If you blog it, they will read… sometimes. ;) I’d like to plug a content over at Steph’s blog, which I discovered via Ravelry. And, to remind you all that I am still running my contest as well for pick my sweater!
No new knitting content. Instead, last night there was … UNEXPECTED KARAOKE!
I think I have enough yarn for now.
No, really.
I mean, I have two sweaters on the needles and enough yarn to make two others. My Ravelympics yarn should get here today or tomorrow. I have a good supply of cottons for Christmas knits. I have a good supply of laceweight for potential Christmas knits.
Now, back to finishing Peonies Pink and casting on my test knit for the Discus.
Woohoo! Since I took this photo (last night), I now have a dozen or so rows left until bind-off! YEEHAW! Then, dishclothed (since I have 1.5 to go). then either Liesl (if my DPNs are here) or designing for the Designer’s Discus (yup – I = glutton for punishment).
For the non-Raveled, the Ravelympics is essentially choosing to knit something from cast on to cast off and finishing (blocking is the only thing you can leave off) during the Olympics. This year, it’s Aug. 8 7 AM CT until Aug 24 7 AM CT. I am doing two event: the Glove Decathalon (which isn’t really a decathalon, has nothing to do with multiples of ten, but it sounds better than Knit-Some-Gloves-a-thon) and registered for the Designer’s Discus. The entry (entries?) for the discus will not be made public, as they will likely end up as gifts for some of you ;) As for the Glove Decath, depending on who I decide to give them to, I may or may not post pictures.
Also, keep your fingers crossed: we should be getting internet access at the house TOMORROW!!!!!!
:: squeees with insane delight ::
I left the dishcloths at home, as well as all my other WIPs. And as we all know, I can’t stand it when I have no knitting at work, so… I fished out the skein of Yarn Chef I bought from someone destashing and cast on for Rose Red. I have some glorious Claudia’s Hand painted in a fingering weight that would make great matching gloves. That I may have to design to ensure they, well, match. ¬.¬
I am also considering throwing my hand in for the Designers Discus in the Ravelympics. Maybe. I haven’t really decided; I think I have until August 6th to make a decision. (If you STILL aren’t on Ravelry, and you play with yarn, you should be!)
In work news, another req opened up for a job I want (same department, different duties). Fingered crossed, please!
And last, but certainly not least, please comment and tell me what sweater to make! There may be free yarn in it for you ¬.¬ (hint hint hint)
Lesley is learning to knit – yay! I bought her some needles and some kitchen cotton to practice on. I realize that I don’t often extoll the virtues of cotton, so I went and grabbed some from my own stash and figured that I’d whip up a cloth or two to prove that (cheap) cotton like Sugar N Creme is actually quite useful.
Well, that backfired on me. I’m now into cloth #3 of one color (was going to be a quartet, but cloth #1 is not-so-impressive, so it’ll end up a trio), and plotting a series of hand towels because, well, I sense that my friends, family and/or coworkers would be far more likely to use them than cloths. Still, I also made this not-so-impressive one for Alex to play with in the hopes that he’ll leave my in progress knitting alone if he has his own to goof around with. :D
I give you an image of “The Big Board,” which is already in need of updates. Man. I really need to be less ADHD with my knitting.
I’m very tired this morning, since the monkey didn’t go to sleep until about 1 this morning. I only managed to get 12 rows done on Wicked last night – I was too distracted by finishing Season 3 DR WHO (10th Doctor) and playing Civilization Revolution. For shame, I know.
I’m winding a hank of Shimmer into a little ball here at the office, and its slow going. This is one of those yarns that makes me wish I owned a swift: alpaca (especially fine alpaca) really likes to stick to itself. :P
I’m really having a lot of fun working on Wicked. My hands are teensy bit cramped this morning, but it’ll be worth it to finish. I already have some ideas as far as changes to the pattern go. Mostly, I think I need to tighten up my cast on a bit. And I may go up or down a needle size next time. My gauge seems fairly on thus far, but… well, we shall see after we hit the armpits.
I also got some new toys in: stitch markers! I bought two sets from Sunneshine, and loved them so much that I bought two more. One set is completely in use on Liesl, who is hibernating until my 10.5s come in next week. Four are playing nice on Wicked. The rest… will be loved, assure you. I resisted the urge to buy stitch markers until recently, when I realized that I had passed the time of no-count patterns and had moved on to shaping.
I am also not feeling Flair right now. I bought all the yarn for it … and it’s just not speaking to me. :/ Still, I do have enough of the BSA Dyed Cotton to make a Megan-sized something. Cons: it’s brown. Pros: I already have some cute cute buttons and it IS machine washable (in theory). And I could make Something Red instead, which I also have enough yarn for (in her size) … then I could make my Flair the way I want to now: out of something a little more swank, like Andean Silk in Cranberry? It’s just that I bought $40 worth of nice cotton, and it needs to be made into something to be loved. :/ And with that in mind, I remind you that I do have wee little give-away on my last post: just leave a comment suggesting a pattern (see post for details).
12:40 PM
So, I have no willpower. We went to get Les’ first knitting needles on lunch, and I grabbed some BUTTONS!!! A huge grab bag of vintage looking buttons for like $4. I figure, I’m working on cardigans and sweater; I need closure! (badumCHA). This way, I can cast on and have buttons to fit almost anything. Really. There’s this mammoth 1.5-2″ button in there… so, as long as I only need like 2 that match each other, I’m set for buttons for a while… ooo! Just found 4 that match!!! Those are off to the side for February Lady!
So, while I await the 10.5 DPNS for Liesl, I cast on for Wicked last night. So far, I’m about 4 inches in to the yoke, neck cables inclusive. This is (thus far) a pretty easy pattern. I am glad I chose the short sleeved version for my first shot; I can work on size and shaping before I try to get creative. I’m not going to mod the pattern at all, since it will be my first pullover (I didn’t mod round 2 of Liesl either). I’m using some inexpensive but great workhorse yarn: Wool of the Andes in Spruce. Because it’s 100% wool, I got to try out a technique that I otherwise can’t EVER use (since I tend towards superwashes or non-ewey yarns): the spit join! It sounds grody, but works like a charm! I managed to get it felted just perfectly so that it was a bit stiffer than the rest of the yarn, but otherwise hard to tell where I even spliced! Hooray! This right here is the incentive for me to make all of my sweaters in 100% feltable fiber ;)
My goal is to finish Wicked before the Ravelympics so that I can go forth in fine form into the Glove Decathalon for Team FGF! I will be taking on Eden by Ganiggle, in a basic Knit Picks Essential. (Nothing too exciting). I ordered the yarn and DPNs for Liesl this morning.
If all goes well with Wicked, I then have to decide what to make next. I have started THE BOARD at home for knitting projects. I need to decide on a pattern for Megan, since the Liesl I was making as a tester for her went south. She’s a pretty rockin’ gal, so she deserves better than a bajillion dropped stitches. She loves her Endpaper Mitts that I made for her last year, so I know I have a willing recipient ;) What do you think? Let’s see if anyone out there in BlogLand is even listening: leave me a comment by, say, August 15th, with your vote for one of the following patterns:
Provided more than one human comments, I’ll randomly draw a name for 2 coordinating but not matching skeins of Alpaca Cloud. Mmmm – laceweight alpaca – you know you want some! (and yes, family: you can play too!)
the rules:
a. Type your answer to each of the questions below into Flickr Search.
b. Using only the first page, pick an image.
c. Copy and paste each of the URLs for the images into fd’s mosaic maker.
the questions:
1. What is your first name? Jes
2. What is your favorite food? sushi.. nums!
3. What high school did you go to? Newman Smith High School (i picked this image because it has the LEAST to do with it ;))
4. What is your favorite color? hrm … today I’m going to vote deep red. ask me again tomorrow?
5. Who is your celebrity crush? woulda said Nathan Fillion… since I can’t … James Marsden
6. Favorite drink? A nice cuppa tea
7. Dream vacation? vacation? wazzat? in a perfect world, Chiemsee – just because I remember vacationing there as a girl
8. Favorite dessert? I don’t really do dessert… green tea ice cream
9. What you wanted to be when you grow up? Linguist
10. What do you love most in life? Alex
11. One Word to describe you? loquacious
12. Your flickr name? alex_maris
While it is true that I frequently have multiple projects going at the same time, lately I’ve found myself unable to commit to any one thing. I’ve got 3 skeins of Claudia HandPainted that I think have been frogged a minimum of 3 times each. I just can’t seem to get anything started that I like.
I need to start working on Christmas presents. I realize that it is July, but better early than “oops,” eh? To that end, I have some SERIOUS yarn winding to do. I need to make “The List,” but I’m holding out to see if Ravelry’s queue organization system will get put into place instead. I think, for today’s cast on (as I just frogged my pink Claudia’s) I’ll try something with a nice lace to it. I don’t know what yet, but lace sounds like the ticket. Something simple that won’t drive me nuts. I just need to keep my mind off of issues …
:: sigh :: They start so early, don’t they? He has a thing for stealing my yarn before I’ve had a chance to stash it.
Well, I’m not sure if she’s dead yet, but she sure is in pain.
I managed to somehow add a stitch somewhere along the way and I don’t know how or why. I decided to k2tog it with it’s buddy near the garter selvedge, but I fear that in the next lace row I will find myself short one stitch somehow now. I’ve made the command decision that if that should happen, I’m quitting. Just that version, mind you. I’ll find a better, more appropriate yarn to cast on with and try again.
In the meantime, in a fit of what can only be called knitting stupidity, I cast on for Flair, and then did my raglan increases somewhere, well, not raglan-y. :: sigh :: Luckily, I was only about 12 rows into the pattern when this occurred to me. B5 + baby + sweater shaping = something’s got to give. I was half tempted to forget all about Flair for now, and use some of that gorgeous Espresso Dyed Cotton to make a Liesl, but am now glad I didn’t; I’d had to have to frog all that cotton if I lost a stitch.
Very sleepy. Woke up to screaming monkeys at around 5, 5:30 AM
On today’s agenda:
MonkeyMan’s World
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