I promise.

Bad Blogger!

I forgot my camera cord at home, so I can't show you the fabulousness of Grumperina's Jaywalkers in Opal Tiger yarn. As I suspected, the zig-zagging of the sock pattern creates a nice, tiger-y effect. I am loving the pattern! It's fun to do, and as usual with self-striping yarn, I love watching the pattern emerge. I'm already eyeing the sock stash and wondering what other yarns I have would be suitable for this pattern.

Next time I'll remember my camera cord! I'm still looking for a suitable pattern for the Sirdar Breeze. I can't seem to get any more than 5 stitches per inch, and all the patterns I find need either 6 per inch or 4. Fortunately, Bonne Marie has many patterns in that gauge. Perhaps I'll do another ChicKami, or maybe Sitcom Chic (I've been meaning to make that for awhile now!). Another pattern I've been meaning to make (and already own) is Gigi, but Cutaway is pretty cute, too. Oh, decisions! (Can you tell I'm a Bonne Marie fan?)

I hate to have an entirely pictureless post, so I'll go ahead and tack on some belated photos from my yarn expedition to WEBS with Amy.

My companions, Amy and her incredibly adorable and well behaved son, J. I think her baby-carrying device is brilliant! Not only does she get to keep in close contact with her child, but look at all the yarn she can carry with two hands versus one! Amy's always been a multi-tasker.


The spoils. See that wee pile off to the right? That's my stuff. The rest is all Amy's! She was a shopping dynamo! Please keep in mind that she was really Christmas shopping, she really isn't a crazy yarn hoarder (that's my job).


Next time I post I'll show those fabulous tiger pictures. And maybe, just maybe, that Sirdar will tell me what it wants to be.

She's Done!

I finished my Green Gable, and wore it on a yarn adventure on Saturday!

I went to two yarn stores on Saturday with my partner in crime, and in each store, a staff member commented on my sweater. What was curious, was that each of them asked what modifications I made, as though it were a given that I would make some. The only mods I made were to change the kfb increase in the raglan to a bar increase, and add three extra rows of ribbing to the bottom. I may have also changed a k2tog to a ssk in the waist shaping, but I can't quite remember. I used just about two balls of Lion Brand Cotton Ease in Candy Blue, and got gauge with a US5 needle. This sweater is officially the most comfortable thing in my closet. It's lightweight, and fits just right. I love it!

As for the yarn adventure (pictures will have to come later, since I'm a bad monkey and have not yet taken them off the camera), we went to the infamous WEBS! Amy was smart and brought a detailed list of projects she wants to make (for Christmas! Is this girl sick or what?!), with yarn requirements. I decided to fly by the seat of my pants, cavalierly ignoring Amy's post about being paralyzed by choice when she first went to the shop. I was completely shell-shocked. Everywhere I turned, yarn! Whenever I thought I had finally seen it all, there was more! There was yarn I had never seen in person before! There was an entire back room of yarn on sale! I got a bag of Debbie Bliss Wool Cotton in a deep chocolate hue, and a bag of Jaeger Matchmaker in pumpkin. I also picked up two pattern books (a Dale of Norway and an Elsebeth Lavold), some Dale Hauk for some badass fingerless gloves, two beautiful hanks of ArtYarns Supermerino for socks, and a ball of Meilenweit in a charcoal gray. The staff was great and the store is incredible! It was well worth getting up at 5 am on a Saturday!

After some sustenance, we were ready to hit Amy's LYS, Wild and Woolly. Now, you have to keep in mind that no store can possibly compare to WEBS, so I wasn't immediately taken aback by this store. In retrospect, however, I can safely say that I do wish Wild and Woolly were one of my local yarn stores. They have a nice selection, especially in the Debbie Bliss and Rowan lines. I didn't buy anything there, but I was kind of kicking myself for not picking up some Jaeger Siena while I was there. Now I will have to see if I can find it here.

The icing on the cake was when I went back to Amy's house and she GAVE me a hank of cherished Socks that Rock! I fondled it about fifteen times yesterday, but want to carefully consider my sock pattern options before winding it up.

I spent yesterday trying different borders on the afghan... three in all. One of them was... okay... but I'm having trouble with turning the corners on a patterned border. The short rows I tried were not working. Perhaps mitred corners would work better?

Frustration... but not really

So... I'm sure you expected to see a finished Green Gable by now, and, to be honest, so did I! There was the tiniest of issues, though, when I tried her on and she was just about two inches too short. Which is funny, because I knit the body of the sweater the same length as my favorite t-shirt. But, what can you do. I'm halfway through picking out the sewn bind-off so I can frog and knit again. I would be more than half through, but what with the birthday celebration and 4th of July barbecue, I haven't had much time for knitting. [insert sad face here.]

There has, however, been time for shopping! I don't have any photos of my haul, but suffice it to say, my pattern library is finally catching up with my yarn stash. On my birthday, I hit Patternworks, where they were having a terrific sale! I picked up a Rebecca magazine, a felted bunny pattern, a Jaeger book, and a booklet of Christmas stocking patterns. I believe there are twelve patterns. I also picked up some Patons Fresco because it was only $1.99 a ball and I think it'll make a fun top.

The week before my birthday, I checked out a new yarn shop that isn't exactly local, but it's close enough! It's called Purl Diva, and the owner has a blog too! Fun fact: before the store was a store, I considered it for an apartment! But it was just a little too run down, and the idea of dealing with traffic every morning when I had to go to work was too much. A visit to the store is well worth the traffic though, and the space is no longer dark and run down! She has ample seating both inside and out, and the chairs inside have the sweetest flowered pillows. I envisioned meeting up with my knitting pal for a nice afternoon of shopping and knitting. She has a nice selection of yarn, including Cherry Tree Hill, which I bought, and ArtYarns Regal Silk, which I did not. Added bonus: When I told her about Socks that Rock, she said she would look into it! I'm telling you, if I could find that yarn in the area, I would make a yarn shop owner one wealthy lass. So if you're ever in the area, make a visit. You can't miss it, there's a huge lavender sign on the front of the building that says YARN.

I'm hoping that the next time I post I'll be wearing Green Gable. I've been told that except for the length, it looks very pretty.