Happy Mothers Day

To all the Mothers and Mom's to be out there!

My Mothers day present was a day to myself yesterday, of which I spent a large chunk of time knitting on Leaf. The body is finished, and I am working away on the Sleeves. I think it might be possible to have a FO on this by the end of next weekend.

I did some knitting on Venezia today while we were at my mothers.

I am about half way done with the fourth chart repeat, and about 23 rows away from starting the steeks for the arms, again, I am thinking by next weekend.

I did break my "No more than two at a time" rule and re-cast on for the Alpine Lace Scarf last night. This time I am working on the size 2 Knit Pick options that I bought last month, and the P2tog's are going a lot smoother.
DH also bought me the pattern for Rusted Root, which I am planning on knitting with some Cotton Ease that has been in the stash for over two years, when I bought up tons at half price.

Computer problem fixed...

Sort of.
DH mentioned the problem with my laptop to his boss, and his boss gave him an old 17inch flat screen monitor that they had no use for other than collecting dust.
So, we got the monitor set up to the computer, same size screen as the lap top had, so no real change there. Now I have to type on the laptop, and turn my head to look at the screen. DH and I are thinking of hooking an external keyboard and mouse up as well, and just using my laptop as a CPU unit. But that would be silly looking, wouldn't it?

It was late by the time we got it hooked up last night, and I didn't' get any photos shot or uploaded, but I will try to do that tonight while cooking and DH takes C to the park (weather permitting).

What also made it late last night was the dogs both got out while C and I were going out front to wait on DH to get home with dinner. I set C down in our front yard and took chase, since both dogs were headed to the park. I cornered Ying, and got her back home, but Yang was across the street and running fast. I went in and grabbed the quick leash, since Yang can't seam to keep any collar on for more than 5 minutes. So, I grab the collar and C, and we head out the door running. A group of guys playing basketball in the park said that he took off running to the left. As I was looking that way, I saw DH driving up, so I flagged him down, put C in his car seat, and hopped in the passenger seat. We drove up and down the street calling his name and asking anyone we passed if they saw a orangish brown dog run by. Nothing. Its at this time that it sinks in just how close we are to Hwy 377 (Carroll) and that my baby could be hit by a car. C kept asking where Yang was, was he hiding in the leaves? on the roof? in that garage? After going the full length of the street DH decides to drive by our house to see if he showed up on his own, nothing, and we drive down the the cul-de-sac to turn around, and there we see him, running after the car. Thank god! I got out of the car and gave Yang a big hug, put the leash on him and walked him home. I'm so glad he is safe, but he gave me a major scare.

I'm an Idiot.

I broke my laptop on Friday, so I am temporally unable to blog (or post photos!!!) from home.
How did I break it? I forgot that I had a pen resting on the keyboard, and I went to close it, cracking the screen. DH thinks we can hook the laptop up to a monitor so I'm not completely without Internet action at home (he will not let me touch his laptop after this), but until then...

I didn't get much knitting done over the weekend either. I think I have done 20 rows on Venezia since last Monday. I am almost done with the third repeat of the chart, only 3 or 4 left to go, plus the sleeves.

(This spot marking where a photo would bee)

I did manage to get a bit more done on Leaf. I put the sleeves on holders Thursday night while watching Grays, and started the increases for the front by the ties yesterday. Now I just have rows and rows of stockingnet stitch left to do for both the body and the sleeves.

(Marking off another would-be photo)

I did spend part of Saturday night teaching D how to knit. She seems to be picking up the knit stitch really well, and I have her practicing until the next time when I will show her how to purl.

More of a longer update, and photos when I have the ability to blog from home again.

Thank you all so much!

For the kind comments of the Cap Shawl! I can't tell you how pleased I am with how it turned out!
Now that I am done working on that, it is back to the much neglected Venezia. I am a little over two pattern repeats in, and just joined the second ball of yarn for the background color yesterday. I know that I will have more than enough yarn for the entire sweater now.
I do have a dilemma though. I know that I won't be able to get the bands of color to match from the sleeves to the body, and that doesn't bug me too much. I'm just trying to figure out which will be better.
I could just do the sleeves with the wider stripes and have them not match at the shoulder.
I could knit both sleeves as one big tub, incorporating a steak seam like in a cardigan, cut and sew.
I could knit both the body and two separate sleeves up to the steak, and join as one, and work the decreases as indicated in the pattern.
The first option sounds easiest to me, and I can always do that and if I decide I don't like it BEFORE I cut the steaks, I can frog back and do one of the other options.

I did cast on for another project Friday night to give me a break from stranded color work:

Its the Cropped Cardigan with Leaf Ties that Knitty.com has as an excerpt from Fitted Knits. This is the first top down sweater that I have attempted, and so far, it makes for great mindless knitting, with wonderful style. The yarn is mystery wool that I got off of Ebay two years ago when I discovered there was yarn other than Red Heart Super Saver. Its a bit scratchy, and smells a little, but I like how the color is ties in with the leaf theme.

FO: The Cap Shawl

Its finally done! After 7 weeks, and one big frogging incident, I am finally finished with the Cap Shawl.

With the magic of Blocking, the shawl went from this: To this:
Pattern: The Cap Shawl from Victorian Lace Today

Yarn: Misti Alpaca Lace, three balls

Needles: Knit Picks Options size 4, the two standard size cords that came with the pack, plus 4 size 4 Susan Bates DPN's.

Size: Blocked out to 5 feet, which is smaller than the one in the book, but since I downsized both the yarn and needles, I'm happy with the size.

Time: A little over 7 weeks.

What I learned: Circular cast on and circular shawl construction. I loved working on this shawl, since it was (mostly) comprised of knit stitches. There were a few rows of purl stitches on the outer edge that drove me crazy, and I did leave one row off completely.

Pinning it out was less of a hassle than I expected it to be. One of my tape measures had a hole at the start that I was able to pin in the center and I used that to get all my points to the same length

Just a few more pictures before I close.

(Pardon the bad hair and the big gut)

Which will be done first?

The endless edging of the Cap Shawl, or my ball of yarn.

This edging is taking forever. Besides the mass frogging incident of last Friday, I lost an entire nights knitting on Tuesday due to the massive storms that hit Denton, leaving us without power when we got home from work, and later when the thunder kept waking C up, and I curled up with him so he wouldn't be scared.
I was sure I would be done last night, but no, I have two repeats of the edging left. Uggg. If I didn't know better, I'd think malicious elves or gnomes were coming into our house at night to frog this piece, and put everything back on the needles.
I have very little yarn left in this ball of yarn, but I think it might be enough to get through the shawl. If not, I still have the fourth ball of yarn.
Barring an act of God, the knitting of the shawl will be done tonight, but I might hold off on the grafting and blocking until tomorrow when C is at his grandparents.

Knitty Surprises are up. I think I really like Leaf, and might have to cast on for it tonight. I think I have yarn that will work, even if I have to knit a smaller size for someone else.
I also like Airetta, but is it wrong of me to wish they had fair-isle instructions as well? Mosaic knitting just looks to fussy for me. I can't see myself knitting the other two patterns, so they won't be mentioned.

Out of Time Out...

Saturday morning I left the Cap Shawl sitting in DS's time out spot to remind me that I was taking a break from it. I forgot to move the shawl before DH's buddies came over Saturday night for gaming, and B** went and sat on the cushion, on the shawl, and started eating a sub there, getting lettuce all over my alpaca softness.

He couldn't understand WHY I was telling him to get up, I guess he didn't see the pale pink fluff before he sat down on the black seat, but still..

**Grr**

There was no further harm done to the cap shawl with his actions.

I spent most of the weekend working on Venezia, and have managed to get quiet a bit done on here. I am on the second repeat of the chart, and it is taking me less than half an hour to do each 300 stitch row (again, why can't I stick to a diet long enough to be able to knit a smaller size?). I did give the Cap shawl some attention yesterday, and have 4 more repeats done. I think if I can keep up with doing 4 repeats a day (don't know about tonight, I have WW WI), then I should have it done by Thursday.

Thursday seems to be a milestone day with this shawl. I started on a Thursday, began chart 2 on a Thursday, and started the edging on a Thursday, so I guess its right that I finish and cast on on Thursday. She will be blocked on Saturday one way or another. C is spending the night/weekend with my parents, so I can devote all my attention to the shawl, and take over his bedroom floor for blocking.

DISASTER!!!!!

I was closing in on the home stretch of the Cap Shawl last night, when I spread it out to get an idea of how big it was(n't) going to be.

And then I noticed...

8 edging repeats back, over 240 rows, and 4 hours of knitting ago...

I had missed one of the stitches where you attached the edging to the shawl...

and there was a huge hole.

AAAARRRRRGGGGHHHHH

I called DH in from the other room to bring me my tiny crochet hook, and to hold my hand and wind the yarn as I began to frog back.

Progress was slow since I had to recapture the live stitches of the shawl. Some of them laddered back one row, ok most of them, but I didn't care at the time. I had to get to the hole before it became unfixable.

Rip-it
rip-it
rip-it

With an occasional pause to put the live stitches back on the needle so I wouldn't have a bigger disaster.
I got to the end and found only one stitch had laddered back, but since it started at an eyelet, I was able to fix it with the hook. I'm going to have to fix the ladders as I work on the shawl, but for now, all is fixed.

In the light of day, it sunk in. I was almost done with the edging, I could have finished it today or tomorrow, instead, I had to rip out two days worth of work.

The Cap Shawl has been flung aside in disgust for now....



I will come back to her soon, but right now the pain is too fresh.
I will spend the rest of the weekend working on Venezia.

This edging is going slower than I thought...

For some silly reason, I thought that it would be no problem to get through at least 7 repeats of the edging each day, which would mean having a FO in a week.

WRONG!

Each repeat is taking a little over 30 minutes (I must be a slow knitter if it takes me a minute to do a 17 stitch or less row), most of it comes from the rows that get smaller. In desperation last night, I hunted up the knitty tutorial and taught myself to knit backwards.

While it was a bit awkward at first, and takes about the same time to do a row as purling would, I am saving time by not flipping the shawl every minute.

I should reach the half way point this weekend, and unless my parents kidnap C this weekend, have a FO early next week.

Venezia is currently lunch knitting only, a row a day, and super slow progress.

Living on the Edge

* Grrr Some days I hate blogger, and the lack of copy/paste*


















I have made it to the edge of Venezia! There are 49 repeats of the edging, and so far I have 8 done. The chart is really easy, and I don't have to look at the chart any more.

Right now I am thinking I might have a FO by the end of next weekend...

That is, if I don't get too distracted by Venezia.



















I think I'm addicted to two color knitting! Since we got in on Sunday night, the only thing I have wanted to work on was Venezia. Don't let the picture use fool you, I am only using two colors of yarn, but the Yarntree house Melody has a slow variegation to it which makes me think it is perfect for my "fake-isle" sweater. It took a few tries to get a photo that was clear enough to show everything, but I'm more than happy with how this is turning out so far.


Tomorrow the weather is supposed to warm up, and DH, C and I are going to get dress up, head out, and meet my family at Scarbrough Faire. Turkey legs and fried ice cream, here I come.

Testing

I've been messing around with the template and commits section for a while, and I'm just testing things out right now.

I've upgrade to HeloScan, and can't read any of my old commits, but should be able to respond to newer commits now.

*sigh*

ok.

Still Sick

Have spent the last two days sitting on the couch going "Shoot Me" and knitting in a sleepless haze. I got through a lot of the plain purl rows on the Cap Shawl, I have 2 1/2 rows left of purl, one row of knit (738 stitches per row) and then the edging that will never end. Actually, looking at the edging, it looks like each repeat is longer than the Print O the Wave Stole, but each row is shorter, so it should only take two weeks if I push myself.

I'm about six rows into the color work of Venezia, and right now it looks like the 46' size is going to be too big. I want to finish a few more rows an try it on again to see if it tightened up after I switched to color work. I don't want to have the same problem that SuperStitch had with hers, so if I catch it now, I can fix/modify it before I want to pull my hair out.

Photos soon. DH still has the camera in his backpack at work.

"I don't need to pack another ball of yarn"

The cap shawl has been growing by leaps and bounds. The second chart has been so much more interesting than the first part of the shawl, and the fact I didn't have anything else on the needles helped me get through the long, long rows in 10 days. That and a 6 hour long car trip each way, where DH drove half and I drove the second half, to go visit MIL for Easter. I don't know what I was thinking while I was packing my bag, because normally I am overly obsessive about bringing extra yarn, books, hobby of the month stuff to keep me busy in the boondocks of the Texas Panhandle. I don't know what I was thinking this time. Probably that the first ball of yarn took me over 3 weeks to knit up, and I had just started the second ball of yarn last Sunday, but sure enough, we get halfway down the road and I realise that I have about 1/2 of a ball (about 100 yards or so) left. The delima was to knit to my hearts content to drown out the boredom of the Panhandle, or to knit conservatively so I would have yarn for the drive home. Knitting to my hearts content won out, and the knitting bag was packed away in my suitcase for the drive home. Thank goodness I had a book that I am only halfway interested in thrown in my bag as an afterthought. I have finished the pattern part of chart 2 for the cap shawl. Now I have 9 rows of either pure knit or pure purl left, with 738 stitches per row. Slow going for now. After that, I have the border left. 49 repeats of a 30 row border. I need to learn how to knit backwards fast.
I did have my shipment from Knit Picks waiting for me when we got back last night. It was hard to decide between knitting the long plain rows of the Cap Shawl or casting on for Venezia. Venezia won out, but I plan to be done with the body of the Cap Shawl before the end of next weekend. I am almost done with the facing on the hem, and will take some pictures after I start the color work.
C and I were both feeling down this morning, so we stayed home. He was down all morning, but after a long (3 hour +) nap this afternoon, he was his normal Toddler of Terror self. Me, my head is still killing me, and I am having drainage from heck, but back to work tomorrow. Have to pay for the yarn habit and the house.

FO: Deep V Argyle Vest

Pattern: Deep V Argyle Vest by Eunny Jang
Yarn: Knit Picks Merino Style in Honey and Storm, about 10 balls total
Needles: Knit Picks Options, size 5
Size: 44inch bust
Start to Finish: About 3 weeks.
New Techniques learned: Stranded knitting on a larger scale, Steaks.

The top of the vest turned out way to big for me. I probably should have switched to a smaller size after the end of the waist decreases. I don't know if I will wear it much, but I think I am pleased with it.

I do plan to do another Fair Isle type project soon.

What was I thinking?

When I cast on for a summery, short sleeved tank top in wool yarn?

Isabella has been frogged.

I really want to knit this pattern, but it will have to wait until I finish the Cap shawl or after I get tired of working on Venezia. This time, however, I will buy the proper cotton yarn to knit with.

*Shakes head*

Crazy.

I finally blocked the Deep V Argyle vest, and with all the rain and humidity, she should be dry later this week, and ready for her close-up.

Swachity

The Camera has been found!
As previously mentioned, I did a test swatch for Veniza using yarn from my stash. I had this wonderful multicolor yarn, Yarntreehouse Melody 2, that C gave me for Christmas. I was swaching for another project when I realized that the yarn was the right gauge and stickiness for a color work fingerling weight project. I grabbed some grey palette, leftover from my Endpaper Mitts and used the computer to make the charts easier to read in two colors. I like how the two yarns work up together, but I am going to go with a different color for the actual sweater. I ordered 5 skeins of the Palette bare (2200 yards) and a set of size 2 circular needles this afternoon, and I should get the package in the next week or so, and then I will cast on.

I've also swached and cast on for Knitty's Isabella in some green sports weight wool from the stash. I don't know if this is going to work out to a wearable item for summer in Texas, but it gives me a shawl break until the other yarn shows up. I did alter the directions a bit and did a provisional cast on using Knit and Tonic's tutorial posted earlier this week. However, apparently in the YoK2tog row, I dropped a stitch. At first, I paniced, raced to find a crochet hook to fix the damage, and then realized that this is going to be on the inside of the back of the sweater. No one will ever see it.
Picking up the stitches was a bit time consuming. and my spar size 2 needle is bent, so that made for an awkward lying project prior to knitting the rows together. But the actual knitting two together didn't take that long.







And in the end, I had a nice, scallopy finished edge... Except for where I forgot a YO on the turning row.







I've still been plunging away on the Cap Shawl, or the Cotton Candy Shawl, since the posters on the Victorian Lace Along have said it reminds them of the sticky sweet fluff. I am on chart two, about 103 rows in, and have 70 rows plus the edging left to go. I am still on the first ball of yarn, and I'm quiet certain that I will have more than enough yarn to finish her. I did have a moment of panic with her this evening as I was switching over to a longer circular needle. I stretched her out to see her full size... without putting protection on the needle ends, and had 10 stitches fall off the needle. Visions of the Peacock Feather Shawl falling of the needle, and the resulting Frog of 3 weeks worth of work flashed through my mind as I bent over to examine the damage. Everything that fell off was a section of YoK2tog's, and I lost the yo's (no biggie) and one K2tog dropped back one row. I think I did an ok job of picking up the stitches, re-knitting the stitches with a crochet hook, and when this baby is blocked out, I don't think anyone will be the wiser.
*Phew*

I've been swatching...

I have been making some progress on the Cap Shawl. I am on the last row before I start Chart 2, which the first few rows will be more of the same. I am maybe 1/4 of the way done with the body and starting to get a little bored with this. While the Cap Shawl has been the only official WIP since Sunday, I have been working on doing some swatching for future projects:

While swatching again to Knit Lucie with the YarnTreehouse Melody that C gave me for Christmas, I realized that it was a fingerling weight yarn, that was sticking to itself rather well. So I had the idea grab a ball of leftover Palette and do a quick swatch for Venezia... They worked well together, and as soon as payday hits, I'm going to order 6 balls of KP Fingerling Bear to pair with it.
What, you want to see a picture... um, DS hid the camera on Sunday, and as soon as I find it...

I also did a swatch for Isabella using left over Brown Sheep Natura Sport from Cromarity. I got gague on size 2, and cast on last night. I am modifying the pattern a bit. How it is written, you knit the hem, and later go back and sew it down. I had the bright idea to knit the hem down (like in the Venezia pattern), and cast on with a provincial cast on. I am one row past the turning row, and it looks like instead of doing k2tog's for the hem, I'll have to p2tog across 141 stitches. Oh Joy.

My parents are taking C all this weekend for my Dad's birthday present, so aside from the normal house and yard work, I should have plenty of knitting time.

I need a Vacation after my Vacation!

Its been a super busy week. Last weekend DH and I did yard work, and ripped out our old shrubbery and their root systems, on Monday, we planted nine new rosemary plants in their place. They don't look like much now, but they should fill out later this year and be a nice, pleasant smelling hedge by fall.







Tuesday and Wednesday were spent painting and re-arranging C's room. We went from boring white to brilliant blue, with a wall of sunny yellow. We also finally moved his crib out of our room, and into his room. We are working on sleeping in his room, C will spend half the night there, but will come looking for us around midnight. Where his crib was in our room is now a sitting/reading/knitting nook that is too far from the bedroom TV to be of much use.

Friday we took C to the Dallas Zoo. While it is much nicer than I remember it being from 15 years ago, it is still a crappy zoo. But I have been spoiled by the Ft. Worth Zoo,which is one of the top zoo's in the south, and by seeing the Singapore Zoo last March, which is one of the top 5 zoos in the world.

I also finished knitting the neck and sleeve bands of the Deep V. Jenny Raye asked where and why the green yarn shown in my last photo of it came from, and while I could try to explain it, Eunny did a great job on explaining the use of the crocheted steek here. In fact, that article was written while she was designing the Deep V.
All that left is to wash and block her, but since we are going to be wet and muggy here for the next few days, I'm going to hold off a bit.


I've also made progress on the pink blob that shall transform to the Cap Shawl. It is so hard to photograph the details of this shawl, but the yok2g pattern spirals from the center like a flower. I love working with the Misti Alpaca so much, I hope that in the end she blocks out close to the original measurements in the book. This is currently my only WIP, and I will probably work on this solo for the next week or so, but plans might change.

Snip, Snip

I finished knitting the color work portion of the Deep V Argyle Vest this morning. Not bad considering I only started the neck steak last Thursday. DH and our friend L have been teasing me all weak about the horrid color combination here.






I expected crocheting the steekes would take a lot of time, effort and tears, but I had them done before DH was up and ready to go today. The yarn is used is some of the left over yarn from Cromarty, truly making this a leftovers vest.








Then, It was time to take the plunge. I gathered up my good scissors (the ones kept hidden in my craft drawer) and made the first cuts, holding my breath and biting my lip the entire time.










A sigh of relief to know that I was able to cut the steaks without cutting the crochet. See how pretty the inside of the vest looks!











I finally tried her on to see if she would fit: DH said that he liked the neckline. The armholes seam a bit wonky, but I'm ok with that. My first steeks cut!

Afterwards DH kicked me out of the house to go knit at Simpatico yarns, and I picked up a little reward to swatch with.




I'm thinking of using this yarn to knit the Weekend Pullover from the Fall 2006 IWK, but the colorway will depend on what Mary Jane has in stock durring the Fire Cracker sale.

FO: Pearl Buck Swing Jacket

After much procrastinating on finishing this one, she is done! Please ignore my big fat gut
I finally got DH to help me take photos, but I forgot to make sure my hair and outfit were photo ready.

Specks:
Pattern: Pearl Buck Swing Jacket by Kate Gilbert from the Winter 2005 Interweave Knits
Yarn: Knit Picks Merino Style in Honey, Christmas present from my MIL, 11 balls
Size: 44 inch
Needles: Knit Picks Options, Size 4, various length cables.
Start: January 12 End: March 13th
Modifications: None. I hit gauge spot on for this baby. I love everything about this, from the color, to the sleeve lengths, to the seaming, yes even the seaming! I think this is going to work with me next week to be my work sweater, since the building is kept on frigid all summer.

Ahhh... Vacation

DH and I start a week of Spring Break this week, but I have been productive during the last work week. I finished seaming and blocking the PBSJ: But since I have been unable to get a half way decent mirror shot, the final photos of it will have to wait until DH is back from his D&D game.

I am now 78 rows into the Deep V Argyle Vest, and almost to the arm steaks:

See, I figured out how to rotate photos

I hope to get almost done with the vest this week. I am still having fun doing the stranded color work, and I think I am ready to progress to a "real" Fair Isle sweater done at a smaller gauge. The diamond pattern is much easier to see onscreen than in person. I wonder why that is.

I also started the Cap shawl no 4 DPN's, and just today had enough stitches to transfer to a circular needle I love how the center of this looks like a flower. You can see where the DPN's put extra stress on the stitches (marked by the yellow and green stitch markers), but I have hopes that this will block out. I am almost done with the first chart, and to the "uncharted" area where you add a Yo, K2tog every 4 rows.

In addition to all the knitting I have planned for this week, we are also going to buy and plant new shrubbery, take the lawn mower in to be fixed, paint C's room and bathroom, and take C to the zoo.

Have a good knitting week!

March Madness has struck...

Go Mean Green!

UNT has made it into the NCAA playoffs!

DH took care of bath and putting C to bed last night, so I had real knitting time. I got a few more rows done on the Deep V, I started the neck steak, and am on the first row of decreases/increase after that. I'm probably 1/2 way done with the sweater, considering that after this the rows get smaller and will go much faster, and I am at a point where I need to move to smaller needles already.

I also cast on for the Cap Shawl. After quiet a few mistakes with the cast on instructions in the book, I googled for better instructions, and found Eunny's tutorial. I am about 12 rows in, not much, but it is addictive, and I hope to get much more of this shawl done over the next week while DH and I are off for spring break.

What do

A knitting project your only "ho hum" about,

A huge mistake a few rows back

and a case PMS from hell

have in common?

The Alpine Knit Scarf taking a trip to the frog pond. Of course this happened before I remembered to get any photos of it.

I will re-knit it, but on size 2 needles instead of my 4's. Straights it is.

But first, I think I will give the Cap Shawl from VLT a shot.

Sleepy Thursday

*Yawn*
The PBSJ is officially finished, but the FO shot needs to wait until I have the time/energy to steam block the seams and can get DH help me get some decent photo's of it. Seaming it wasn't as bad as I feared it would be, and by far, I think it is my best seam job yet. But I will wait and talk about that later.

I have picked up steam on the Alpine Lace Scarf. As predicted, once I got past the border, this is going a lot faster, and I have been trying to get one repeat of the rose leaf pattern done each day, and sometimes two done. Even the P2tog's aren't as annoying as I first thought they were. I pretty much have the entire pattern memorised, and only have to look at the chart every once in a while.

The Deep V Argyle Vest keeps growing. If I stretch it out, it comes to the right measurements, but is a tad long...But I knew that was going to be a problem going into it. I'm approaching this project as a big learning experience, and since the yarn is all leftovers from other projects (a lot of leftovers) I don't feel quite as guilty for it not being at gage. I'm on the increases at the waist, and should start the neck steak tonight or tomorrow morning.

I have been thinking about what my next big project will be. I am thinking that I will either give Lucie another shot. I have the yarn for it in stash, and its a lot of straight knitting. It might be boring, but I have started finding joy in the 'boring' knits. My other "maybe" project is the Equestrian Blazer from the winter 06 Interweave knits. I have been thinking of frogging the unfinished and way-to-big Mariah (my first sweater, no swatching done) and using the Plymouth encore from that for it, but I'm not sure. That would be a lot of ball winding, and unsttiching and unweaving of seams. If I can hold off until July, I can buy Cascade 220 at the Simpatico Fire Cracker sale for about $35 ish. Decisions decisions. Lucie and lace can keep me busy until then....
Also on my "to knit" list is Eunny's Venezia, also from the Winter IWK. I saw a two color version on Craftster and have been thinking of doing that as well, in either a chocolate brown with pink/purple or teal or a Blue and cream version, or a tan and brown. I will use KP Pallett to save on money.
But I am really thinking that I will make myself finish the Alpine scarf before I start anything else. Its been three weeks and I have hardly made any progress on her.

Not much knitting going on

this weekend, because it was N and D's wedding! We were all members of the wedding party, and had obligations all three days. Friday I got a little knitting done in the morning running with DH and my Dad to the Asian market in Carrollton to get stuff for dinner Sunday night. After that it was time to pick up C from daycare and get ready for the rehearsal and dinner. The plan was for me to walk out as one of the first brides maids, and for C to walk out just before D. In the rehearsal, when I walked out before him, he stood in the doorway crying, and cried the entire way down the aisle.
Take two. C walk out with Mommy, holding her hand if necessary. That went OK, but DS was getting tired and cranky early on. We let him run wild during the dinner (at El Guapo's), and ran into one of his daycare friends on the way out.

Saturday morning DH took C to the park to get him worn out early on while I joined the other bridesmaids at Danny's salon to get ready for hair. There was NO KNITTING at all on Saturday. *gasp* After I was done with hair DH and C picked me up, went home, packed our bags, and went to the hotel to get ready.

How cute is this?
All three of us clean up pretty well, don't we? I'm just sorry we don't have a better shot of C and I. I did wear the Print O' the Wave stole, and received a ton of compliments on it. D didn't wear the Peacock Feathers Shawl, but still looked beautiful. After the ceremony my dad came and picked up C so DH and I could party with the rest of the crowd, and hang out with friends we don't get to see very often.
We did get to stay in a nice room at the Wildwood Inn, and had a wonderful breakfast Sunday morning. Then we went and picked up C from my parents house, went home and started prepping for Tark's birthday dinner. Home made dumplings with shrimp and fish balls (my fav!) and steamed buns plus pineapple rice (which turned out better than I though it would) There was so much food, and I didn't break out my knitting at all.
I did manage to get to row 49 of the DVAV, almost time to start the increases, and will soon start the steeks, and 5 rows of the ALS. Since the sun is up latter now, I will try to get picks tomorrow night (tonight is my WW meeting).

Rosebud....

I've had that going through my head ever since I started the Rose Leaf pattern on the Alpine Knit Scarf last night. I think I'm finally getting on a roll with this baby. Of course every time I try to work on it, C wants my attention, but that is life.

Progress on the Deep V has slowed down some. I am mostly working on that in the car (when DH drives) and at lunch right now, so I am only getting a few rows done a day. But since I started the color work last Thursday, and I'm on row 31 today... um, about 6 rows a day?

I'm still working on seaming the PBSJ. I have the back, yoke, and fronts joined, so all I have to do is the arms and side seams, pick up and knit the neck band, and steam block. If I put my mind to it, it won't take that long. I will try to finish that before spring break, and I will try to finish the Deep V during Spring break (yeah right).

Speaking of Spring break, DH and I are also going to try to get a lot of home improvement stuff done. We are going to tear out the old shrubbery, plant new Rosemary shrubs, paint C's room and the hall bath, and take C to the zoo one day. We decided to keep him in daycare for most of the week :( but that's the only way we can get a lot of this stuff done.

I can't think of a title right now.

Yesterday my parents took C to a car show and kept him overnight so DH and I could attend bachelor/ette parties. D has strep so the bachelorette party was canceled. I did take advantage of the time to get the PBSJ blocked and pinned out. Everything sank to the proper measurements, except for the sleves, but I will work with those when I sew them and steam block later this week. I was able to unpin the fronts and the yoke this morning, but the back and the sleeves need a bit more time to dry.




Progress has been slow on the Alpine Knit Scarf. I did change the needles to the KP Option 4's and have managed to trudge through one and a half repeats this weekend. I think once I hit the transition and the rose leaf pattern and don't have to p2tog quiet as much, I should start moving a lot faster on this. The Alpaca Cloud is so soft to work with, an is much finer than the Shimmer I used for my last shawl.




I did rip out all the color work progress from last weekend on the Deep V Argyle vest, and I re-started it on the size 5 needles Thursday night after I bound off the last sleeve for the PBSJ. This isn't the best color combo I have seen the vest done in, but it is growing on me as I knit and get more rows done. Worse comes to worse, I can always wear it with a red shirt and go as "Ugly Betty" on Halloween.

Friends of ours had their second child yesterday, and speaking of child, its time I go get dressed and pick up C from my parents.

Mid-week update, still photoless

I'm still adrift on sleeve island. I think I'm about 1/2 way done with the second sleeve of the PBSJ. I just did the last set of decrees in the arm, and have 28 rows to go before I start binding off for the cap. I still haven't had the time or energy to block anything, but my parents are taking C on Saturday, so I will add that to the list of chores do be done while childless. Besides, the floor of his room is the best place to block in the house.
The rest of my knitting has been abandoned until I am done with the PBSJ. Almost done.
I will switch over and use these 4's on the Alpine Lace Scarf. I don't think I'll frog and start over, I'll just deal with one repeat being done on smaller needles.
And I still need to from the Deep V Argyle Vest back to the ribbing, but that can wait.

Monday again.

Monday is for Weight loss
And I'm up again this week, back up to 225.8 Ug. I've regained almost everything I lost in January. Doing WW online isn't working for me, so I will start attending meetings tonight. Which will put the posting of the weekly weigh in at Monday nights, or Tuesday mornings. Oh well.
Knitting Front
I finished the second front piece for the PBSJ on Friday night, but didn't take any photos. I hope to start blocking this in pieces tonight after my WW meeting, after DS is in bed. Instead of casting on for the second sleeve, I decided to "swatch" for the Deep V Argyle Vest. By swatch, I mean, look and see that the called for gauge is the same that I am knitting the PBSJ at, and cast on for the vest. I am knitting the 44 inch version, since that is the largest I am willing to accept that I am right now. This is just for practice after all. I managed to complete the ribbing at the bottom and about 13 rows of the color work when I decided to check my gauge.
You guessed it. Its off. Instead of getting 22 stitches per 4 inches, I'm getting 27. I have to go up a needle size, which I never do. I'm a loose knitter and normally have to go down a needle size or three.
I did put the vest aside last night and cast on for the second sleeve, and will try to have it finished this week, including blocking and piecing, but I'm not really holding my breath.
The shawl has been neglected all weekend in anticipation on switching over to the size 4 KP needles that will be sharp enough to do the P2togs.

ETA: I started a new blog to journal my weight loss struggles at http://shrinkingcynder.blogspot.com/
I will try to keep this blog more about knitting and less whining.

Row counters not matching up?

I am almost done with the right front on the PBSJ. When I knit the first side, I was meticulous about making notes about which rows I did all the shaping on, as well as where the diamond pattern was as a back up. This morning while I was doing my post shower knitting (yes, I knit first thing in the morning while DH is getting ready, before its time to get C up and ready) I noticed that the diamond shape and the row # were not matching up with the first side. So I grabbed the left front, and matched up each diamond and noticed I needed to do another repeat in what I was sure was only 8 rows left. Either I flipped the wheel too much on the right front, or not enough on the left front. I'm just glad I thought to check before I started binding off for the neck. I should finish up the right front tonight, and instead of starting the sleeve right away, I will start swatching for my next sweater pattern, the Deep V Argyle Vest, also by the talented Eunny Jang. Her third design this year. As I have mentioned before, I will be using leftover yarn for this. I have 10 balls of Merino Style in Storm, which will be the MC, and I should have 9 ball in Honey, left over from the PBSJ. I don't know if the color combo is in style currently, but to me they work together, or at least I hope they work better than the colors I chose for the Endpaper Mitts did.
I did cast on for the Alpine Lace Scarf from Victorian Lace Today on Tuesday, and progress has been really slow. Since I'm using my trusty Addi Turbos, the P2tog's on the back row are hard to do. The pattern so far is really easy and fun to do, but I am only getting two to 4 rows done a night. Maybe after I finish up some other projects, and make a travel copy of the patten things will go faster. There is something about knitting from the book that slows you down.

FO: Print O'The Wave Stole

She is blocked and unpinned.

Stats: Print O' The Wave Stole, by Eunny Jang
Yarn: Knit Picks Shimmer in Turquoise Splendor, 2 skeins
Needles: Addie Turbos, size 3
Cast On 1/14 Cast Off 2/17
Mods: I knit in one piece instead of two in order to avoid having to graft the center.

Thoughts: I loved knitting this. The pattern was easy to memorise, and lots of fun. This is the first rectangular shawl that I have completed (two prior attempts went to the frog pond). I have decided that I HATE using variegated yarn for shawls. I got this yarn for Mother's day last year, thinking that I would knit Icarus in it, but I never got past the first chart with it. I do wish that Knit Picks would come out with this blend in a solid color yarn, since it feels so YUMMY to work with.

I do need to get better at at taking photos of my work.

Tuesday update with photos.

The POTW stole is off the needles, and being blocked right now. I did have enough yarn to finish her, and had a tiny amount of yarn left over.
















Next up on the lace front: The Alpine Lace Scarf from VLT, knit in the KP Alpaca Cloud, Midnight.

Monday is for Weightloss

but this week I am stalled, again. Still at 226. Grrr. I was doing so great the first half of last week, I was down 2 lbs early on, looking like I was going to make a full recovery in the gain, than V-day and AF hit on the same day, and I have been a chocolate-eating-pizza-gorging-whats-a-veggie? girl ever since.

This week I will do better.
This week there will be no massive chocolate eating.
This week there will be no binging on doughnuts while working OT after already having MacDonald's
This week I will make the time to work out even if I have to drag my fat ass out of bed at 5 am to do it.
This week I will not trip and bang up my knee to where I can't work out like I've done the last two weeks


On the knitting front:
I finished the POTW stole, and have a photograph of it pre-blocked in the camera, at home, unable to post it right now.
I finished the first sleeve of the PBSJ, and cast on for the right front. I think I should get this finished this week, or early next week. Then I can use the needles for the Alpine Lace Shawl from VLT. I'm thinking I'll use the Midnight Alpaca KP lace weight yarn for it, and see how much yarn I use.

Thursday Morning Ramblings

C has an ear infection, and was up half of the night screaming. I am trying to wean him (finally), and he wanted his Boo. DH would take him in the other room and cuddle on the recliner, and C would calm down afterwards, but when they came back to bed C would smell be and start crying for his Boo again. I tried getting up, leaving the room and sleeping in the guest room (which surprised Ying) but C wouldn't stop screaming. I finally caved at 2:30 and gave him Boo, but and he slept latched on for the rest of the night, which meant that I didn't get any sleep at all. *Sigh*
This isn't working anymore. I told DH that co-sleeping needs to stop if C thinks that I will be his all night pacifier. When we get the tax refund I want to get him a twin sized bed to go in his own room, so we can lay down with him at night. DH thinks that we can move the toddler bed in his room, but he hasn't yet in the 7 months I have been asking for him to do it.
Weaning C has been an ongoing struggle since Thanksgiving. I know I made the promise to myself to nurse him until he was two, and after that to play it by ear, but now I am regretting nursing him so long. He will be 2 1/2 next month, and is more attached to the boos than I though he would be, but I am so resenting all the nursing we do at night. At least he hasn't attacked me after work the last two nights, and has waited until we were doing the bedtime routine to ask.

On the knitting front, I have 17 edging repeats left on the POTW stole, and should finish it on Saturday. The PBSJ has not seen much action this week, and the arm is taking much longer than I anticipated to knit. I am on row 47, and not even halfway done with the first arm.

Monday is for Weightloss

Or weight gain as this week has been.

After the week from heck last week, not being able to work out and making bad food choices, I am up 4lbs, back at 226 *grrr* So much for fitting into a smaller size bridesmaid gown for N and D's wedding.
At the rate that I am going, I am never going to lose this weight.
I did work out on Saturday, starting over with the Firm beginner rotation, but tripped again on Sunday, ripping up my knee in two spots this time. I will take some Ibuprofen and try to work out tonight after C has gone to bed, but I don't think I will do that great with squats and lunges, and I know I am not going to be able to do the full tall box climb.

Knitting content ahead.
In order to make sleeve island a shorter stay, I cast on for the first sleeve of the PBSJ on Saturday, and have done the third set of decreases. I think I am almost 1/2 way to the point of doing the serious decreases for the shoulder shaping *yeah* and should finish the sleeve this week. Then next week will be the right front and maybe the second sleeve. However, I do have plenty of yarn to lengthen the sleeves, and make them more wrist length than bracelet length. I will have to debate this.
On the POTW stole, I rounded the second corner on Saturday night and am almost done with the second short side, should be turning that corner tonight. I have 34 out of 84 repeats of the border left to go. I have been doing 5-6 repeats a day, and should be finished with this next weekend.

A good week for knitting...

A Bad week for everything else.

The week started of with C and I both being sick at the same time. Normally I don't mind taking a sick day from work to stay home with him, but when he is sick (running a fever, controlled with Tylenol) the boy is one little hyper ball of non-stop energy. I needed to rest and recover myself, instead C had me playing, dancing, cleaning doggy doo (don't ask), baking, and doing a lot of holding and snuggling. Tuesday I traded off with DH so I could go into work and recover from my sick day, but had to watch C while DH had a meeting. When I finally got to work, the first thing I did was to spill my coffee all over myself and my desk. Wednesday was the 2 year anniversary of my SIL's death from Cancer. Carrying C into daycare, I tripped, spilling both of us to the ground, hurting my knee and banging his head really hard. Being a 2 year old, he has made a full recover much faster than I have.
The border of the POTW stole is coming along well. I have been averaging 5 repeats a day (more on Monday when I was home with C) and I am almost halfway done with the edging. I am not liking the stripes of the edging, but I think I will have to learn to live with it unilt it is blocked. Who knows, maybe the miracle of blocking will change my mind on that.
I have made good progress on the PBSJ. I finsihed the left front tonight, while surfing YouTube for Bollywood videos. All that I have left is the right front, which I will cast on for tomorrow, and sleeve island. So fare I have only used 6 of the 20 balls of Merino Style that I have for this, so I think I will have plenty left to make the Deep V Argyle Vest from Eunny's website as well. While the color's aren't the best combo together (MS Honey and Storm, both left over from other projects), it will give me a chance to practice stranded knitting on a larger scale than the Endpaper Mitts did, and maybe I will build enough confidence in my knitting to order the yarn to make either Wendy's Ingrid or Eunny's color work sweater from the winter IK.

Monday Weightloss, Tuesday eddition.

I'm up a pound. I'm not happy about it, but we have all been sick at the Cynder household, and I haven't had the time to workout since Wednesday, and I have been eating junk since Saturday. I am counting points today, and will have to dip into Flexies for tonight, and I know I was way over for yesterday.

C and I stayed home sick yesterday, and had pizza and made cookies, so I blue a bunch of points there. I'm trying to eat healthier today.

On the knitting front, I'm about 70 rows in the left front of PBSJ, and should finish the front by Saturday (which is my goal), and I have 14 repeats of the border done on POTW stole. However, I am paranoid that I am going to run out of yarn, so I will be keeping my fingers crossed. Since I bought these skeins last May, I doubt that the same dye lot is available.

Knitting Math.
If there are 2 rows each with 17 and 21 stitches, and 4 rows with 18, 19, and 21, that averages to 19 stitches per row and 304 stitches per repeat.
The body had 80 stitches per row and 960 stitches per repeat.
That means I can do 3.15 repeats of the border with the same yarn that it took to do the body.
84 repeats of the border divided by 3.15 equals 26.6, the equivalent number of body repeats that I could do with the same yarn. Since I ran out of yarn on the first ball in the 33rd repeat, and still have a small ball left over from the Swallowtail (in the same dye lot), I think I will be ok.
*SIGH*

Weekly Photo Progress report.

PBSJ has been mostly neglected this week. I finished the yoke piece Tuesday morning, and ignored it until Thursday morning when I cast on for the Left front. I had a few rows done by Saturday morning, but the POTW grew to a point where it no longer makes good car knitting (more on that later). While we were out running errands the last few days I got up to row 40 on the PBSJ in the car, (pardon the blurry photo), and should start on ball 6 of the Merino Style here shortly.
I have finished the body of the POTW stole! Picking up the stitches for the edging caused much stress and hair pulling, but I put markers on every quarter of the long sides and knew to pick up 60 stitches between the markers. This morning I finished the inner border, and I have done the first few repeats of the edging. I think I should be able to do 4 a day (84 repeats, divided by 4 a day should be 21 days), and have this done and blocked before D's wedding. N and D came over for dinner Friday night, and we gave D the PFS shawl. Her face lit up when she saw it, and that made the 6 weeks of working on it well worth it.


DH got me an early Valentines Day present. We decided to buy stuff for each others hobbies, so he got the new WOW expansion pack, and I got yarn...
4 Skeins of Misti Alpaca Lace in a pale pink to make one of the larger shawls in VLT, and a skein of Cascade 220 Merino in a heathered blue (already wound in a ball with plans to make Shedir from the Knitty Breast Cancer special. I chose the blue color in memory of my SIL Cindy who died of Ovarian cancer (turquoise) two years ago this week.

Cromarty, revisited

After reading that Wendy was getting ready to knit Cromarity, I had to finally post a photo of the Cromarity that I knit last year pre-blog.

Stats: Cromarity by Alice Starmore, in the Celtic Collection

Started December 31, 2005 and Finished June 14, 2006

Yarn: Brown Sheep Natura Sport in Green Apple

Needles Addie Turbos size 3

The sweater is still in need of the last two neck band cables and a good blocking, but in the move to our house last June, my copy of the Celtic collection was lost. Until I can find the instructions for the cable and the dimensions for blocking, this sweater will remain a sad UFO.