LightingChick Knits

2008-09-04T16:57:00.000-04:00

I thought it was worth coming out of hibernation for this:

2008-05-22T23:41:00.003-04:00

Imagine picture HERE

I've been trying to get a good picture my progress on my Must Have Cardigan, but apparently, it's impossible. Every picture I have taken is blurry and over exposed. Something about this orange yarn just doesn't photograph well! I've tried flash, no flash, sunlight, cloudy light, electric light... nothing works! My camera and this sweater just don't like each other! I think I'm going to have to hit Jody up for some pictures with her fancy camera!

I am almost done with the back of the sweater, though I am currently having to rip a few rows because I did something terrible with one of the cables. But I totally LOVE knitting this sweater. I have the pattern memorized, so it's going fast.

I leave tomorrow night for a long weekend at the beach. Words cannot express how ready I am to GET AWAY. I need to be away from the theatre for a few days. Things there are going fairly well right now, but I just need a break. I want to sit on the beach for three days and knit, read, sleep.

I want to keep working on my sweater while I'm away, but somehow I don't think heavy wool sweater and beach will go very well together, so I might have to start a sock. But then I'm being all fussy and stupid about what sock I want to knit. I really want to start a stranded sock using the Noro I got at MDS&W, but I don't want to be knitting anything that requires any concentration. I have another very simple Noro sock on the needles right now that is very close to being done, but I am feeling the urge to rip it back because I hate the heel. Decisions, decisions.

In other news, I am happy to announce that this Tuesday, May 27, I will be starting a new part time job. I will be working at Cloverhill Yarn with the wonderful new owner Jolene! I'm am so excited! Please stop in and say hi!!

Have a great weekend all!

2008-05-14T23:21:00.002-04:00

Faux Russian Stole Photo Shoot

This afternoon, my pal Jody was kind enough to take pictures of my finished shawl for me. She's awesome like that! I also took pictures of her finished Charlotte's Web Shawl. We had a good time being silly and playing fashion models. It just occurred to me that we never took a picture with both of us in it! Oh well - next time Jody!

Have I mentioned how happy I am to be done with this??

Thanks again Jody!

2008-05-12T15:11:00.001-04:00

The Sad Part Is...

That's not all of it.

2008-05-08T18:57:00.002-04:00

So much to say!

By now, I'm sure you have read thousands of accounts of the always fabulous Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival. I'm always a little slow on these things, so I apologize for the delay in my reporting. What can I say - I still haven't recovered from the weekend!

It truly was AWESOME. I had so much fun. I spent Friday afternoon helping Jolene set up the Cloverhill Booth. And then I worked both Saturday and Sunday afternoons at the register.

I think it came out so well. Sarah had some mad organizational skills and was fantastic about getting everything and everyone together. The booth was a HUGE success. Soooo many people stopped by to buy, and buy, and buy! I think Jolene can be very proud of herself!

On Friday, since I was able to have first dibs, I started the downward spiral of my wallet by purchasing these lovely items from the Cloverhill booth.

That's two skeins of Handmaiden Casbah and one skein of Seasilk. It's crack people - CRACK. I love, love, love Handmaiden yarns. The colors are so beautiful, the textures are delicious. I can't wait to make some socks out of that green.

Saturday was a giant flurry of spending money. Soooo much money. I'm embarrassed. Shameful, shameful spending!

Here's the rest of my haul.

Brooks Farm and Tess
I am a huge fan of Tess sock yarns and the laceweight was a deal. (Though I've been told the dye runs....)
I have drooled over Brooks Farm yarns for years now. It just had to be bought.

Spirit Trail silk. I actually bought one of these skeins at the Homespun Fiber party, but decided I needed another. I'm currently perusing lace patterns for this. This picture does not do it justice.

Peace Fleece. Sorry for the overexposed picture. The color of this yarn is so gorgeous it just kills me. It's orange, it's red, it's yellow. I think I am most excited about this purchase. I have just today, cast on for a Must Have Cardigan from the Paton's Street Smart booklet. (I know this pattern has become totally trendy schmendy, but it's pretty and I want it!)

This is my new Golding Spindle. I blame Jen. She's a horrible enabler! I have never been much for using a drop spindle. I own two, but I never really got in to it. I think I needed a Golding to change my mind. It is so lightweight and it spins for days and I have actually used it repeatedly since I purchased it.

Random fiber to play with on my new spindle.

Last year at S&W, I was on a huge brown and blue kick. This year seemed to be more about the reds and oranges....

And we just won't discuss all the food. It was "no diet weekend" and I took full advantage of that. Yummy! And crazy expensive - I feel like I spent as much on food as I did on yarn. But not really!

Jen and I tried to go to the Ravelry meetup on Saturday afternoon, but it was insanely crowded so we gave up pretty fast. But I did go to the Ravelry party Saturday night which was good fun, but I think I was too exhausted to enjoy it fully. I did enjoy hanging out all my pals though. Many thanks to Eleanor who kept me company for quite a while! I'm glad we got the chance to hang out for a bit! Head over to Eleanor's blog and give her congratulations for her huge win! She won many ribbons at the Skein and Garment competition! And while you are at it, go congratulate Jody too! She won two ribbons also! I have incredibly talented friends.

And if you'll allow me to toot my own horn a bit... I won too!

I was SHOCKED. And soooo excited. I've won ribbons at the county and state fairs before, but to me - Sheep and Wool was kind of like winning the Olympics of knitting! So exciting!

I was trying desperately to finish my Faux Russian Stole in time to enter it in the Skein and Garment competition. I tried so hard. You have no idea the amount of desperate knitting I did! But finally around 11:45 a.m. on Friday, I realized I had no chance in hell of finishing in time. The fact that I wasn't able to finish it made winning a blue ribbon for my mittens all the more sweet.

But, I am pleased to say that I FINALLY finished my shawl Tuesday night. I did such a happy dance. I've been working on it since mid February. I still need to give it the full photo shoot it deserves, but here's what I have so far...

I can't think of anything else to babble about, so I leave you with some obligatory sheepy pictures!

Ok, so he's not a sheep. But doesn't he look like a Dr. Seuss character??

2008-04-26T13:46:00.002-04:00

A really nice day

Seasonally speaking, I am much more of an autumn person. I love everything about fall. The cooler temperatures, the leaves changing, pumpkins, apples, that crisp smell in the air... But I gotta say, over the years, spring is growing on me. It's just so darn pretty out. If they could just do something about the pollen, I'd be a much bigger fan of spring.

Today was a good spring day. I had breakfast with my pal C and her twin girls. Then we headed off to the Brighton Dam Azalea Garden, which is one of my favorite places.

It was not quite at peak, but it's pretty darn close. It was already a riot of color.

Love it there!

After the garden, I stumbled on a church yard sale. It was mostly junk, but I did manage to score three books for a whopping 75¢. I got a cookbook, Pride and Prejudice (I'm on Jane Austen kick lately), and an Anne Tyler book. Not too bad for 75¢!

When I got home, I found my monthly package of happiness in my mailbox! I got my April Skein of the Month from Webs. It's a little on the dull side this month, but what the heck - it's free yarn!

Sorry for the dim picture. It's a skein of Tahki Cotton Classic in white. The package also included two free patterns. One is for a triangle scarf, that frankly looks a little boring and the other is for a Sunrise Camisole which is kind of cute. I sent it to my Ravelry cue. Maybe some day... but definitely not in white!

I was most excited by that little orange item on the far right. It's a Yarn Harlot button. I got one when I went to see Stephanie a few weeks ago, and I promptly lost it. So I was really happy to get a new one - and it's the same color as the one I lost! yay!

I hope you all have a lovely spring weekend.

Only ONE MORE WEEK TILL SHEEP & WOOL!!!

I can hardly stand the wait!

2008-04-24T15:34:00.002-04:00

Baby Andrew

I was very excited to finally meet Baby Andrew today. SOO cute. And unbelievably tiny! I couldn't get over how little he is. He is still under 5 lbs, but he is doing well.

See the sheep behind my head? I made that for Andrew's big sister when she was this same size! It is a much loved sheep!

I gave Andrew his present today.

Someday.... someday it will fit!

2008-04-23T10:42:00.002-04:00

Wednesday

I realize that the rest of the world does not operate on my wacky theatre schedule. I realize that there are many many many people in the world who have to get up really early in the morning and go to work. I know that many people would not consider 8 a.m. to be even remotely "early in the morning". These people could argue that 8 a.m. is actually "the middle of the day."

I know that my schedule is not normal. I do, on a fairly regular basis, have to get up at 8 a.m. and go to work. But the main part of my work day is in the evening. I get home at night. So, I generally look forward to Wednesdays because I don't have to go to work until noon- which means I can sleep in a bit. Yay!

Not today.

They started at 8 a.m.

See the chainsaw in the foreground? CHAINSAWS. AT 8 freakin' a.m. in the morning! In my backyard! Directly under my bedroom window.

Oh, but it gets better...

This is what they parked in my front yard...

A wood chipper. At 8 a.m.

It is now 11 a.m. No, no... they aren't done yet.

3 hours of chainsaws and woodchippers.

I know they are just doing their jobs. But seriously.. couldn't they do their jobs at a NORMAL FREAKIN TIME?

Am I being unreasonable?? I can't be the only person who thinks that 8 a.m. is too damn early for chainsaws and woodchippers. For 3 hours.

Needless to say, I am CRANKY.

You should have seen me the time they decided to mow lawns at 7 a.m. on a Sunday....

2008-04-20T21:32:00.003-04:00

FO's in the House!!

Holy cow, I actually have some finished objects to show. Those of you who haunt my flickr pages have already seen these, since I posted the pics several days ago. But I'm just getting around to blogging about it.

First off we have the extremely cute Verdell C. Squirrel

I LOVE HIM. I think he is definitely one of my favorite toys that I have made. I bought the kit to make him from Fiber Trends. He's supposed to have an embroidered nose, but I kind of like him without the nose. What do you think?

My other FO is a sweater for Baby Andrew, who came into this world about three weeks ago. Andrew is the son of a good friend of mine. Andrew made his appearance a wee bit early, so sadly he spent the first two weeks of his life in the NICU. But I am very happy to report that he is now home with his family and is doing well. I haven't gotten to meet him yet, but when I do, I have this item to give him...

This is going to be huge on him right now, but hopefully, by the time he is big enough to wear it, it will be cold enough for sweaters again! And hopefully his mother wont hate me too much for the dinosaur buttons. They are extremely cute, but not terribly easy to manage.

The pattern was free from this site. Very simple top down raglan. Fun knit. The yarn is leftover Cascade 220 superwash that I had in my stash and a little extra that I begged off of Amie. Thank you Amie!

Since I managed to get those two little projects off the needles, my attention is focused back on my Faux Russian Stole. It is coming along very slowly.

I am very close to finishing the second pattern repeat. I thought I only had to do two more repeats, but I just checked and actually, it's three and a half more repeats. Ugh! I'm really hoping I can finish this by MDS&W in two weeks, because I would like to enter it into the Skein and Garment competition. Deadline knitting... such fun. The problem is finding time to knit it.

So, speaking of which... I'm off to knit on it right now. Here's some spring pictures for you!

2008-04-08T23:01:00.004-04:00

A really good day!

Yesterday, Jolene, Jody, Erin, Baby Joe(oddly, he doesn't have a blog yet!), half the eastern seaboard and I descended on Annapolis, MD to see the one and only Yarn Harlot.

(I know she looks like she is reciting the Girl Scout Pledge, but she's actually talking about her three children!)

Jody and I arrived at 3:30, and happily scored seats in the second row. I'd like to mention that the people in the front row had arrived at 9 a.m. Seriously devoted people! This is the second time I've had the pleasure of seeing Stephanie in person. Now of course, the highlight is Stephanie herself. She's very entertaining and so funny she makes your sides hurt from laughing. But I have to say, I so enjoy the entire atmosphere that goes along with it. It's like a big party. Everyone is happy, everyone is knitting, and everyone is just delighted to be there. So, thank you Stephanie, Borders, all my knit pals and all you hundreds of knitters that were there last night for such a great evening!

Me and Stephanie. Oh, and her sock!

Erin and Stephanie. And the sock...

Jolene, Stephanie and Baby Joe
Joe was hiding from the camera in this picture, but there is an awesome picture of Jolene and Joe on Stephanie's site. Check it out! And if you feel like playing "where's waldo?" you might be able to find me in the group picture right above Jolene and Joe!

Jody and Erin. FRIENDS!

Oooooh, I almost forgot! I hope you all will go check out this new blog! It's a countdown to the Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival. They will be having prizes and fun from now till the big weekend!
Cloverhill Yarn Shop Countdown to Sheep and Wool

There is also a fabu new Ravelry group for you to join too.

Cloverhill at MD Sheep and Wool

The Cloverhill booth is going to have TONS of fabulous yarn from TONS of fabulous indie fiber artists. The full list of fiber artists is on the blog. You will not want to miss it! I will be working the booth on both Saturday and Sunday. Please stop by and say hello!

2008-03-30T22:25:00.002-04:00

Homespun Yarn Party

Despite my protests that I would NOT buy any more yarn, I tripped and broke my wallet.

But really, can you blame me? It's Spirit Trail Atropos, 100% Bombyx Silk Lace Weight.

It is simply yummy.

And I had a wonderful time at the Homespun Yarn Party. I got to hang out with some of my favorite people. And I made some new friends. I almost finished the heel flap on my Firestarter sock.

a very good day!

2008-03-25T23:49:00.002-04:00

Hell Week

Things are slowly getting back to normal around here. Last week was HORRIBLE, and I am so glad it's over. My mom was in the hospital for a few days (she's fine) and then I got struck by a nasty nasty stomach virus. I thought maybe I had food poisoning, but now my housemate has the exact same symptoms, so I think it's safe to say it wasn't something I ate.

Sadly, I was too sick to do anything more than lie in bed and whine a lot. So I didn't even get to take advantage of the time off from work to do any knitting. I've still got some serious knitting ADD going on, and there are so many things I want to be working on!

The Faux Russian Stole is currently in time out. I'm mad at it. I ripped back to fix the mistake I had found last week. It took forever to rip back. Well, I successfully fixed the mistake, and created an even bigger one. I completely screwed up the border. Fortunately, I caught it pretty early on, but it too will require ripping back. I just don't have the patience right now.

I cast on for socks. I really needed some mindless knitting to have as a side project to my 14,ooo other projects. This pattern isn't nearly as mindless as I really wanted it to be, but I think it is really pretty.

The pattern is Firestarter, which is a free download on Ravelry. The yarn is Tess, which is a favorite of mine. I absolutely love the detail on the gussets. I just turned the heel, but I think I'm going to rip it out (for the second time) and try a different heel - it just doesn't look clean to me.

Speaking of Ravelry... I've been wondering, do you think that Ravelry has taken the place of blogging? It used to take me forever to wade through all the feeds on my Bloglines. Now it seems like hardly anyone is posting anymore. Has the blogging fad just waned, or is Ravelry the new knit blog?

I do have an FO to show. I finished my crocheted mesh bag.

I ran out of the lighter green yarn and the store didn't have anymore in that color, so I went for the dark green instead. I think it works. I keep forgetting to take this out to my car. I want to use it for groceries.

I have more I could blather on about, but this post feels long and babbling, so I'm going to head off to bed!

Happy Wednesday all!

2008-03-10T21:54:00.002-04:00

Crap, crap, crap...

I thought maybe I had made a mistake. Now, I'm pretty sure I made a mistake.

I just took a picture of my current progress on my Faux Russian Stole so I could post it here and blog about it. And in the picture, I saw my glaring error. Somehow, it's much easier for me to spot my mistakes in a photo then it is in real life.

It is probably one of those things that you wouldn't notice if I didn't point it out. But of course - it is going to make me crazy and I have to rip back and fix it.

I think I knit a row twice.

GRRRRRRRRRR.

Ripping back lace is seriously no fun. I know, I know - I shoulda used a life line, but I didn't!

The hardest part for me is trying to figure out what row I am ripping back to and then getting back on track with the charts. UGH.

In other project news, I started a new something that is going to be super cute:

I know it looks like a big brown blob right now, but trust me - it's going to be cute! I'm not saying what it is yet. I think Katie probably can guess. It's her fault entirely that I needed to make this the second I saw it!

I don't know if I will be able to get this finished this week, but I'm going to try. I don't have too much more knitting to do on it, but I don't have a lot of knitting time this week. I have to go into tech at our Baltimore theatre. I sooo don't want to. I would much rather stay where I am, thank you! But they don't have anyone to open on lights, so lucky me - I get to go.

In addition to the above projects, I just picked up a project that had been languishing in the WIP bag for a while. After I saw this today on Stacey's Blog, I suddenly remembered that I had started and never finished this:

It's a Provence Crocheted Market Bag from Classic Elite.(free pattern!) Every time I go to the grocery store, I am very conscious of how many freaking plastic bags I bring home. So, I've wanted to make myself a market bag for a while. I saw this pattern and thought it would be quick and perfect for what I wanted. Yes people, it's crochet - but I really like it.

I'm having some issues with joining the rounds, but I think I figured it out. My earlier joins are not so pretty, but I'm not as OCD about that as I am with my knitting. There will be no ripping! Besides, I'm making this for function, not form. The pattern repeat on this is super simple, so I'm hoping I can finish this while I'm in tech this week.

I think I am going to go work on it right now! I'm just not ready to face the lace ripping!

2008-03-02T21:21:00.002-05:00

How I spent my Saturday

2008-03-01T00:48:00.002-05:00

eek.

Have you ever completely freaked yourself out mentally for no reason? It is well past midnight and I just walked my dog. Because I frequently get home really late from the theatre, walking the dog after midnight is a common occurrence. I have never felt nervous or uncomfortable walking her at this hour. My neighborhood is relatively safe.

But for some reason, I was really freaked out tonight. I felt like someone or something was going to jump out of the dark at me! So strange!

And of course, if someone did attack me - The Poodle would be absolutely no help. If she actually noticed that I was being attacked (she is very deaf and partially blind), the best she could do to protect me would be to gum my attacker. Dog with no teeth. Yeah, not so scary!

But anyways... on to the knitting!

I ripped back the Faux Russian Stole and tried again:

Much better!

I really wish I had more time to work on this. I love knitting it. I used to be able to knit during my shows at night, but with our current show - it is impossible. I'm just too busy.

I did find out via Ravelry (seriously, how did we ever live without Ravelry??) that there is some errata to this pattern. I already looked it up - now I just have to remember to implement the corrections!

The other day, I got my February "Skein of the Month" package from Webs.

The skein is Fiesta Swoon. It's so pretty. It's a merino/silk blend. The color in the picture isn't very true. It's more pinky, fuchsia like. I was kind of amused that most of the people who have stashed it on Ravelry got it from the Skein of the Month club giveaway. I was looking for patterns to knit with this yarn, but only one person has posted anything on Ravelry with a project.

The package also included a pattern for Waterfall Scarf. I'm not really crazy about the pattern and will most likely never make it. So, if anyone wants this pattern - speak up and I will happily send it to you! The pattern originally appeared in the book 101 Designer One-Skein Wonders.

I love the yarn, but I particularly like the extra item sent in the package.

Cutie sheep magnets!

They are currently attached to my bedside lamp shade, as this is the only metal thing in my room that will allow for magnets!

Well, happy March everyone. I'm going to go change my calendars and go to bed!

2008-02-25T19:46:00.004-05:00

Ugh.

Well, I was going to show you my latest project. It looked like this:

It's the Faux Russian Stole from A Gathering of Lace. I was feeling pretty happy with my progress.

Now, it looks like this:

Seriously, will I EVER learn to read directions???

After finishing the bottom edging, I just plowed into the next chart without ever reading the directions. DUMB.

Last night, I'm clicking through Ravelry and I start to notice that other people's version of this stole look a little different than mine. Suspicious, I finally go back and look at the pattern and see that I should have added 6 rows of garter stitch before starting the next chart.

UGH.

I ripped back, but I haven't gotten down to knitting those 6 stupid rows yet. Grrrrr....

I do have another project on the needles that I am happier with. During my blogging hiatus, I was very happy to win a "Skein of the Month" club from Storey Publishing and WEBS. I get a free skein of yarn every month for a year! Whooo hooo!

Well, the first package arrived back in January. Inside was a skein of Sheep Number 3 from Sheep Shop Yarn Company. It's a really pretty lavender. Also included was a pattern for Silky Leaves Scarf. I really liked the pattern so I immediately cast on.

Pretty, right? It's been slow going, but I really like how this is turning out. The yarn is a 30% silk/70% wool blend. It's got a nice crunch to it! I love it.

The thing about both of these projects is that they both require concentration (even when you don't read the directions.) I really need to start a sock or something so I can have something mindless to work on too!

There are a few sweater patterns calling to me. Maybe a mindless stockinette sweater would do the trick.....

2008-02-17T22:13:00.002-05:00

The lost months in review!

Helloooooooooo..... is anyone out there???? I know, I know... I fell off the face of the earth. But I'm still here. I apologize for not posting in ages. Life got crazy, and blah, blah, blah - I haven't posted... in months.

But that is not to say that I haven't be knitting. There has been much knitting. And even a few completed projects! I spent the months of October through December working on this:

It's a combination of two Lionbrand patterns: Nature in Natural and Tree of life . It was my Christmas gift to my much adored sister. I didn't do so well actually completing it by Christmas, but I did finish by New Years! I can't tell you how happy I was to finish that puppy. It took FOREVER. But I think the results were worth it!

Other Christmas knitting included this fabulous item:

It's Errol the Owl from Charmed Knits. My father sent me the book with a note saying he'd thought Errol would make a great Christmas gift - "hint, hint". How could I refuse an 80 year old man who loves Harry Potter?? I modified the pattern slightly by adding some fun fur to the ears. I thought Errol needed a little fluff!

I have started and not finished many a random sock over the past few months. I think I have at least three single socks still on needles. And I'm not really feeling motivated to finish any of them! They have been more process knitting than product knitting... Just something to keep my hands busy!

I did manage to finish a pair of Jaywalkers. I think this is my fourth pair. It's just such an easy pattern with satisfying results.

The yarn is the ever fantastic Tess Super sock and Baby. I am crazy about the colors!

Let's see... what else... (I'm looking through my Flickr photos! I did keep up with pictures, even if I didn't keep up with the blog!)

I made this tam, which I wear a lot. I love it!

Very quick knit and very wearable.

And now for my very favorite project of the past few months. I just finished these on Friday. I LOVE them!!

It seems like everyone on Ravelry and in Blogland is knitting these. And for good reason - they are so fun! It's Kate Gilbert's Bird in Hand mittens. I really enjoyed knitting these (I have become obsessed with two color knitting lately.)

The yarn is just plain old Lion Wool. But I think it knit up pretty well for this pattern. The only irritating thing was that I ran out of green yarn before I finished the thumb of the second mitten. I had to buy a whole new skein just to finish the thumb.
(Sarah, I completely lied - I used size 2 needles on this. I don't know what I was thinking!)

So, that's what I have been up to over the past few months. Now that the mittens are done, I am looking forward to a new lace project. I just cast on for the Faux Russian Stole from A Gathering of Lace. I think the construction of this shawl is going to be a little challenging for me - there's a lot of picked up stitches, which I hate! But the challenge will make it more worthwhile I suppose!

If anyone is still reading this, thanks for sticking around!

C

2007-09-14T15:16:00.000-04:00

Look! I'm famous!

Simply Knitting Magazine has mentioned me on their blog! How cool is that??

Award Winning Knits

2007-09-14T02:14:00.000-04:00

It's 2:15 a.m.

I bet you are asleep right now.

Me? I'm obsessively knitting this.
I'm going to try not to finish it and actually go to bed.

Maybe.

2007-09-12T15:24:00.000-04:00

Knitting, knitting, knitting

I currently have WAAAAY too much free time on my hands. And frankly it is making me crazy. I am so freakin' bored! And cranky. And distracted. Distracted to the point of leaving my debit card in the ATM yesterday and driving away. UGH. Yeah, that was a banner day. The bank was never too clear on whether it had been turned in or taken or what, but my account wasn't affected. Now I just need to wait for the new card to appear in the mail. UGH.

In an attempt to fill up the hours, I of course, have been knitting. I feel like my knitting is reflecting my current state of distraction. I can't seem to focus on one project. I'm still working on my Vinnland sock.

It's growing on me. I wasn't sure I really liked it at first, but I'm changing my mind. I put the heel on it about a week ago. Not my best heel knitting effort, I must say. There's a hole or two. I've been working on this a lot at the theatre. But it does require a bit of concentration, so I can't work on it during the show too much. The lights for the current show aren't really difficult, but they are BUSY. I don't have any breaks, so knitting is at a minimum!

By the way... our show got an AMAZING review on Broadwayworld.com. It really is a great production, even if the script isn't that hot. There are some more pictures here if anyone is interested!

To continue with my knitting ADD, I also cast on for the Intricate Stag Bag from Knitscene.

I haven't made a whole lot of progress on it, but I'm enjoying it so far. I made some modifcations based on this version I found on Ravelry.

I think this will probably take me awhile to complete!

Yesterday, after my ATM frustrations, I got distracted again and started this:

It's a Marigold Sock. I'm using some Trekking XXL I've had in my stash for awhile. I really like how the pattern is working with the subtle varigation of the yarn. Pretty, huh? And the pattern is pretty easy to memorize, so it's knitting up fast. I just started this yesterday and I'm almost to the heel. I haven't had much luck with short row toes, so I did my standard figure 8 cast-on for toe up socks.

Other than the socks and the bag, I've been obsessing about the Luanna sweater from Berroco ever since it showed up in my email box the other day. Isn't it pretty? Sadly, I'm not in a position to be buying yarn right now, but I hope to make that someday!

2007-09-04T20:35:00.000-04:00

Validation!

So I go and whine about not getting a ribbon for my farm and then this happens!

How cool is that??? I won the Viewer's Choice Award for my farm! I am very excited. They have little voting boxes all over the Home Arts building where the fairgoers can vote for their favorite item in any category. So, even though the judges didn't like my farm, the people did! YAY!

Last night, after much consultation with Amie, I knit a swatch (gasp!) for my Stag Bag. I decided I wanted to modify the pattern a bit so that I can knit it in the round. Because really, who likes to have to purl with two colors? It sucks. So in an effort to test out my charting skills, I knit this.

Not happy with it at all!

Unfortunately, my gauge is way off. So I think I'm going to try to find a different yarn. Perhaps even the yarn the pattern calls for (Berroco Ultra Alpaca Light - which sounds like a brand of cigarettes to me.)

In the meantime, I'm still working on my Vinnland sock. I can't decide how I feel about it.

Please note that the yarn is not nearly as neon as it looks in this picture.

I'm just not really happy with it. My stitches are a little uneven. But I don't really have anything else on the needles right now, so I'll just keep stitching!

2007-09-01T23:42:00.000-04:00

How We Fared at the Fair

It has been pretty crazy around here the past few weeks. I just finished two weeks of teching in two different shows at two different theatres. Happily, both shows are open and running. And both shows are really pretty good. Yay!

I managed to slip away to the Maryland State Fair last week to check on all our entries. I'm both happy and disappointed with my results. I was very excited that my Arwen sweater won a blue ribbon! That was very cool.

I also got two honorable mention ribbons - one for my ant and one for my Embossed Leaves socks. The thing I was disappointed about was that my farm got nothing.

In retrospect, I think part of the problem was that I didn't really include anything Maryland specific. I probably should have thrown a MD flag on there or knit up a crab or something. Oh well. I'm bummed. I was also sad that my Spring Blossoms Shawl didn't place, but there seemed to be a fair amount of competition in the lace category.

The fair was good fun though. S. and I watched bull riding for a while. I would never have thought in a million years that I would be remotely interested in bull riding, but I gotta say - It's hypnotizing.

It's crazy exciting because you are just waiting for someone to get their head smashed in. Violent and scary! One rider bashed his face against the bull and got knocked out cold and fell to the ground. It was terrifying! He eventually came to, got up and walked away.

Of course there was plenty of other non-violent activites too! I love looking at all the animals of course. And S's dad runs the Birthing Center at the fair, so we got to see all the baby animals that had just been born.

Aren't they so cute???

So, now that the fairs are over, I'm waffling between knitting projects. I finished my Montego Bay Scarf.

It is insanely loooong. Eventually I may try blocking it out to increase the width and decrease the length. But it is pretty!

For the past two days, I've been trying to start these socks. But the pattern is totally vexing me. I couldn't get the short row toe idea to work at all, so I finally gave up and just did my normal figure 8 cast-on for a toe up sock. But then I started having issues with the charted part. I've ripped it so many times, but I'm going to try again.

I'm also still working on my crocheted bag. If I actually put some effort into it, I could probaby finish it pretty quickly, but what with being in tech for two weeks, I haven't worked on it much!

I hope you all have a great holiday weekend!

(PS - Hi Eileen! It was great to see you the other night!!)

2007-08-18T21:12:00.000-04:00

My So Called Life

How did you spend your Saturday?

Yeah, I washed all my socks.

Hot time here at my house!

2007-08-16T23:51:00.000-04:00

Helloooooo?

Is anyone still here???

The problem with not blogging for long periods of time is that you end up having lots to say when you do finally get around to blogging.

There was some totally insane knitting, there was a fair, there were some ribbons, there was a quick jaunt to the beach and there was (gasp) some crocheting!

To start, I finally finished my Spring Blossoms Shawl.

Spring Blossoms Shawl
Pattern Source: Fiber Trends
Yarn: Jaggerspun 2/18 Wool in Admiral
Needles: Addi Turbo Lace needles US 4

Mods: Only did 8 pattern repeats instead of 9

I was determined to finish this in time for the Howard County Fair, and I succeeded. Barely.
My friend picked me up to go drop stuff off at the fair at 2 p.m. I pulled the last blocking pin out at 1:55 p.m.

Insane Knitting. I killed my hands working on this thing. I had to take a knitting hiatus just to give my poor hands a break. Fortunately, I don't seem to have done any permanent damage!

But I am proud to say that the "shawl that almost ended my knitting career" took second place at the county fair! Hooray!! I actually won three ribbons at the fair this year.

See that in the middle there? That is my very first blue ribbon! I am so proud! Arabelle the Ant took first place in the knitted toys category.

I agonized for days over which of my knitted toys to enter. I guess I picked the right one!

The Embossed Leaves socks took a second place ribbon too. I had some stiff competition from Jolene again this year. She cleaned up with four blue ribbons and one red ribbon. And Ms. Amie won many fabulous prizes for being Best In Show for her Sock Ness Monsters. I have some pretty talented friends!

All of my entries to the county fair will be sent off to the Maryland State Fair next week. In addition, I am entering my Arwen Sweater, my Triceratops, and all the farm animals. There is a special category this year where you can enter anything farm, fair, or Maryland related. So, I knit a barn (no pictures yet!) and I'm putting the barn and the animals all together and submitting them. I think it is going to be super cute. The barn turned out lumpy, but still pretty awesome. I admit to being slightly tempted to knit some more farm related things to add to my farm. There are so many possibilities!

After my pain induced knitting hiatus, I was itching to cast-on for a new project, despite the fact that there a few older projects that could be completed! Since knitting was making my hands hurt, I decided to do a little crocheting instead. I saw this bag (link opens a pdf file) in an email that I got from Classic Elite. I fully intended to show you a picture of my progress, but I just realized I left it in my car, so it will have to wait. I'm doing it in a really pretty green. I think the yarn is Tahki, and not Classic Elite. I have done much ripping on this project and I'm still not happy with my row joins, but hopefully it will turn out ok. Even with all the ripping, it's going fairly quickly.

To wrap this post up, I'll share a few pictures from my most recent trip to the beach. I got to escape for a couple days. It was way too short of a trip!

P.S. For those who asked... My Dad did finally get his HP book! Would you believe that he managed to get someone from the post office to come out to the house on a Saturday afternoon to rescue it for him?! I'm sure he's read it at least twice by now!

2007-07-25T23:04:00.001-04:00

Still here

Does anyone else feel less motivated to blog in the summer? I sure do! I had a very busy week last week doing lights for a camp production of Evita. It was quite an ambitious show for a bunch of teenagers to do. I generally like doing camp, but it was a looong week. It was kinda nice to be away from my usual job for a bit though!

And of course.... Harry Potter came out this weekend, so that also kept me from my blog!
Here's a little sad HP story...

My 80 year old father LOVES Harry Potter. I think he has read every book at least a half dozen times. So, needless to say, he was VERY excited about the new book. He had preordered it from Amazon. So, Saturday morning, he makes the laborious trip out to the mailbox. (Dad uses a walker, and is very slow. Going to the mailbox is a huge trek for him.) He opens the mailbox - HURRAY, Harry Potter is in the mailbox! And it is STUCK!. He couldn't get it out! The stupid mailman had wedged the book into the box and my poor Dad couldn't get it out. He even dragged himself back to the house and got a knife in the hopes that he could cut away the box and be able to get the book out, but no such luck. He was so bummed! I haven't spoken to him since Saturday, so hopefully by now he has his book!

Lots of crafty stuff to share. I finished my Embossed Leaves socks about two weeks ago.

They are ever so slightly too big, but I love them anyways. I gotta say, Tess yarn is fabulous.
I still have one skein in my stash from MDS&W. I am looking forward to knitting with it again.

After finishing the socks, I needed an easy knit to work on while I was at camp. So I restarted my Montego Bay Scarf. I don't have a recent picture of it, but here is a picture I took after I first started it:

It's now about 5 feet long. I'm just going to knit until I run out of yarn. The yarn is Seasilk, a gift from my pal Mama E. It is so gorgeous. After I finished the Seasilk scarf for my sister, I knew I wanted one too. This pattern is oh so simple, but I think the scarf is going to be really pretty. I really thought I would be done with this sometime this week, but then I realized something....

The Howard County Fair is NEXT WEEKEND. I really thought it wasn't till the END of August, not the beginning!! In other words... I thought I had more time! I really want to enter my Spring Blossoms Shawl, but I have been seriously neglecting it. So, now I am in crazed knitting mode, in hopes that I can get it finished by next Friday. I am not confident that I will be able to finish, but I'm going to try. So, the Montego Bay Scarf is on hold for the moment.

I am also planning on entering the Embossed Leaves socks and one of my knit toys. I haven't really decided which one yet. My top three choices are Trice, Pepe, and Arabelle.

I've also been doing a little sewing too. I made myself a Bias Tape Tote.

It's not perfect, but it came out pretty cute. And, it's reversible!

I wanted to make one after I saw Laura's version. So cute! The fabulous free pattern is available here. I want to add some kind of closure to the top of it, but I haven't really figured out exactly what I want to do yet.

This afternoon, I made a little patchwork pillow out of some scraps my mom gave me. I don't have a picture yet, but it's kinda pretty!

Going to bed! Wish me luck with my lace knitting!