Pictures!

This is Pierre trying on his sweater for the first time:


Isn't he cute? The sweater is from this pattern on the Lion Brand site. Pierre is a little more rotund than the doggie they have modeling on the pattern, but we modified it special for him.

This is the yarn and the needles I got this weekend.
Isn't the yarn purty? I have been petting it off and on since Saturday. heehee

Saturday we went to Fayetteville for the yarn store sale and to try
the doggie sweater on Pierre. He seemed to like his sweater and looked super cute in it even without it's collar and cuffs. YAY! It fits him! I don't have to move the armholes! I'm going to try to get the collar and cuffs done this week or next.
At the sale I ended up getting one skein of Lambs Pride in a funky blue/green to make myself a hat with, some novelty stuff that was 50% off, and the coveted Colinette Enigma in Florentina, which is mostly pink. (I'll post some pics of Pierre and of the yarn I got later
tonight. I'm at work and the camera is at home.)
I started a poncho made of cheapo Red Heart Grande on 25mm needles yesterday. It's going super fast and should be finished tonight. Steve says I'm knitting a black fishing net.
Other than that I currently have on the needles:
- Green K1C2 Meringue shawl
- Big Bad Baby Blanket from SNB in Plymouth Encore
- Klaralund (Ok, I cheated and cast on for a sleeve..no more touching
it till the 1st though I swear!)
- Seed Stitch Keuyron scarf
- Dr Who scarf
I really do need to work on the Dr. Who scarf.
When does it get cold enough for giant scarf wearing in Chicago?

Swatchy Swatchinswatcher
I made another 6x6 swatch last night for Klaralund. The #10 needle swatch I made at SNB was knit with Sarah's Boye interchangable needle on a really short cord so I started getting paranoid that maybe I'd knit looser or tighter on my addi turbos and just had to check. It's fine. yay!
The first ball of yarn I had seemed like it had an awful lot of sticks and splinters in it. I thought maybe it just got some junk in it floating around my bag or that it had been a fluke or whatever, but damn...every skein of this stuff is FULL of sticks and twigs and all manner of grassy pointy splintery junk. Every few rows I was having to dig out a twig so as not to have my fingers poked. Yep, the Garden is full of sticks...at least color #84 dye lot C is anyway.
People on the yahoo group are telling me theirs are full of sticks too now so I can take comfort in knowing I won't be the only girl going around in September with bandaids on her fingers. lol

New Business?
I bought a domain name and some web space yesterday. I bought Knitbag.com and we're going to start selling old fashioned wood handled knitting bags there pretty soon. I love these bags, but not enough to pay $130 for an "In The Bag" or "Wooly Bully" model so Husband Boy and I are making some up. I think ours will be nicer than the examples I've seen from both of those companies, will have more pockets, nifty material, and cost about half as much or less. We're planning on two sizes, Big Knitbag will be about 16x20 not including the handles, and Little Knitbag will be about 10x14. I'm doing the designing and picking out fabric, marketing, website development, etc. Husband Boy is sewing the bags. He says he'll teach me to sew too, but I want people to get a good, well made product so he's head of fabrication.

Klaralund

I almost forgot to mention...I swatched for Klaralund last night. The pattern calls for size 8 needles, but it looks like to get the gauge I will be using size 10's! Man, that seems awfully loose-knit. I guess I'll end up wearing a t-shirt under it unless it evens out somehow or shrinks a little like some people have been saying it does.

Beanie Hat

Here is a blurry pic of that hat I made for my nephew. I couldn't post it last night because I didn't get back from Stitch N' Bitch till almost 9 and wasn't feeling so hot by then.
I finally got my order from WEBS yesterday. Those people take forever plus ten days to send stuff. I don't think I'll be ordering anything else from them in the near future. I got some new addi turbo needles for the baby blanket I'm un-crocheting and re-knitting, a bunch of lambs pride bulky, and some lana d'oro wool/alpaca in a tweedy purple with red and blue flecks. I'm not sure what it's going to become yet since I just got it because it was on sale. lol
Speaking of sales, for you local people there is a giant clearance sale going on starting Friday at Hand Held knitting gallery in Fayetteville. 40-50% off all yarn in the store! I'm going Saturday even though I really don't need any more yarn. Seriously, I have pleanty...but...but...SALE!

Tonight We Sew!

I finished my nephew's blue beanie hat while we were in Hot Springs
for Birthday Weekend. I took some unflattering pictures of myself
wearing it last night but they're still trapped in the camera because
I couldn't find the cord. I'll find it tonight and post pics when I
get back from Stitch N' Bitch.
The hat turned out pretty nice except that Rowan Cork is REALLY REALLY STRETCHY. I'm afraid he'll stretch the hat out of all proportion and not be able to wear it much. Oh well. He picked it and my sister says she doesn't care so I guess that's all that matters as long as he's
happy. I'm sure I'll end up making him other hats. Now it's on to his little brother's green beanie made from some alpaca & merino stuff I have in the stash.
I ordered a sewing machine last week. It arrives tonight. Husband Boy is very excited because he actually knows how to sew. He has grand plans to supply me (and anyone who wants to buy one) with wood handle knitting bags in the style of Wooly Bully and In The Bag though not near as expensive... big old doctor-style bags with wooden handles that is. I have a vintage bag that has round bamboo handles he's offered to teach me to sew by replicating in some fabric remnants I got at Hobby Lobby the other day. I want to add some pockets to it and make it really cool. I'm all jazzed about this and I hope to have better luck with the sewing than I've had in the past. History says sewing machines hate me and want me dead. :(

Happy Early Birthday To ME

My Birthday is this coming Sunday (August 22nd....I'm gonna be 32...shhhhh!)
Husband Boy is getting me a Spaceboard blocking thingie! It should be here today or tomorrow. He didn't go pick it out or anything he just asked what I wanted and I said that and he said ok, so I ordered it because he didn't know anything about ordering stuff like that.
Now I need to finish something else so I have something to block on it. lol
We're also going to Hot Springs to visit Magic Springs and ride roller coasters, swings, log rides, etc etc then we're going to the science museum to see the Tesla coil. We loves the Tesla coil. :)
I need some size 17 32-40 inch addi turbos..someone should get me those for my birthday too, but I fear that is too crazy expensive a thing for most of the people who would buy me knitting related goodies so I guess I will have to drive the 45 min to the LYS and get them myself one of these days. Maybe Thursday?
I'm frogging a crochet baby afghan that I'd started for Ian's sister and knitting it up in a different size for Ian's new cousin. The mother of the sister got put on rest during the last month or so of
her pregnancy and crocheted one almost exactly like it. The project count is inching back up to 5 or 6 again. uh oh....and I need to start back in earnest on the Dr Who Scarf or it won't be done by the time the wind starts blowing cold in Chicago...though I'm having this compulsion to start it over again in the intended garter stitch despite the fact that it's pretty darn long already.

I ordered six more skeins of koigu today. (This madness must stop.)
It's for the Keepsake Shawl. I have been playing around with the
solids and the six matching skeins of kppm that I got a while back. I
just can't make a pleasing color blending out of what I have so I give
up and mine will be all one varigated colorway. So there. I'm boring.
This leaves me with five solids that go fairly well together, one
crazy bright pink solid that goes with NOTHING in nature, and one
varigated red, black, gray, white type skein which I thought would be
ok since it was so cheap on ebay, but turns out that no, it's not ok
with anything I currently had either. feh. What to do with all this? I
don't know...I guess I could make socks or stripey scarves or
something.
Of course I also still have the six balls of earth tone varigated kppm
for the Gypsy Shawl. It was started, but the yarn snapped in my bag
and I already had a couple of visable mistakes so I frogged it out and
wound it back up. I am thinking of starting it back again once I'm
done with all the hats and Klaralund.
Speaking of hats, I'm about two inches into my nephew Zack's blue
Rowan Cork hat that he requested. I did a funky point twisted stitch
rib for the band. I hope he doesn't think it looks too girly. (I'll
take a pic when I'm through.) The rest of the hat will just be
stockinette with some decorative decreases at the crown..."no puffy
thing on top" was his only style suggestion. (he's 8)

Finished!

YAY! I finished the 6in basket weave afghan square tonight at Stitch N' Bitch.
I'm finishing the front of the doggie sweater and sewing it up partially tonight. It'll be done Sunday I hope...need another fitting. That's two down! YAY!

Last night I got over halfway done with the chest panel on the doggie
sweater. I am now worried that I'll put the leg holes in the wrong
spot. I need to sew it part way up, then take it to Michelles house
and try it on Pierre before I do the leg finishing I think. Maybe I'll
do that this weekend if she'll be home. I could finish it up right
there at her house. Otherwise I'm just guessing and hoping for the
best. Pierre is a Pug, and while the sweater pattern was written for a
pug it was written for a much skinnier one I think. Going by the chest
measurement I'd have made the sweater way too long for him, but going
by the length it wouldn't have fit around his belly.

I keep wanting to start Klaralunding. I don't know if I can wait till
September for the knit-along. I might have to start sooner. I'm gonna
tell myself I'm swatching and if it turns into a sleeve then oh well.
How about that? Would that get me disqualified? LOL

UFO #1 Seed Stitch Noro Scarf. I've only worked on this thing while traveling and one time at the coffee place while talking to Candy and Mona.

UFO#2 - This blurry pic is of an afghan square I'm working on for the yahoo group trade thing.

UFO#3 - Feather & Fan baby blanket thing for Rockett. I have a hard time finding time when nobody is trying to talk to me as I knit. If people talk to me while I'm doing the row with the yarn overs I screw up somehow.

UFO#4 - K1C2 Shawl. This pic doesn't show the color so well, but it shows the yarn overs at the edges.

UFO#5 - The Doggie Sweater That Would Not Grow. This is the back part of it taken with a flash so you can see more detail. I still need to bind it off and start on the front part of the sweater. I hope to finish this thing soon.

UFO#6 - The Dr. Who Scarf....no picture available because that thing is huge and I don't feel like dragging it out across the floor and fighting the kitties who will want to play with it.
All other previously mentioned UFO's (the skull scarf and the gypsy shawl to name names) are on hold waiting more patience from me.

This is the plan:

• Finish the doggie sweater and the afghan squares
• Baby blanket/hat combo for my son's new cousin due in March/April
• Hats for the current cousins and other family who are demanding hats
• Klaralunding Along! I got the pattern today, and I think I'm going to for sure do that boddice and possibly the first 18in of sleeves in the round. I don't see why I can't. If anyone knows of a good reason I shouldn't try this, then please tell me now. I really really really hate to sew seams.
• More afghan squares during all this as I plan on constantly having one going

Wish me luck!

YAY!!

Not only is the UPS man bringing me new work shoes today (steel toe
new balance trail runner style instead of these big clompy black
things I've been wearing for two years..yay!), but he's also bringing
me my Cornelia Tuttle Hamilton Book 2, which (despite it's faulty
math) makes me go wheeee!
~*~*~*~*
Elabeth
*~*~*~*~

I have ten balls of Plymouth Encore color 1405 - Taupe Heather. It
looks sort of like this.
Do you think that would be ok to make a Baby Blanket out of? Would
people be all, eww if they got a tan-taupe type baby blanket? hmm...I
have enough to make a matching baby hat as well. The baby will most
likely be pale with brown eyes and dark hair because both parents are
like that so I'd think a nice tan color would be flattering and
gender-neutral. We aren't finding out if its a boy or girl till it's
born in March or April and I want to give the blanket + hat to them
before then.
I'm going to go with the SNB Big Bad Baby Blanket pattern and then
just a little stockinette hat maybe with a seed stitch band.
Must now finish the Doggie Sweater That Would Not Grow. lol. I swear
this thing hits points where it just won't lengthen another inch. I'm
done with the fuzzy back part and am casting on tonight for the front
panel. YAY! Hopefully we can try it on for size this weekend if
Michelle & Pierre are going to be home.
After that I need some small projects that will actually finish so
that I can feel productive...hats, baby sweaters, baby hats, etc etc.
before I start Klaralunding along in September.
Tonight is UFO picture night. I know you're all just on the edge of
your seats in anticipation. Pictures to be posted probably around
10PM-ish at the latest.

Yesterday I bought this book...Weekend Knitting by Melanie Falick. I love this book. It has nice little stories with each pattern and a few recipes even.
There is this baby sweater I want to make for Ian's sister Rockett. It's so cute, but the yarn they have listed is "Hemp For Knitting". This little sweater takes 6 balls of the stuff and it's $9 a ball, so forget that. I have to find some other yarn that'll work. Hopefully something I already have. hmmm..
Why do pattern writers do this? Why use crazy expensive yarns and then not give alternatives? It would be really nice to show the pattern in the fancy yarn and then say "oh by the way, you can also make this pattern in X yarn that's $3 a ball and have it turn out perfectly fine."
I need to kick myself in gear and finish more stuff. I just found out that Ian's Aunt and Uncle are having a baby in March or early April. I see a Big Bad Baby Blanket in their future...yep...in Plymouth Encore of course.

Miss Kitty enjoying her Pi Kitty Bed. This is a test of picasa picture posting thingie.

I joined this Yahoo group that does afghan squares to trade. I sent off the first one yesterday. I'm kind of stressing about this. It was supposed to be 6x6in, and it WAS when I finished it, but while it was blocking the cat got it and stretched it out a little, then I wet it again and let it sit in my car all day in the heat thinking that would fix it but it was still the tiniest bit out of wack when I put it in the envelope. This new one I'm working on is coming out a little short unless I stretch it way out on the needles. It's so hard to tell how it's gonna be till it's finished and bound off. What the heck do I do with the squares that hate me? I guess I could just keep them and make a "squares that hated me" afghan out of them.
I haven't been working on any real projects other than the squares this week. I plan on being home all weekend so maybe I can finish Pierre's doggie sweater. I also need to start swatching for Klaralund. My pattern book got mailed to me yesterday so that should arrive soon. I'm glad Wendy is gettting all the errata straight from Cornelia Tuttle Hamilton before everyone gets started on the Klaralund-along. I had this idea yesterday to knit Klaralund partially in the round, but I have to see the pattern to decide if it's worth trying or not. I think I can probably do it though.
Blogger is going to take some getting used to for me. Just putting in those two links was a giant pain in the bootie. I do think that this blog will be nicer to look at and more organized than the old one at livejournal. I still need to set up wip and finished object galleries, add links to journals I read, and tweak a few settings here and there.

OK, I'm tired now...

I'm tired of moving stuff from the old blog to this new one. All the rings are now pointing here, and I just didn't want people to have nothing to see if they landed here.
To see the old stuff, click here.

The Knitting Has Moved

I just rediscovered the fact that I had this blog. I set it up sometime in the summer of 2001 then never used it because I started using livejournal instead. I think I am going to put all my knitting stuff here instead of on LJ. There is more freedom as far as how I can set the thing up. Stay tuned.