Clue #1, Done

Bright and early on Friday, I downloaded the first clue for Secret of the Stole. I like a pattern that begins by advising, “DO NOT PANIC.” Always a good sign. I did not panic, and I was glad to see that my inability to wind my hank of laceweight into a single ball actually turned out to be a good thing.

Over the weekend, this:

 

Materials

turned into this:

 

Clue 1

I had a little issue with the beads.  I didn’t bother to look up the technique for attaching them, and I was several beaded rows in before I learned that, no, you’re not supposed to knit the stitch first.  I’ve decided to go with it.

I think next week’s clue will go a little more slowly, since I’m working Friday and Saturday, and knitting lace is definitely not an appropriate activity for the Reference desk.

Wednesday Again?

Oh, I have been busy. But first, an important announcement.

Very, very soon (like, this weekend) Aimee is doing the Lupus Walk. This is a cause near and dear to my heart, so you know I’ve already contributed. She’s getting closer to her fundraising goal, but let’s push it over the top. Besides that warm and fuzzy feeling of doing some good, you could win a prize!

Go, Aimee!

Things have been a little rocky on the health front around here, too, lately. Not, not me, or K, or Little Miss – we’re all fine. (Aside from the pain of teething, that is.) K’s mom, who cares for Little Miss on the days that both K and I are at work, was hospitalized last week. She’s home now and recovering, but I’ve gotten an unexpected week’s vacation. During naptimes, I’ve been working on this:

 

meida1

Nancy Bush’s Meida’s Socks, from Favorite Socks.

It’s a quick knit – ankle socks in sportweight yarn. I memorized the lace pattern pretty quickly. My only real complaint is that only one size is given, with a note to adjust sizing by changing needle size and adjusting the length. I went up to US2s. I’m using Lang Jawoll Sport, which turned out to be a little short. I got down to about 40 stitches around in the toe decreases when I ran out of yarn. I ripped back and redid the toe, decreasing every round (instead of doing the alternating even rounds). This makes for a short toe, but the sock is almost perfect on my foot. I did not continue the slip stitch pattern on the underside of the heel – I just ribbed it.

With 81 and a fraction days until Christmas Eve, I’ve also been working on the stocking:

 

santa071003

There was an incident involving a knot, a tangle, and a bunch of ripped stitches, but I’m back to making progress.

Progress is also being made on the Pinwheel Blanket, but no picture of that today. It looks just like the last time I took a picture of it, only bigger, with more stripes.

WiP Wednesday: Colonial Williamsburg

Yes, that’s what I’m going with. The Colonial Williamsburg Pinwheel Baby Blanket is on the needles. The plan is to donate this to a fundraising sale. Twice before, I have donated to this particular sale, and I was frustrated both times by the fact that the items were sold for less than half of what I paid for the materials. It seemed that it would be more practical to just donate the money. But this time, I am knitting out of my stash, from Lion Brand Homespun bought way back sometime in the first year or so I was knitting.

pinwheel

Doesn’t look like much, does it? I did the Lighter Circular Beginning after all, but I’m not entirely sure how I did it. And trying to get 5 stitches of Homespun to stay on 4 size 10.5 bamboo DPNs was an adventure. But I seem to have a circle, rather than a Klein Bottle, so I think I even managed to avoid twisting the stitches.

On the financial front, I’ve decided to go back to using my familiar Quicken 2004. I tried several different money program demos, and I didn’t find anything I liked better, although MoneyWell came close.

The Yarn Harlot Does LA

Yesterday was my first Saturday off in a few weeks, and I was busybusybusy. Little Miss and I got a late start on going to our church’s Yard Sale, then walked by another yard sale (with a not so much accurate sign that said “Estate Sale”) where I bought a bunch of buttons. After picking up a cinnamon roll for K, we headed home, and Little Miss went down for a nap.

Then, it was out the door again, this time all by myself, to drive downtown for the Yarn Harlot. It was odd being in the Central Library in a non-work-related situation. I had to borrow K’s library card in order to get my parking validated, since I can’t find my card. (I memorized the number some time ago. The sad thing is that this is the second card I’ve lost. I’d be more concerned about it if I weren’t checking my own account activity on a very regular basis, so I know no one else is using it.) Stephanie was highly entertaining, even while being (unknowingly) threatened by the Giant DPNs of Doom:

 

harlot

She’s not nearly so blurry in real life, but I was three rows from the back of the auditorium. “Get there 10 minutes early,” said K. Yeah. Sure. I was in line 20 minutes before the start time, and I was still nearly in the back row. In fact, I was in just about the same seat I usually occupy during the monthly Book Order meetings. And, yes, that’s a sock she’s knitting during the Q&A time.  My knitting is not so blurry in real life, either, but it’s a test project, so I won’t be putting up a real picture of that until the pattern goes live.

I found out about the test knitting gig through (where else?) Ravelry, where I also found out that the Yarn Pirate Booty Club is open for enrollment. With all of these new opportunities to spend money, I am in search of new financial planning software. I am not loving the Quicken 2004 I’ve been using. Any recommendations for a Mac-OS-X-Tiger-friendly program?

New Knitty

It’s that time again! The new Knitty issue is up. As usual, I’ve got my eye on several patterns. Muir, Neiman, Mr. Greenjeans, and Diamond Waffle are all in my queue, which is quickly approaching 100 items. (It was over 100, actually, but I go through it every so often and take out the patterns that I’ve decided, on further reflection, don’t really appeal to me.)

The Diamond Waffle pattern also includes a link to the Lighter Circular Beginning (scroll down) on Eunny Jang’s blog. I’m looking forward to trying it out on a pinwheel baby blanket first. I have a bunch of skeins of Lion Brand Homespun, and I’d like to use them up. Is it too cutesy if I take a skein of Colonial and a skein of Williamsburg and call it my Colonial Williamsburg Baby Blanket?

Also in this issue of Knitty are some adverts for the Year of Lace, which I would love to join, but I don’t quite have the cash. BUT! Enrollment is open until February, so, if they don’t fill up, maybe I can save up. Or convince someone to get it as a holiday/birthday present for me.

WiP Wednesday, At Long Last

This WiP Wednesday thing is working out really well, eh? While I haven’t been posting, I have been busily stitching away on Checking His List.

 

santa070906

I’m nearly done with the top half of the chart, if you don’t count the backstitch detailing. Or the lines where Little Miss’ real name goes, which I’m saving for last.

Sunday night, I got together with some lovely ladies from church to do some knitting. I cast on for a Snicket sock, modeled here by the metal piece that sits on the top of our Lava Lamp.

 

snicket070911

 

I’m using Catania cotton yarn, which might not have been the best idea ever. For the little cables that make up the lattice pattern, something with a bit more spring to it would probably work better. Especially since I cable without a cable needle. I quite like the way the colors swirl in the ribbing, but they seem to be breaking up differently as I start the lattice part.

I also pulled out Amish Shadows and took a look at it, but I haven’t done any work on it in a while.

 

amishshadows

 

I don’t know what to take to see the Yarn Harlot on Saturday. I have a copy of Socks Soar on Two Circular Needles slowly but surely working its way over to my library, so maybe I’ll be able to cast on a simple sock before Saturday. Although I’d need to pick up a couple of small size cable needles first.

I Am Such A Joiner

Spending all of my free time on Ravelry wasn’t enough, clearly, even with the 20 groups within the site I’ve joined. One of those groups is the one for Secret of the Stole, a mystery lace project. What can I say? All of those MS3 posts got to me.  And I did just buy that Lisa Souza Lace.  Tomorrow I go in search of beads, having discovered that my five packets of Mill Hill seed beads are size 11, which is too small.

It’s not even like I needed a new project. I’ve already reached QBLE – Queue Beyond Life Expectancy – and I keep adding more.  And, yes, several of those projects could have used that yarn.

And LM’s stocking is ticking along. I took a few days of rest and cast on some Debbie Bliss Merino DK for Branching Out from Knitty, but I’m back to it. The background trees are done, along with a large chunk of the scroll, Santa’s face and beard, and most of his hat. I’m fascinated by the way cross-stitch is like an impressionist painting. I get so used to looking at it close up, examining each stitch, but it looks so pretty from a few feet away, when each little X or / blends together with its neighbors.

Gone Fishing

clownfish2

K went back to work yesterday, but I had the day off, so Little Miss and I stayed home to supervise termite inspectors and watch Mirrormask.I also managed to finish a project I’d had the knitting done on for well over a year.  Behold, the clownfish:

clownfish1

I bought this as a kit at a church holiday bazaar in 2005.  In the picture on the booklet, the orange yarn doesn’t have nearly so much red, and it looks a lot like Nemo from the Disney movie.  My fish, not so much Nemo-ish, even with the “lucky fin”.  There’s also a note not to use the “safety eyes” if the fish is for a child under 3, so I’m tucking this guy away for a while.

Pattern: Knit Clownfish
Source: Kit from JudyKits
Yarn: White, Black, and Hand-Dyed Orange cotton DK weight
Needles: size 6
Modifications: None

Goodies

Many thanks to Ellen, who reminded me about the Fabulous Fiber Fest going on this weekend. I did have it on my calendar already, but it was nice to get a reminder.  I loaded Little Miss into the car, and the two of us hit the Fest on its last day this morning.

I was a little surprised that there didn’t seem to be any local yarn vendors there.  Maybe I was spoiled by Stitches West a few years back, but I remember a bunch of Bay Area shops had space in the Expo.  The Fiber Fest was a little smaller than I would have imagined, but that didn’t stop me from spending some money. I started out at Carolina Homespun, where I picked up some sock yarn.

tofutsies
Tofutsies

bearfoot
Mountain Colors Bearfoot

I also came thisclose to buying some fantastic pink Pygora from Peppermint Pastures, and then I remembered that I don’t spin.  I wandered around until I came across Sheila & Michael Ernst of Glass Pens, from whom I picked up a little more sock yarn.

bluegrass
Fly*Dyed Monarch 3-ply

I strolled past Lisa Souza‘s booth a couple times before stopping and buying some laceweight.

souzalace
Lace

At that point, Little Miss was getting hungry, and I had spent all my money, so it was time to go. Next year, I’m taking a spinning class. Maybe. We’ll see.