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!

2007-07-10T23:20:00.001-04:00

Gift Giving

The Double Bordered Scarf has been delivered to the happy recipient. I gave it to my sister for her birthday (only two weeks late!) I am pleased to say that she totally loved it! There is nothing better than someone who completely appreciates a knitted gift. I'm so thrilled that she loves it.

I also made her one of the ever popular box bags.

She loved that too! ;)

I even got a gift too. She gave me some ebony Lantern Moon sock needles.

They are so pretty! And it seems unlikely that I will be able to snap these in two like I tend to do with wooden sock needles....

After finishing her scarf, I went back to work on some other projects. I hadn't worked on my Spring Blossoms shawl in awhile, so I managed to put several rows on that. It's definitely a "full attention" knit.

I had been knitting this on my Knitpicks Options needles, but I just switched to my Addi Lace needles. I bought the Addis at the Mannings with the intent of using them on this project. But, the only length they had in stock of the US 4's was 40". So, I used the Options until the piece was big enough to transfer to the Addis. I like the Addis, but I don't feel like they are any better or worse than the Options. They are both serving me well.

I'm also still working on my second Embossed Leaves sock. I just turned the heel on Sunday.

I've been knitting these during my shows. I'm already contemplating my next "light booth project." Of course there are several socks on the list, but I'm also thinking about re-starting a Montego Bay Scarf. I started one when the magazine first came out, but got distracted and ended up frogging it. But, I still want one!

If that isn't enough knitting, I have jumped on the Mystery Stole 3 bandwagon. (All the cool kids are doin' it!) I was finally swayed when I saw how pretty Jody's is turning out. I just started it last night, so there's only a little progress to show.

I'm using some Jaggerspun Zephyr that I bought in NYC last year. I'll be way behind the folks that started this on time, but I couldn't resist!

Despite the fact that it is almost midnight, I am sitting here thinking "now that I'm done blogging, what do I want to knit?"

2007-07-06T18:55:00.000-04:00

Done
Double-bordered scarf with diamond borders adapted from Weldon's, 1904
Victorian Lace Today
Yarn: Handmaiden Seasilk
Needles: Knitpicks Options US7
Started: May 11, 2007
Finished: July 4, 2007

2007-07-02T13:46:00.000-04:00

Gettin' Crafty

Hi all!
It's been a while since I've written a decent post, so I figure I'm due for an update. Lots of crafty stuff going on over here. I'll start with the knitting since, hey - this is supposed to be a knitting blog!

I finished the first Embossed Leaves sock.

Love it! I love this pattern. It's really pretty easy and looks gorgeous. And what's better than Tess Super Sock? So pretty, and I like how elastic it is. The second sock has been cast on and I'm about 3/4 through the cuff. But it's kind of on hold at the moment because I'm trying to finish up a birthday present for my sister. Um... yeah, her birthday was a week ago. Um... yeah, I'm not done yet. No pictures yet because my sister stalks my Flickr account and quite possibly my blog!

I'm also paused on the Spring Blossom Shaw l until I get the birthday present finished, which hopefully will be soon. I really don't have much left to do on the present. I'm looking forward to getting back to the shawl, and the sock for that matter!

On Saturday, I had breakfast with an old friend who presented me with this:

It's a big bag o' pencil roving! And there's a chance for more where that came from. My friend's step-grandfather has all of his grandmother's knitting and spinning supplies (she is deceased) and is wanting to get rid of it all. So there may be more fibery goodness coming my way.

It has been a while since I tried my drop spindle, so I got it out and used some of that roving to make some yarn.

It's SO EASY to spin pencil roving! Who knew?? I'm not so good with spinning regular roving. I get frustrated very easily, but this was a piece of cake. My friend saw a picture of Pepe the Cow and wants me to make him one, so perhaps I will make a cow out of this handspun!

In other craftyness... I have been sewing - something else for me to obsess about! The ever talented Sarah and Jody helped me make my first box bag last week. (No picture because it's probably going to my sister with the knitted gift!) So of course I had to go make another one.

My seams are all kinds of wonky, but if you don't look at it too closely, it's not too bad! The fabric was a gift from Jody. (Thanks friend!) I want to make MORE!

I hope you all have a wonderful Independence Day. I haven't quite decided what my plans are for the day. I have a few options. I won't be going to DC this year. I haven't recovered from last year!

2007-06-27T12:55:00.000-04:00

Baby!

Super cute sleepy baby wearing a super cute sweater made by me! The matching blanket was made by his aunt. It's a complete coincidence that it matches the sweater so well!

I'm so happy it actually fits. He's a big 9 lb boy!

2007-06-20T00:17:00.000-04:00

Rumors of my demise have been greatly exaggerated

Yes, I am still alive. I haven't posted in forever and I'm completely behind on my blog reading and commenting. I have survived yet another tech week and "Little Shop of Horrors" is happily open. Tech wasn't too hateful. It could have been worse! I don't really feel like the show is tight yet, but it's getting there and I think it has the potential to be good. On the plus side, it's funny and peppy and SHORT. And it's not a five month long run! HURRAY!

Since I haven't posted in forever, I do have a fair amount of knitting to show you. I finished up my stripey Trekking socks.

I didn't use any specific pattern. I just knit them toe up, magic loop, two at the same time. They are a little too 'roomy' but I like them anyways. I knit a heel flap on them - my first toe up heel flap. I basically did exactly what I would have done had I knit them cuff down.

Not the best picture, but hopefully, you get the idea. I am proud to say that these are the first pair of socks I have ever knit completely without a pattern or having to look up any instructions. I've done other socks without a pattern before, but I have always had to look up cast-ons or heel-turning instructions. I finally have the idea in my head!

After I finished the socks, I cast on for the Spring Blossoms Shawl pattern that I got at the Mannings.

The beginning of this shawl was a BITCH. I am not exaggerating when I say that it took me about three hours to get this started. You start the shawl with 8 stitches devided over four size 4 dpns. I kept losing track of which needle to knit next. I finally used colored markers to color code my dpns. That helped considerably, but I still had huge issues. Twisted stitches, dropped stitches, you name it - I messed it up. In my last post, I said I was hoping to use the brown tencel from the Mannings to knit this. I tried... really I did (many, many times), but it was too damn slippery. So I switched to the Jaggerspun 2/18 and I think it's going to be really pretty. I'm really excited about this project. Despite the rough start, it's been a lot of fun to knit. The only problem is finding time where I'm not distracted by other things to knit on it!

Since the shawl requires undivided attention, I needed another mindless sock pattern to knit. I started knitting the Go With the Flow socks from Favorite Socks, but I started them in a seriously multicolored Koigu and it just wasn't working out. So they have been ripped. Yesterday, I started the Embossed Leaves socks from the same book. I already knit a pair of these last spring, but I love this pattern so I'm making another pair.

I'm using Tess Supersocks and Baby that I got at MDS&W. I'm obsessed with knitting these. I started them yesterday and I've already turned the heel. Hopefully I will be done the first sock tomorrow.

I had one more FO to show you, but I can't find it at the moment. I finally made the bee! It's super cute. As soon as I manage to locate it, I will post pictures.

On a side note.... I just wanted to say hi to Trish. Sorry I didn't get a chance to say goodbye to you! I miss you much! Also hi to Antonio! Thanks for commenting and checking out my blog!

And to Chuck... nope, not my birthday. My birthday is in December. I just got lots of presents because I have amazingly generous friends who actually seem to like me! (Despite anything you might say!)

2007-06-10T10:38:00.000-04:00

One Fine Day

Another gorgeous day spent hanging out with friends, drooling over yarn and fiber - what could be better? Yesterday morning, a small caravan from MD drove through the countryside and crossed the border into PA to go to The Mannings for their 39th Annual Spinning Seminar.

It may not look like much in this picture, but trust me... The Mannings is sooo worth the trip. This was my second trip there, and I still love it. Room after room after room chock full of yarn, fiber, weaving equipment, spinning wheels, books, patterns,... pretty much any fiber related item you might ever need. This place is HUGE. There were lots of demonstrations going on including sheep shearing, spinning, natural dying, weaving and this guy was preparing flax for spinning.

But, I think my favorite part was all the animals they had there.

The picture in the center of the mosaic is my favorite.

It's a smiling alpaca!

We were all trying to figure out how we could fit a llama, a sheep, a few alpaca and that teeny kitten into the back seat of my car. SOOO cute!

Of course, a trip to a place like The Mannings had to include some serious stash enhancements. My first score for the day was this book.

I have wanted this book for a long time. My parents ordered it for me for Christmas and it is still on back order. So, when I saw it on the shelf, I pounced on it. There are so many gorgeous patterns in here. I am going to try to hold off until mitten season before I start casting on for anything. (I still have an anemoi to finish first!) But, I love the book and I'm so happy I found it!

To continue in my brown and blue faze, I also got some beautiful lace yarn.

First, I found this

The flash on my camera kind of washed out the color in this picture. The blue is much richer. It's Jaggerspun 2/18 wool in color Admiral.

This is some tencel that really, I HAD to have. It is so beautiful. The color is Acorn. I cannot wait to knit with this.

I've been itching to knit a lace shawl. I'm going to try to finish up my orange Trekking socks today and then maybe cast on for a shawl. I bought a Fiber Trends lace shawl pattern at the Mannings too, but I think I will be looking through all my lace books before I make a decision. But the tencel will definitely be my yarn of choice. We won't talk about the Seasilk scarf that I haven't finished yet.....

Thanks to Jody, Sarah, Cheryl, Jolene and Amie for a fabulous day! Again next year!

And it's not even my birthday..

In addition to a great trip, I have also been the recipient of a few fabulous gifts lately. I have been coveting one of Sarah's amazing box bags for a while and now I am a lucky owner.

It is so cute! I love it. It's a perfect sized project bag. And the fabric is this really great vintage-y looking beach print. And she made it just for me! Thank you Sarah!!!

Then.... I saw Jody's new bag (which Sarah helped her make!) and I loved that too. I kept trying to steal it from Jody. Well, she went and made me my own! I couldn't believe it.

How cute is that?? And Jody knows I kinda have a thing for chickens, so check out the inside of the bag....

Isn't it awesome? I love this bag! Thank you Jody!!!

And then, not to be outdone, Cheryl presented me with this lovely laceweight yarn. There's plenty there to make a shawl. It's a really pretty berry color. And guess what, I love it too! Thank you Cheryl!!!

I am so lucky to have such generous and talented friends! Thank you thank you thank you! I really am crazy about all these great gifts.

2007-06-04T22:15:00.001-04:00

The winner is....

Diane!!! Yaaaaaaay!!!! Diane you are the lucky winner of Debbie Macomber's latest book Back on Blossom Street!

Thanks for playing everyone!

2007-06-03T22:46:00.000-04:00

The End Is Near!!!

I am getting very excited because I only have FIVE more performances of George M! to do!!! YAY!!! Seriously people, I have been working on the same show since February 22. Enough already! I can't wait for it to be OVER.

Thanks for all the comments last post. I'm so excited to see new people comment. I hope you will comment again even when there isn't a contest! I will be drawing names Monday night for a winner, so you still have time to comment today!

So, I had a great Saturday. Jody and I traveled to DC and went to the Textile Museum for their Celebration of Textiles festival. We had a blast. They had all kinds of crafty, hands-on activities for us to play with.

We made random felty things:

We stamped red paint onto white fabric...

Jody's red stamped fabric was so cool that someone STOLE it! (The one above is mine - not worthy of theft!)

We even did a little needlepoint:

There was sheep shearing, dances from different countries with these really elaborate costumes, weaving and spinning demonstrations, I got to play with this weird strap making loom, oh... and check this out...

That is a teeny little doll house rug. It's about 3 or 4" in diameter. It's hand embroidered and the entire thing is made up of thousands of tiny little french knots. It is exquisite. We met the woman who made it. She said it took her over a year to complete it. My picture doesn't do it justice. The detail is amazing.

The whole day was good fun. (Except that it was HOT out!) Thanks Jody!!!

On the subway ride, I cast on for yet another new pair of socks.

Some simple toe up socks in Trekking XXL 124. I am loving the stripes. I've had this yarn in my stash for over a year, so it was about time I actually got it on the needles.

So, to answer Sarah's question.... No, my Jaywalker did not fit.

I hated to do it, but they had to be frogged. I couldn't get the cuff past my heel. I was so sure they were going to fit fine, but nooooo.

Stupid size 0's.

2007-05-31T12:12:00.000-04:00

The beach, some knitting and a giveaway!

It was a perfect long weekend. I spent HOURS just sitting on the beach. I read, I knit, I slept, I got charbroiled. Excellent! Check out that sky - soooo blue and no clouds. I so did NOT want to come home. I just love it there.

Things near my sister's house had changed a bit since my last visit.

The picture on the right was taken in early April. The picture on the left was taken this past weekend. Look how crazy green everything is now! And chock full of wildlife too. I saw tons of birds, a turtle, a snake, a deer and lots of frogs. Sitting on the balcony with this view was just as pleasant as sitting on the beach.

Of course there was knitting. What else is a girl supposed to do with all that delicious free time? Last week, I started another Jaywalker. I wanted something mindless and easy to work on.

I'm using the Lorna's Laces that I got the last time I went to the beach. This is the first time I have ever used size 0 needles to make a sock. I gotta say... it's killing me. It's just so sloooow. But I tried it on larger needles, and it just wasn't working for me. The size 0's seem to work best with this yarn. And since I don't currently own a size 0 circular, I decided to forego my normal magic loop and use dpns. Despite the slowness, I really like how this yarn is working up. It's even pretty on the inside too!

Hopefully I will stay motivated through to the second sock!

I suppose I should mention that the Obsidian socks have been frogged and the yarn sent back to the stash. They just weren't making me happy. I know exactly what I want to do, but I was having problems with the execution. So, for now, it is once again, a ball of yarn!

I also put in some time with my Doubled Bordered Scarf. This isn't the best picture, but it does show some progress.

I'm ready to be done with this. I think it's going to be really pretty when I'm done, but I'm kinda bored with it.

Before I left for the beach, I got caught by the toy knitting bug again....

bug... get it! hahahahah! (I'm a dork, I know!)

It's another pattern from the Crafty Alien booklet. I am just loving these patterns. They are so quick to knit. The pattern calls for the ladybug to have legs, but I decided not to add them. I kinda like it this way. I used some leftover Selkirk from the Arwen sweater and some Nature Spun I had in my stash. The Selkirk didn't felt so well. I don't like that you can still see the stitches. But the Nature Spun felted perfectly. I also chose not to embroider on the knots. I embroidered the line down the back and thought it was pretty tedious. So, I just needle felted the spots on. I used the scraps of Nature Spun leftover after the knitting was done. The eyes are also needle felted.

I'm sure I will be making the bee pretty soon. I'm going to need more shelf space in my room for all these toys!

So.... a little giveaway!

I was recently contacted by someone from Mira Books and asked to review the newest Debbie Macomber book here on my blog. Coincidentally, my housemate had just finished telling me about these books. It's a series of fiction books about a knitting shop and how knitting brought different women together. I read the second book, A Good Yarn, while I was at the beach. It was perfect beach reading and I must say, I enjoyed it.

Well, today, I received a package containing not one but TWO copies of the newest book in the series, Back on Blossom Street.

Well, my good fortune is your good fortune. I will have a random drawing and give this book away. Leave me a comment between now and hmmm... let's say Monday, June 4th. All commenters will be entered into the drawing.

Bring on the comments!!

2007-05-25T14:55:00.000-04:00

Finished Baby Sweater

Little Chuckles Cardigan from Simply Knitting Magazine
Yarn: Lion Brand Cotton Ease in Taupe and Lake
Needles: Knitpicks Options Circulars US4
Model: LL Bear

I still need to track down some good buttons for this, but for the most part - it is finished! I love love love the Cotton Ease, and I really want a sweater for ME out of it. The pattern... well, the pattern was pretty irksome.

Problems.... the stitch count on the sleeves and the body did not match up. Jolene seamed the sweater for me (THANKS JOLENE!) and had to do some finagling to get everything to fit correctly into place. She did a great job. I'm sure if I had attempted it, there would be a very lumpy sweater on display right now. There was also issue with the ribbing not matching up at the seams. Instead of K2P2 ribbing, at the seams there are four purl rows together, so it's more like K2P4K2P2 ribbing. I was also irritated when I went to knit on the button bands. The instructions say to knit four rows, but the pictures of the sweater in the magazine clearly show eight rows. I knit six rows.

But all in all, it's a pretty cute sweater. And it was fairly quick to knit up. I'm a little concerned that the unborn baby this is destined for will be too big to wear it. The last baby these people gave birth to came out the size of your average linebacker. He was gigantic and still is - 2 years later. Hopefully baby brother will come out an appropriate baby size! Or atleast LL Bear sized!

I got a little crafty this afternoon and made myself a little project bag.

My seams are wonky and my attempt at making a reversible bag didn't work so well, but it's perfectly functional. It currently contains a jaywalker sock in progress that I started this morning. I have knitting ADD again. (again? still?) I started another baby sweater yesterday, I started a sock today, I seriously want to cast on for either another felted bug or a different pair of socks, and I'm still working on my double bordered lace scarf. I can't seem to stick to one project right now.

I'm heading to the beach Sunday afternoon for a few days of sun and relaxation. I'm sure there will be plenty of knitting going on there! I hope you all have a great holiday weekend. Remember your sunscreen!

I leave you with this picture I took the other day and meant to share here.

We had a crazy little storm here last weekend that produced this amazing rainbow. Sadly I didn't have my camera with me so this was taken with my cell phone. In person, the colors in the rainbow were so amazingly vibrant. And I could see the entire rainbow from end to end. It was breathtaking. I don't know if you can tell from the picture, but there was a second fainter rainbow. Soooo pretty!

2007-05-22T23:44:00.000-04:00

Arabelle

First I saw this. Which led me to this. And that led me to this. So, of course I had to buy this.

Then, I made this!

I can't tell you how much I love this bug. It was so fun to make and I think it came out so well! I may need to knit more of them, in different colors. It hardly took me any time at all to whip this up. The felting was a little tedious, but somehow also rewarding when it came out so well.

I made a few changes to the pattern after reading Grace's blog post about her ant. The pattern calls for the head of the ant to be huge. But I liked how Grace's looked better, so I swapped the butt and the head. I also put bent paperclips into the legs to make them a little sturdier. I made the antennae a little longer than the pattern called for. One of them also seems a little thicker than the other. So I may have cast on one too many stitches for one of them!

The eyes are needle felted on, using a bit of fiber from one of the needle felting kits I purchased at MDS&W. The needle felting tool actually turned out to be quite handy. After I hand felted the knitted pieces, there were a few little holes here and there. I used scraps of yarn and the needle felting tool to fill them in. It worked perfectly.

I suppose I should mention that the yarn was some leftover Cascade 220 that I had in my stash.

I'm not quite sure why I'm obsessed with making knitted toys, but I am! I think I may need to make the bee next. I am also loving the lobster. I may have to get that pattern too!

My latest baby sweater is almost done. Many thanks to Jolene, who very kindly sewed all the seams for me last night at knitting group! She's the best! I finished the button bands and the collar this evening at work, but there is still a few ends to be sewn in and I need to find buttons for it. I shall reserve pictures of it until it is finished. Besides, I want to gripe about the pattern in a full post!

2007-05-21T22:09:00.000-04:00

All the cool kids are doing it

To distract you from the fact that I am feeling too lazy to take pictures of knitted objects at the moment, I will respond to the Meme that Minty tagged me with last week. There have been a few variations of this particular one popping up all over blogland lately, but I have been tagged with the 7 Random Facts meme.

1. I am the youngest of 5 children. I am very much the baby of the family, in both good and excessively irritating ways! My eldest brother died 12 years ago and I still miss him so much it hurts. He was 16 years older than me and always swore that he raised me from birth.

2. I don't like seafood. Apparently, many people see this as a character flaw. But really, if it resides primarily in water, I don't want to eat it. A few years ago, I tried crab, lobster, salmon and scallops - just to see if it was perhaps a childhood dislike that I had outgrown, but NO, I still do not like seafood. Even the smell makes me queasy.

3. I have 9 surgical scars on my body. Let's just say I'm a little accident prone and I no longer have an appendix.

4. Pretty much every day of my life, I fantasize about moving out west someday. I love mountains.

5. I am terminally late. I think it is a genetic flaw. At my grandmother's funeral, my uncle gave the eulogy. The first thing he said was "Well, I guess we were all wrong, she wasn't late to her own funeral." So I just see it as a matter of DNA and not a personal problem! The only time I am not late is when I am travelling somewhere by airplane. In that case, I want to get to the airport the ridiculously early.

6. Despite my love of The Poodle, I am really a cat person. I think I could become a crazy cat lady very easily. But my housemates disapprove of the felines, so I have a poodle instead.

7. I am completely grossed out by crickets. Especially the really icky brown ones. The hopping freaks me out. But I'm not grossed out by grasshoppers and their hopping. I know, it's strange.

Random enough?? So, I tag Jolene, Jen and Diane.

I have FO's to show, but like I said... too lazy!

2007-05-15T13:14:00.000-04:00

Triceratops

Sometimes, you just need to knit yourself a yellow Triceratops. Just for fun.

Trice
Free pattern from Xtreme Knitting (opens a pdf)
Yarn: some random crappy acrylic I had in my stash
Started: Sunday, May 13, 2007
Finished: Tuesday, May 15, 2007

Last year, I made myself a Mr. Stegs.

I decided he needed a friend!

These are great patterns. So easy and quick. Instant gratification! It was also a great way to practice my newly honed seaming skills. Here's Mr. Stegs seam circa August 2006:

Yeah, I had no idea what I was doing last year! I honestly thought this didn't look too bad. Now I think it looks like he had horrible open heart surgery! But check this out:

Oh yeah! Soooo much better! Jolene even thought I had knit it in the round. I've got mad seaming skills now!

I'm suffering from major project ADD. I can't seem to stick to one project. I just keep casting on. Last night I started this:

It's a cutey cute baby sweater from Simply Knitting magazine. In keeping with my recent blue and brown obsession, the body of the sweater will be... brown and then the arms will be... blue! This will be for a friend's boy baby who will be arriving in June. Then I will need to make another baby item for a girl baby arriving in July. That will probably be a lacy Elizabeth Zimmerman baby sweater like the one Sarah made.

Gotta say... I'm really surprised how much I am liking the Cotton Ease. I kind of want to make a sweater for ME out of it. I think it would make a great summer cardigan or hoodie. It is something I am definitely contemplating!

I'm still chugging away on my Seasilk scarf too.

I can't wait to block this. I'm really curious to see how big it is going to turn out. I love how soft and drapey the Seasilk is.

I have kind of stalled on my STR Obsidian socks. But they're still taking up space in my knitting bag and I do pull them out and knit a row here and there.

2007-05-11T00:14:00.000-04:00

Melancholy

Bleh. That's how I've been feeling the past few days. Bleh. I swear I am suffering from Post MDS&W Depression. I had been looking forward to it for so long, I had such a good time, the weather was gorgeous, I got some great yarn, I finished my Arwen...

And now? Bleh.

My general "bleh-ness" has not prevented me from knitting however. I finished Arwen, and I had new yarn to play with, so I have not one, but two new projects on the needles.

Some socks in my new STR. I'm playing with some design ideas. We shall see what happens! But that yarn sure is pretty, no?

And because I was feeling guilty about buying more Seasilk when I have 2 unused skeins of it in my stash, I cast on for a scarf with the new skein.

It's a "Double-bordered scarf with diamond borders adapted from Weldon's, 1904" from Victorian Lace Today. (Page 104, to be exact!) The one in the book is very dainty and lofty looking. I think the Seasilk makes it look very bold and geometric. I kinda like it. The pattern calls for slightly more yardage than the Seasilk has, but since it's a scarf, I'm hoping I can fudge on the length a bit. Knitting the pattern is pretty easy(and fast!) Reading the chart is a little tricky. Thank God for Post-its is all I have to say!

Oh and there's a stupid typo in the pattern. The rows are numbered 12, 14, 18, 16, 20...
That's seems like a pretty stupid mistake. Can we not count people? Fortunately rows 18 and 16 were both knit rows, so it doesn't affect the pattern.

I had a HUGE accident with this Seasilk yesterday. I somehow managed to create the biggest tangled mess you have ever seen. It took me about three hours to untangle it. I was so upset! This shit is expensive and I wasn't about to give up on it. But with determination and a whole lot of swearing, I got it untangled. I seriously love this yarn. It is just so gorgeous! The color in the picture is pretty true - especially on the ball. It reminds me of new pennies. I'm already perusing other patterns for my other two skeins.

I realized this afternoon that I never blogged about an FO from about a week ago. I finished the Waving Lace Socks.

I'm really disappointed with these socks. I don't know if you can tell from the picture but the socks are two different shades of green. It's a very slight difference, but it's noticible enough to annoy me. I thought maybe I had accidentally bought two dye lots, but no - they were the same.
Also, they don't fit well. One of them came out bigger than the other - which I find really odd since I used the same needles and didn't alter the pattern at all. But neither of them fit very well. I do like the waving lace, but that's about it!

2007-05-08T18:24:00.000-04:00

May I present...

Arwen!

A Cardigan for Arwen
Interweave Knits Winter 2006
Started March 14, 2007
Finished May 6, 2007
Yarn: Ram Wool Selkirk in Red. Approximately 6 skeins.
Needles: Knitpicks Options size US7 and US8
Mods: I added 2" to the length
Note to Minty.... Photo shoot took place at the National Arboretum.

I'm so happy it's DONE!! And, I am proud to say that I seamed it myself. I was tempted to send it off to Jolene for finishing, but I decided I'd better learn how to do it on my own. So Jolene kindly gave me a quick lesson. I think I did pretty well! (Good teacher!)

I wasn't loving it when I first finished it. The arms were too tight. But some hardcore blocking took care of that problem, and now I'm quite happy with it. I wore it on Sunday to Sheep and Wool and was quite comfortable in it. And I got a lot of compliments from total strangers which is nice too!

Diane thinks she is the last blogger to post about S&W, but really, I think it is me!

What can I say that hasn't already been said? It was truly fabulous. Great friends, amazing yarns, cute fuzzy animals... It was perfection. Both days were so spectacular weather wise. And Sunday was even cool enough for me to wear Arwen all day.

Saturday morning, I had all the girls (and one very brave man - Jody's husband) over for a pre-fest breakfast. After filling up on coffee and bagels, we headed off to the fairgrounds. (Sorry we left you in the bathroom Jen!!!) I didn't get very far through the gates before my wallet sprung a leak.

Here's the 2007 haul!

Apparently, I was on a brown and blue kick. I didn't even realize it until I got home. In the picture, we have...
Handmaiden Seasilk
Blue Moon STR in Obsidian
Tess Supersock
Louet Gems
and
Persimmon Tree Farm

I love each and every skein. It's all gorgeous. The STR has already been cast on for socks (trying to come up with my own design.)

The Seasilk was a definite cave in my resolve. I spied in on Saturday and fondled it for many minutes until I finally convinced myself I didn't need it. I already have two skeins of Seasilk in the stash. I didn't need more. Well, I ended up thinking about it all night long. So on Sunday I decided if it was still there, I would get it. When I got to the booth, it was the last skein of Seasilk they had, in the exact color I wanted. I HAD to get it! Really! It is so gorgeous!

In addition to the yarn, I also got two needle felting kits and Folk Knitting in Estonia, which I had wanted for a while.

I ran into a few blogger friends including Minty and Gryphon (and her gorgeous baby girl!) and went to the Blogger meet up for a bit. I had a great time wandering around with everyone, but I crashed pretty early. (I had been up since 6 a.m. which is completely unheard of in my theatre life.) So, I went home and crawled in bed.

Sunday, I woke up bright and early. I finished seaming and blocking Arwen and then headed back to the fair. I met up with the girls again and hung out on the hill and knit for awhile.

Then I wandered off to make sure I hadn't missed anything to spend my money on. I stumbled on one of my favorite festival events... The Shepherds Lead Contest. It is basically a sheep fashion show. It's all these little kids that are dressed in handmade wool garments and they are leading around their pet sheep - who are dressed to match!!! So ridiculous and so cute!

This was my favorite...

In case anyone is interested for next year - Adults can enter too! And, you don't have to own a sheep - you can borrow one!!

Soon after, I hooked up with Amie. She had to pick up a wheel that she had repaired. The guy told her to test it out before she took it home. And instantaneously, she drew a crowd.

After her one woman spinning show, there may have been some ice cream and then we went and picked up some prize winners from the Skein and Garment Competition.

Amie won a blue ribbon!

And Jolene won a blue ribbon too!

Hooray for Jolene and Amie!!! (And to Jolene I say... I told you so!!)

And then we were done. I went home a very happy and very tired girl. It was a perfect weekend. See you next year!!!

2007-05-07T22:48:00.000-04:00

So Freakin' Tired!

I have so much to blog about, and I have just been too exhausted to do it. So, hopefully I can appease you until tomorrow with a few pictures. And then perhaps I will be awake enough to give you the full write up!

Oh and by the way...
Arwen is finished!

2007-05-03T14:32:00.000-04:00

Spreading the word!

Thanks Olga for the cool graphic!

2007-05-03T00:48:00.000-04:00

A little tease....

Yeah, I'm still not done with the seaming. But I'm working on it. I finished sewing up the sleeves and the hood. Now I just have to attach the back - a process that seems daunting! But I think I did ok so far. The sleeve seams aren't fabulous, but they aren't horrible either. The hood came out much better. I don't think I'm going to be able to finish this until Friday, but I should meet my goal of having it finished by MD S&W!

Speaking of the fest... I wanted to mention that Gryphon has suggested a blogger lunch meetup at 1:00 p.m. on both Saturday and Sunday. I will be at the fest both days and I hope to attend both meetups. Maybe I'll see you there!

2007-04-30T13:37:00.000-04:00

Ta Da!

Knitting is DONE! Holy crap people, I knit a sweater! Yep, that's Arwen, knitting complete and blocking away. Now I just have to sew this baby together - it will be a challenge, I'm sure! Blocking wasn't easy. I grafted the hood together before I blocked it, so it is one really long piece. Trying to find a place to big enough to spread this out was a chore. (I couldn't even get the whole thing in one picture!) But I managed. I measured, I pinned, I finagled. Now I keep hovering over it checking to see if it's dry yet!

I am so excited! I knit a sweater! I guess I should temper my excitement until I get it sewed together. It could be a nightmare. But I'm hoping for the best.

I had to reknit the left sleeve yesterday. I am not sure where my mistake was, but it turned out much smaller than the right sleeve. So I ripped back and added some rows. I had to cheat a bit to make it work. (I didn't want to have to rip out the hood and front panel just to fix the sleeve.)

Hopefully, by Wednesday or so... I will have a completed sweater to show you!

I've been looking around on the internet to find a button. The pattern doesn't call for one, but I think I want one toggle button on it. Sadly, I have something specific in my mind, and I can't find anything close.

In other news... I have a new toy!

My mom gave me her old sewing machine. Something else for me to obsess about! I've been kind of playing with it a bit, but I'm still new. I haven't really used a sewing machine since I was a kid, so I quite rusty. But I'm happy to have it, and hopefully I'll eventually learn how to use it properly.

I'm getting very excited for Sheep and Wool! It's only a few days away! HURRAY!

Here are a few cute pictures for you...

Poodle in motion!

Impossible to get her to sit still for a picture!

Thirsty kitty

That's one of my sister's cats - Cookie. She's having a little drink. And the goldfish is having a little heart attack!

2007-04-21T23:30:00.000-04:00

Bonjour Mes Amis!

Je m'appelle Genvieve. Je suis très français, non?

C'est mon ami Joyce. Elle n'est pas très française, mais je la tolérerai de toute façon !

I think every farm needs a French pig, don't you?

My farm is almost complete. I still need to make the goose. And Joyce is supposed to be surrounded by baby chicks, but I don't have any fluffy yellow yarn in my stash (yet!) But here's the gang so far.

The above picture reminded me of that scene in Armageddon....

It's the Farm Animals that saved the world!!! (Yes, I know... I'm strange.)

(Thanks to Amie for helping me find the Armageddon picture!)

Anyway... details...
Genvieve is made out of some Knitpicks Palette I had in my stash. Joyce is made out of the leftover Briar Rose from my Monkey socks. Joyce took about an hour from cast-on to gluing on her eyes. Genvieve took longer!

I have to say... I love these animals! They are so quick and easy to knit. And extremely addictive. I want MORE!

And in the land of the not- so- quick knitting, we have this:

Check that out! It's an entire front half of an Arwen Cardigan! I'm so impressed with myself. I've actually completed 2/3's of a sweater! And I have already knit a large chunk of the right front half too! Yay!

I've been a little concerned that the sleeves are going to be too tight, but I did some measuring and I think I will be ok. I think a little hard core blocking should do the trick.

I've set a little goal for myself. I want to have this DONE by MD Sheep and Wool, which is two weeks from today. I think I can do it. I hope I can do it. And selfishly, I'm hoping it will be cool enough for me to wear it to Sheep and Wool! Ok, so that last part is fairly improbable, but there was snow in April, so I can hope for a cool day in May. C'mon... I know all you knitters are hoping for the same thing... you want to show off your hand knits too!

I am mentally obsessed with Sheep and Wool lately. I have a mental shopping list going. Of course, there is nothing I actually need, but plenty that I want! I can't wait!!!

I'm off to bed. Big things happening in the next few days.... Tomorrow is my Dad's 80th birthday! We are having a fairly low key celebration for him. Just a small family lunch together. And on Monday, my pal Jill is getting hitched! Fun, fun, fun!!!

2007-04-20T15:24:00.000-04:00

Busy busy busy!

I have been a bad blogger lately. I haven't posted in a while, and I'm definitely behind on my blog reading and commenting. Things are a little nuts right now. Since Tuesday, I've worked nine shows and three waiting shifts. Needless to say, I'm exhausted! I have a few things to show you - like a finished left side of Arwen and an addition to my barnyard. But sadly, it will have to wait till I have some more free time to write a proper post! I'm hoping tomorrow!

In the meantime, have a great weekend!

2007-04-10T14:43:00.000-04:00

Snow on the Beach

Well.... I had always wanted to see snow on the beach. This really wasn't what I had in mind. Nor did I ever think I would see snow on the beach in April.

Oh well! Despite the completely insane weather, it was a lovely weekend in Rehoboth. I got to hang out with my sister and my neice for a bit and then I had a really lazy weekend of shopping, watching movies, knitting and enjoying the view.

On Saturday, I drove into Lewes, DE to wander around. I went to Ginger Moon yarn shop (no web site) and got to visit with Betty.

Betty stands on the counter and greets all the customers. So cute! I refrained from any yarn purchases. They have some gorgeous stuff there, but nothing really called to me. But the shop is worth the trip. If for nothing other than seeing Betty!

I also wandered around this amazing old church yard in town.

All the graves were from the 1800's. It was really interesting to read all the tombstones and see the family relationships.

I was particularly drawn to this little grave. Ruth was born in December of 1852 and died in February of 1857. Just four years old. Crazy to think that was 150 years ago.

After wandering around Lewes a bit (I love it there.) I headed back to Rehoboth and went to Knitty Gritty. I really hadn't intended to buy anything, but I ended up buying some Lorna's Laces sock. Like I need more sock yarn!

I headed back to the house and snuggled in with some movies and my knitting. I finished the left sleeve of Arwen.

I grafted the cuff together while knitting with the girls last night.

Thanks to Jolene and Amie for the help picking up the stitches to do so. I was so proud of myself - I thought I did a great job grafting it together, you could barely see the seam. And then I realized that I had grafted it together INSIDE OUT. Really I'm an idiot. Well, it doesn't look nearly as neat and pretty when it is turned the correct way, but I am not ripping it out. I figure I can do it better on the other sleeve!

In other knitting... I finished one of the Waving Lace Socks

And I am pleased to say that the second one is on the needles. No second sock syndrome here!
I love the yarn. (Shelridge Farm Soft Touch Ultra) I plan on getting more at Maryland Sheep and Wool, which, by the way, is in less than a month!!!!

And speaking of sheep...

Meet Frank!

Frank joins Archie and Pepe...

Archie finally has a mane and tail, but it did little to reduce his rodent-like appearance.!

I just got the new issue of Simply Knitting yesterday, so there will be a pig, chicken and goose on the way soon!

I think that covers all my knitting and beach escapades for now!

2007-04-06T10:01:00.000-04:00

See ya!

Going to the beach! I'm trying to ignore the fact that it is supposed to snow tomorrow... in April... at the beach!

I hope you all have a grand weekend. I will be back on Monday with pictures and a decent post!

2007-03-29T23:42:00.000-04:00

On the sticks

Lots of knitting going on over here! I have made some decent progress on Arwen.

That is the left front with the early stages of a sleeve! Go me! I might actually make a sweater!

I must say, things got much more interesting once I started the sleeve. I actually had to pay attention! I was very careful and read the directions several times before starting the sleeve. I'm determined to keep any ripping back to a minimum. I'm usually not so good with directions, so I made some effort this time. I had some issues with the cable panel at first so I had to call The Knitting Helpline for assistance. See... I thought I knew how to read a chart, but apparantly, I only know how to read charts for knitting in the round! After Amie pointed me in the right direction, things went much better.

I decided that this is my light booth knit. Anytime I'm at work, I am knitting on this. I'm not allowing myself to bring any other projects to work with me. That way... Arwen gets some dedicated knitting time. Also, it allows me to knit on other things when I'm not at work. And then I don't feel guilty for neglecting Arwen!

So... when not in the light booth, I have been knitting this:

It's a Waving Lace Sock from the new Interweave book Favorite Socks. They are the socks on the front cover of the book.

I seriously LOVE this pattern. I have no worries about second sock syndrome with this - it's just too much fun to knit. I love the scalloped edging on the cuff and I'm pretty pleased with the yarn too. It's Shelridge Farm Soft Touch Ultra in Lemonlime that I picked up at MS&W last year. I've been wanting to use this yarn for a while, but I wanted the perfect pattern for it. I think I found it! Since taking this picture, I've put about another inch or so on it. I've got about 10 more rows before starting the heel. I cast on for this on Monday, so it's going fast.

I also made Archie this past weekend:

Archie is supposed to be a horse. I think he currently looks like a rat (minus the icky tail).

Hopefully the addition of a mane and a tail will help him look a little more equine and a little less rodent! I don't think he is nearly as cute as Pepe, but he has his charm. The directions call for the use of embroidery to attach the mane. I'm not so sure about my embroidery talents, so I haven't gotten around to adding the mane yet, but I may make an attempt tomorrow.

I hope you all have a brilliant weekend. I will be in tech - Ugh. Here's a little spring picture for those of you still suffering the throes of winter.

My neighbor's magnolia tree.

2007-03-24T14:08:00.000-04:00

Just pictures

Went to the United States Botanic Gardens in DC yesterday.

Also went to the National Arboretum

More pictures from my day here.

2007-03-22T12:46:00.000-04:00

Wee Distractions

Sometimes, you just need to take a break from miles and miles of stockinette and make yourself a cow!

This is Pepe and I love him. Jody came into knitknite on Monday with a copy of Simply Knitting magazine. It's a British magazine and I had never seen it before. After I saw the "Farmyard Frolics" patterns, I immediately went to Border's and bought my own copy. In this month's issue, there are patterns for cows, sheep and horses. In the April issue, there will be patterns for pigs, chickens and geese. SO CUTE! I may need to make one of each animal. The cow was super easy and fast to make. He is made out of some Nature Spun I had in my stash.

Arwen continues. I am pleased to say that I am finished with the back.

I know it looks like a comforter for a queen sized bed, but it's just my gigantic sweater back. It's not nearly that orange in real life.

I cast on for the left front last night, but the cable panel is vexing me completely. I'm not sure what the problem was, but it has been ripped and restarted. I haven't gotten to the cable panel again yet, but hopefully it will go better the second time around.

I took another pause from Arwen earlier this week to make this:

I seem to have a lot of leftover sock yarn, so I thought baby socks would be a good way to use some of it up. This came out a little, um, round but I think it will stretch comfortably over a baby's foot. I am almost to the heel on the second one. This will be a gift for a co-worker's baby boy who will be arriving in June (I think... maybe July...) My co-worker asked if I could make a string on the socks that goes through the baby's pants, (like you would put on a pair of mittens) because his other son lost so many socks when he was a baby. Interesting concept.... anyone else ever heard of such a thing?

And one last FO to show you...

It is the finally finished Baby Kimono from Mason Dixon Knitting.
The lovely and talented Jolene was kind enough to do the finishing on this for me. Despite Pepe's good looks, I am not so good with the sewing!

Came out pretty cute, huh? This is a gift for the baby of one of the trumpet players in the orchestra at the theatre. He hasn't been around in awhile, so the baby may have already arrived. Hopefully, he'll turn up soon so I can give this to him!

Babies everywhere! Boy boy boy boy!

And finally... a little hint of spring....

2007-03-17T16:50:00.000-04:00

Monkey Heaven

After my post yesterday about my plethora of UFO's, I decided to hunker down and finish my Monkey Socks. I worked on it during my show last night and was ready to graft the toe by the time I got home.

Monkey Socks
Yarn: Briar Rose Sweet Freedom - a fabulous gift from Carolyn (with help from Maryse!)
Needles: well..... I started them magic loop, two at the same time on a size 2 circular, but I changed to size 1 DPNS for the heel through the toe. It was a good decision to switch needle size. They would have been too big in the foot if I had stayed on the size 2's.
Monkeyfications: I did an extra pattern repeat for a longer leg.

I like them and I'm happy to have them done!

So, what the hell with the crazy weather yesterday??? The 70° spring weather on Thursday, gave way to this:

The Poodle loved it, but as much as I LOVE snow, I could have done without this mess! Driving to work last night was completely horrendous. I passed four cars that had slid off the road. When I got to the theatre, I found out that one of the cars I passed was one of the actors. Fortunately, he and his car were both fine, but it was scary. He said he just completely lost control and went sliding into a ditch.

The roads are much clearer today, but it is still cold and windy out. Maybe spring will come back again next week!

2007-03-16T15:41:00.000-04:00

Rainy Yucky Day

I don't think it could possibly be any more miserable outside today. It's COLD and rainy. Very rainy. I should mention that yesterday morning, the temperature was 7o°. Today, it is currently 35°. There are ice pebbles on my car. The stream in the back yard is a raging white water river. We're in a flood watch. Miserable. Spring came in and then apparently decided to reconsider.

On top of the miserable weather, I'm not feeling great either. I think I have a little spring cold. Coughing, runny nose, icky.

Fortunately, I don't have to be anywhere until my show tonight. So I spent the day watching movies and knitting. Always a good combination.

My knitting ADD is rearing it's ugly head again. I have way too many projects on the needles.

Second Monkey Sock

So close to finishing. And yet, I'm stalled.

Second Anemoi Mitten

Gotta say, the rediculously warm spring weather we had been having made me less inclined to work on mittens. But I do love them and want to finish them!

Picovoli

I have become disenchanted with this. I just don't like it. I'm not sure if I'll rip it or what, so for now it just languishes on the needles.

The above is a baby hat for Jolene's collection. I hate it and will rip it and start over.

So, with all these projects going.... What is this???

That my friends, is the back of the Cardigan for Arwen.

I've been thinking about this pattern for a long time so I finally decided to cast on. I started it on Wednesday, March 14. (Actually, I really started it on Monday, March 12 - but there was a horrible accident involving me being completely stupid, so I had to rip and start over.) I'm pretty pleased with my progress so far, though the endless stockinette is fairly mind numbing. I'm looking forward to starting the front so there will be cables to keep me interested. I really really want to finish this. I hope I can stay focused and interested. Begone knitting ADD!

I know I am a little late with this, but I wanted to give big congratulations to our pal Eunny. I am so excited for her and for all of us knitters who will benefit from this amazing news!
Hooray for you friend!

2007-03-10T13:52:00.000-05:00

Knit One, Zoo Too

I have started this post about 4 times now, but for some reason, I keep tripping over my words. I don't think my brain is functioning today. It is managing the basic needs, like breathing, but trying to form actual thoughts is a challenge!

It has been a slow week around here. I am currently between kid shows at the theatre, so I have had way too much time on my hands. I have managed to be productive though. I have been on a spring cleaning rage. I have finally cleaned out the "junk room" in an effort to maybe some day have a craft room. There have been many many trips to the Salvation Army and I think the garbage men probably hate me, but I am pleased to say that there is actually a floor in there now! There is still a great deal I want to accomplish in there, but I'm really pleased with the progress so far. There is something mentally cleansing about getting rid of clutter. I thought about taking before and after pictures, but really, the before picture would have been embarassing!

On Wednesday, we had a freak snow "storm" here in Maryland. It was rediculous - they canceled schools. It was barely a dusting! And both of my main stage shows got canceled. Faced with the prospect of yet another day at home, I called S. and begged him to get me out of the house. We decided that a trip to the zoo in the snow might be fun. Actually, I decided and somehow managed to convince S.

The last time I was at the zoo, back in warmer days, I got in a conversation with a volunteer at the panda pavillion. She told me that the best time to come see the pandas was when it was snowing. She said they were at there most active during a snow storm, rolling down the hill, playing in the snow and having a good time. I used this information in my efforts to persuade S.

Active? Playing in the snow? How about... Panda with a hangover?

Don't bother Mommy, she has a headache.

I guess we missed the "playing in the snow" part. This panda was in a coma! The other two pandas weren't much better. They were both awake, but indoors and stuffing their faces with bamboo.

Despite the dead pandas, we had a good time. We pretty much had to the zoo to ourselves. There weren't a lot of animals out in the snow. But we wandered around and saw the animals that were hiding inside.

I had grand plans of taking a picture of my monkey sock in front of the monkeys, but we couldn't find any monkeys! We found the gorillas and they had macaques but we couldn't find any chimps or just plain old monkeys. Perhaps they were hiding somewhere to stay out of the snow, but we didn't even find empty cages.

So, the monkey sock had a photo shoot a few days later, minus an actual monkey and you will notice, minus the snow. (It's already gone.)

I was doing these magic loop- two at the same time, but I ended up switching to dpns. The stitches had to be rearranged for doing the heel so as to center the pattern and I just never put it back on the circulars. So, one sock is finished and the other needs a heel, foot and toe.

I also switched needle sizes when I started the heel. I started the socks on US2 circs and switched to US1 dpns. The leg of the sock was seeming a little too big. Switching down a size was definitely a good idea. It fits great.

So, here's a question.... I got myself a subscription to Vogue Knitting back in January. When I ordered it, I requested that they start the subscription with the spring issue, since I already owned the winter issue. And of course, two days ago, I got the winter issue in the mail. Has anyone had this happen to them and had any luck complaining about it? I'm not even sure who I should contact. If anyone wants a copy of the Winter VK, just let me know... I have two now!

2007-03-05T13:56:00.000-05:00

The Kindness of Strangers

A little over a year ago, I was lucky enough to meet an amazing group of women. In just a short year, they have become so important to me. We've shared many laughs, a few tears, several bottles of wine, and many many knitted stitches. I am truly blessed to have these people in my life. They have been there for me so many times already, it just doesn't seem possible that I've only known them a year.

And once again, they have proven that sometimes, you just have to ask for some help.

As you may remember, a few short weeks ago I was in a state because my windshield wipers were broken and the stupid mechanic wanted $388 to fix them. I was told repeatedly "the part will be in tomorrow" till finally, I had enough and told them I wanted my money back. (They made me pay for the part in advance.) I was refunded for the part, but was still out about $90 in labor charges. And I was really angry!

So, I posted to knitting board - "Does anyone know of a good, trustworthy mechanic?"

A few days later, I was knitting with the girls and Jody said "you should bring your car over to my house and see if my husband can fix it."

At this point, I was willing to try anything. Rain was in the forecast and I needed my damn wipers to work!

Can I just tell you that this wonderful man, who I had never met before, fixed my windshield wipers in less than an hour. He just popped it right back into place. In the rain. And it was really cold out. No parts needed. OHMYGOD!

Thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you!!!!!!!

I'm still overwhelemed. $300 - SAVED. Not to mention my sanity - you can lose a lot of sleep stressing about windshield wipers! And he said "I'm a firm believer in pay it forward, so now you do something nice for someone else." Jody suggested I make a baby hat for Jolene's collection. Done and done. Seriously, it's the least I can do.

Proof there are still nice, kind, generous people in the world.

As for the evil people in the world, you can bet that there is a seriously nasty letter being written to the hateful, lying, cheating, money grubbing bastards at the car repair place. Never ever ever again will I go there. Asses.

On to other things...

I am pleased to say that I finally cast on for the second Anemoi mitt.

I cast on Saturday night and knit about 7 rows before I realized that I wasn't reading the pattern correctly. (again.) I ripped it all out and started over, and this is the result of two shows yesterday at the theatre. I have happily reached the charted part. Those purl stitches in the ribbing were killing me. I still haven't found a way to comfortably purl English style.

I decided to take a little video to show how I knit two colors. I knit continental with my left hand and English with my right.

I completely love knitting this way. I used to carry both yarns in my left hand, but I find this to be much easier. It prevents twisting the floats and I think it helps my tension.

As you can see, I decided to switch the yarn colors for this mitt. I already like it better.

The Monkey socks are still on the needles. I haven't worked on them in a few days. But I only have one more pattern repeat before I do the heels. I decided to add one more pattern repeat than is called for, so I'll have a slightly longer sock.

Hey... did you know that MD Sheep and Wool is 2 months from today? Let the excitement begin!

2007-03-01T14:30:00.000-05:00

One down, one to go

Finished and blocked. Soooooo many mistakes! But it still is pretty!

The palm has the most glaring mistakes.

See that mess at towards the top... where the pattern lines up vertically instead of diagonally? um... Ooops! I don't know what I did. But the mistake occurs right around a place that I had that dropped stitch to deal with, so I'm sure that had something to do with it.

The thumb is also a mess. Besides stupid knitting mistakes, it's just slightly too short. Blocking really didn't help much. But I had already ripped it back once and don't feel like ripping it back again, so it will stay as is.

I gotta say... this is an excellent knit though - despite my issues. It never gets boring. As we all know, the pattern designer is genius. And I still LOVE the two color knitting. And it's just so pretty!

Here are some gut pictures for those who like such things

I am having a little bit of Second Mitten Syndrome, but I will try to cast on for the second mitt soon. I am going to swap the colors and try not to make so many mistakes! I think swapping the colors may actually help that. Trying to make my brain equate the light yarn to the dark circles on the pattern was painful. I should have just kept it as written. But I think having a positive and a negative of the same mitten might be fun.

In the mean time, I am slowly knitting on the Monkey socks. Here are some very unimpressive progress shots.

I'm a little concerned that these may be a tad too big. (gauge? what's that?) They are very stretchy.

2007-02-25T22:22:00.000-05:00

Getting Better All the Time

Wow! Thank you all so much for all the supportive and kind words! It really was a sucky week, and I'm really glad it is over! My show opened on Thursday and all the lights worked despite the munchy mousies! Management called in an exterminator who had this unpleasant solution:

Now every night when I go into the light booth, I am completely terrified of what I might find. um... EW! I have had many kind offers from people offering to loan me their cats. Personally, I would MUCH rather have a fluffy kitty hanging out in the booth waiting to bite the heads off the dread mousies than to have to worry about these peanut butter laden spring traps. Yucky.

My windshield wipers are still non-functioning which is most inconvenient. First the mechanic said the part would bein on Tuesday, then it was Wednesday, then it was Friday and then it was next week. At which point I asked for money back. (They made me pay for the parts up front.) I was also completely irritated about the complete lack of customer service. The guy NEVER called when he said he would. I can appreciate that it isn't really their fault if the part doesn't come in on time, but really, they could take two seconds to call and tell me that. If you tell me you will call me Wednesday morning, and I don't hear from you by 3 p.m. I will call and yell at you. Asses.

So, hopefully Monday morning, I will start calling around to see if I can find someone else to fix it. For much less money. I hate car trouble.

My lack of functioning windshield wipers was especially problematic today due to this:

But I am not complaining! I LOVE snow! This was a good snow too. Really fluffy and fun. And slightly unexpected. They were predicting sleet and ice. I wish I could say "instead, we got fluffy snow" but really it's more like "first, we got fluffy snow." The freezing rain and sleet are falling on top of the snow and I'm sure it's going to be another big icy mess.

I had to do a matinee this morning, but fortunately they finally caved in and canceled our evening performance. So I came home and took a much needed nap. (I was OUT! ) Now I am watching Harry Potter and the Oscars (flipping channels) and there will be knitting.

I'm still working on Anemoi of course.

This is a mitten in need of some serious blocking! And I have made several mistakes. There's a purl where there should be a knit in the cuff, light green where there should be dark green and as I was taking this picture, I noticed a dropped stitch.

Really, a person should pay attention while she is knitting charts!

I've been kinda of wishing that I had not reversed the colors when I did this. (Eunny's original has the light and dark reversed.) So, now I'm contemplating doing the second mitten with the colors the other way. Who says mittens have to match exactly?

Also, in a moment of boredom, I cast on for Knitty's Monkey.

That's the Briar Rose I got from Carolyn last week. I cast on and ripped out this yarn about 7 times before it finally decided it wanted to be Monkey socks. My picture doesn't really show the stitch pattern, but I kinda like it. And the yarn is just so darn pretty!

There are soooo many things I want to be knitting right now. If I could only figure out how to grow that extra pair of hands....

And this doesn't really help me settle on just one project at a time!

There are so many great patterns in here that I can't wait to knit. I need to start at the beginning of the book and just start knitting! I don't need to do all 25 designs, but there are plenty in here that I covet. I even kinda want to make the Embossed Leaves again.

(PS... this book is cheaper at Overstock.com than at Amazon....)

I'm off to do the snow dance and hope my kid shows get canceled in the morning!

2007-02-21T00:10:00.000-05:00

Terrible Horrible No Good Very Bad Week.

$388.00

In case you were wondering, if you turn your windshield wipers on and they make a horrible loud CLUNK noise and then cease to function, it will cost you $388.00 to repair them. Actually, it will cost you $388.00 if the stupid car people can manage to get the part in. And when they don't get the part in and it starts to rain, you will have to have people drive you around because obviously, you cannot drive in the rain.

Here are some more things for me to complain about....

1. It's tech week.
2. I got my period.
3. I don't like the show we are opening.
4. The show runs for four months.
5. This morning, my stage manager called me and said she was having problems with the lights. When she turned the light board on, all the lights came on and would not turn off. (This shouldn't happen.) This turned out to be a MAJOR problem and we lost an entire day of tech trying to figure out how to fix it. It turned out that a mouse or some other critter with teeth chewed through two cables in the light booth. Even though we were able to replace both cables, we still were having the same problem. Apparantly the chewed up mousie cables caused another cable to short out or something. Needless to say, it was a whole day of suck. We had a lot of work that we did not get done because we had no lights.
6. There are mice in the light booth.
7. Management refuses to believe there are mice in the light booth.
8. It's raining so I couldn't drive home and I now have no idea how I'm going to get to work tomorrow.
9. Becase of all the time we lost today, tomorrow is going to suck too.
10. $388.00

Ok, I know you aren't here to read about my bad week. So I'll post a knitting picture for those of you who managed to make it this far.

I wish I had more progress to show, but this was a bad choice for knitting during tech week. It requires way too much concentration. But I really like working on it, so I've been knitting whenever I get a free moment.

I wish I could just stay home and work on this instead of dealing with work and car issues tomorrow.

Whine, whine, whine....

2007-02-18T17:33:00.000-05:00

Hanging Out With the Girls

What better way to spend a Sunday afternoon than yarn shopping with knitting friends?? This afternoon, I met up with Jolene, Jody, Theresa, Laura, Eunny, and Larissa to check out a new yarn shop - A Tangled Skein.

After a yummy lunch (with a really irritating waiter) we grabbed our wallets and went shopping.

Sadly, I only managed these three pictures before my camera battery died.

The store is in what looks to be an old bank. I thought it was a nice shop and they had a decent selection, but they need more sock yarn! There was plenty of other yarn to drool over though. After much petting and fondling, I finally chose this:

Brown Sheep Wildfoote in Pine Tree and Mistletoe. I had never heard of this yarn before. I went to the shop wanting to get two shades of green sock yarn, so this definitely fit the bill.

At Christmas time, I had asked my parents for Latvian Mittens as a gift. Supposedly it was back ordered, and they still haven't received it. But my mom immediately said she wants a pair of Latvian Mittens. Since I don't have the book yet, and her birthday is coming up, I thought I might make her a pair of Eunny's Anemoi Mittens instead. (Thus the need for the green yarns.) Whether I actually give them to her or keep them for myself remains to be seen!

When I got home from the yarn store, I immediately cast- on for them. Two hours later, I finally had this:

Stupid tubular cast-on! I had never even heard of it before. So, of course I did a google search. The first set of instructions involved a crochet chain of waste yarn. I followed the instructions, and then when I pulled the waste yarn out, the whole thing fell apart. So I tried again. And it fell apart again. I went back to google and found another set of instructions. Despite the fact that it said "hold your needle in your arm pit" (that may work with size 10's, but not so much with the size 1's) I tried it. It involved wrapping the yarn oddly from one side of the armpit needle to the other. That didn't work. The site even had a video, but I still didn't comprehend it. Finally I found yet another page with instructions for the tubular cast on that required knitting with waste yarn. Hallelujah, it finally worked for me! I was so proud that I finally figured it out! Yay! It was time to knit a cuff!

I love two color knitting. A while back, I taught myself to hold one color in my right hand and knit English style and hold the other color in the left hand while knitting continental. I love it! I feel so ambidextrous!

So I happily attached my second color and started to knit the cuff when I suddenly realized that I was going to have to purl English style. AAAAAAAACCCCCCKKKKK!!!! I can barely purl continental! And I thought the damn tubular cast-on was difficult!

It's like I'm trying to knit with my feet while blindfolded. It is some completely awkward and foreign to me. SO frustrating! I get the concept - I know how to purl, but I just can't make my hands work that way!

But I kept going.

We will not discuss how long it took me to successfuly complete two rows. We will also not discuss that I have to do 17 more rows of this ribbing. And we will not discuss that I will have to do this all over again for the second mitten.

I'm trying to look at this as a learning experience.....

2007-02-13T17:22:00.000-05:00

SNOW!!!!

We are having a little storm here in MD. We got about two inches of fluffy white snow this morning which is now being coated in an icy glaze of freezing rain. Last I heard, there could be a quarter inch of ice covering the world by tomorrow. I already did the "bread, milk, and toilet paper" run to the grocery store, so I am happily enjoying my snow day! They've already canceled my matinee show tomorrow, so I get another snow day tomorrow! Yay!

I tried to get a cute "Poodle in the snow" picture, but she was being seriously uncooperative. This is the best I got:

Yes, the black blob in the middle of that picture is the Poodle.

I gave up and took paw print pictures instead.

There has been a lot of knitting going on here in snow land. But first, I want to show you some AMAZING gifts I have received over the past couple of days.

The ever-talented Jolene gave me a belated birthday present the other day.

Aren't they GORGEOUS??? She designed the pattern herself. And the name of the pattern? "Coleen" How cool is that?? I LOVE THEM. Thank you Jolene!!!

Yesterday, I went to the mailbox and discovered a package for me from Chicago. Hmm.... I don't think I know anyone in Chicago! I opened it up and found this:

That's a skein of Blackberry Ridge Mer-Made on the left and a skein of Briar Rose Sweet Freedom on the right. WOW!!!!

There was a note inside that said: "a fellow knitter told me you could use a yarn infusion. Enjoy." It wasn't signed, there was no name on the package. It was a mystery gift!

Well, a few emails later, and I discovered that the "fellow knitter" was Maryse. She was reading a blog and the blogger said that she had some yarn to give away and Maryse suggested she send it to me! So the very generous Carolyn of Girl Reaction sent this fabulous package to me - a complete stranger! Talk about Random Act of Kindness! I am so touched and thrilled! Thank you much to both Maryse and Carolyn for such a great surprise! I have already balled up the Briar Rose and cast on for socks. The colors are so beautiful! Lucky lucky me!

As to my knitting...

Pembrokeshire Pathways Socks
yarn: Knitpicks Palette in Blush
needles: um.... Oddly, I knit one of these magic loop on a size 2 Addi Turbo circ and I knit the other on size 2 DPNs. I didn't even realize I had done this until Lolly mentioned it on my Flickr page. I have no idea why I did this!

Modifications... I did an "eye of the partridge' heel instead of the heel in the pattern. I just love the way it looks. I also had two unintentional modifications. The cuffs on the socks are not the same length. I'm not sure what my problem was but one cuff is two inches and the other is three. Oh well. Also, since I am continually stupid about reading directions, I screwed up arranging the stitches for the instep on one sock, so the pattern gets a little mushy on the sides, but you really have to be looking for mistakes to see it.

Despite my mistakes, these socks make me happy. They are so girly and cute!

I also finished knitting my baby kimono. But I have yet to sew it together. I am terrible at finishing. I tried and it became a big lumpy mess. So I'm hoping that Jolene will take pity on me and give me a hand with the finishing.

2007-02-09T13:13:00.000-05:00

What I am knitting.....

What I should be knitting.....

I kinda snuck that baby kimono in on you, didn't I? Yeah, I started that yesterday in a moment of insanity. There are a few pregnant people in my life, so I decided to make a baby kimono. The insane part is that I just found out that one couple actually just miscarried. I am so incredibly sad for them. They are not people I am particularly close with, but I've known them for years, and they were both so excited to be pregnant. The news is devestating. The woman told me the whole story yesterday, we were both crying. Since she first found out she was pregnant, she kept saying "you'll have to make us a baby apple hat!" and I promised I would. After she told me yesterday that she lost the pregnancy, she said "One day, you will make me a baby apple hat."

So, I'm not really sure why I felt this need to knit a baby kimono immediately. But I did. I've been working on it insanely since yesterday and expect to finish it soon. I'm not really sure which pregnant couple I will give it to. I had my friend N. in mind when I started it, but he came bounding into work yesterday and told me that they are having a girl. So, I'll probably give this to C. whose wife is having a boy in March. N's baby isn't due until June or July, so I have some time to make something girly for them. There is a third couple that is due in June too, so I have that on the list too.

But I'll save knitting any baby apple hats until the right time.

2007-02-08T11:56:00.000-05:00

Hi Honey! I'm Home!

My fabulous Disney trip is over and I am home. We had a BLAST. Sooo much fun. But way too short! We did so much, and I still feel like there was a lot I missed. Disney has gotten so huge, you really need at least a week to appreciate it all. But we did our best to stuff as much fun into four days as we possibly could!

Our hotel was amazing - The Yacht Club. It was a very short walk to Epcot. Which is where we went the minute after we got in our room! Our first day, we did a few quick rides in Epcot and then headed to MGM for dinner. We had dinner at The Brown Derby - it was really yummy! After dinner, both my sister and my niece decided to go back to the hotel and go to bed, but I was still wide awake and wanting to play. So I went to the Fantasmic show which was super cool. It's fireworks, explosions, fountains going crazy, Mickey and all his friends, boats, stunt shows, and cartoons.

It was still really early after the Fantasmic show, so I headed back to Epcot to see the Illuminations show. Illuminations used to be my absolute favorite Disney show, but they changed it and I don't think it is nearly as cool as it used to be. But it was still a lot of fun. After the show, I wandered around Epcot and went on some rides.

Disney has this awesome thing now called Extra Magic Hours. Every day, a different park either opens three hours early or closes three hours late - and if you are a resort guest, you get to take full advantage of these extra hours. I stayed at Epcot till midnight and I felt like I had the park to myself. I was able to hop on rides with no lines. It was awesome and I was kind of bummed that my sister and niece weren't there to enjoy it with me. But it was also very cool to be by myself!

Saturday, we headed to the Magic Kingdom. My niece went on Space Mountain for the first time. She was so funny about it. She was absolutely terrified to get on it, but two seconds into the ride she kept saying "I wanna go on this AGAIN!!"

We went to visit Mickey. I've been to Disney four times and I had never met Mickey before. And surprisingly, I saw A LOT of Mickey over four days. He used to be much harder to find.

You might notice that my sister is wearing Icarus! She loves it and wears it almost every day!

Our best day was Sunday. We went to Animal Kingdom, which is such an amazing park. It doesn't feel like an amusement park at all. The landscaping and all the animals make it so peaceful and beautiful.

Our first order of business for the day was Expedition Everest!!!

This is Disney's latest roller coaster. My niece was scared to death to go on it. She wanted my sister and I to go on it first and come back and tell her all about it. But the line was crazy long, so we told her she had to come with us. She was interviewing everyone in line about the ride. She asked the people working there for full descriptions of what happened on the ride. She was a mess. Finally, one of the park people told her that it was no higher than Space Mountain and that calmed her down a bit. And I am proud to say, she went on it! And of course, her first word after the ride was "AGAIN!" It really was sooo fun!

While we were in line, my sister pointed out these knit items that were hanging from the ceiling.

Knitting fun in Disney!

Instead of waiting in that huge line again, we got fast passes to come back later. While we waited, we went to Flights of Wonder which is a live bird show that I absolutely love.

I don't think my sister or my niece really wanted to go to it, but once they did, they had a blast. I got to be a volunteer. They made me stand up and hold a dollar bill up in my hand. A giant bird flew from the stage, landed on my arm and took the dollar bill. He then flew back to the stage and tucked the dollar in the guy's pocket. Then they told me to hold my palm up and the bird flew back and put the dollar right in my hand again. It was good fun. My sister got some cool pictures, but she hasn't sent them to me yet!

All weekend long, I had a bad cough, but I felt fine so I tried to ignore it. Unfortunately, on Monday, our last day, the cough turned into a raging cold. My voice was completely gone and I felt HORRIBLE. I managed to drag myself to MGM and had a good time going on some rides, but my energy died early. My sister felt like she had hit the wall too, so we headed back to the hotel and hung out in the lobby until it was time to leave for the airport.

I'm still battling the cold, but I started feeling better today, so hopefully it will go away soon!

If you have any interest in the rest of my vacation picks, you can view a slideshow here.

As for knitting, I didn't get as much done as I thought I would. I made good progress on my second PPS though. Happily, there weren't a lot of lines to wait in, so my "waiting in line knitting" was minimal. I did have a really funny conversation with a guy in line for Pirates of the Caribbean. He had a thick Jersey accent and wanted to know what the heck I was doing with "all those sticks!" He kept asking detailed questions about how did I make cables and how did I know how to knit that particular pattern and how could I knit standing up(???!). But it's really hard to explain such things to a non-knitter, most especially a guy! My sister took off her Icarus shawl and showed it off to him too. He was suitably impressed!

So, now it's back to the real world. But I came back with some awesome memories!

2007-02-01T14:49:00.000-05:00

Who knew?

I just went to the grocery store to get some sinus meds because I am feeling a little snorfy. (Snorfy - it's a medical term meaning "congested.") Who knew that you have to get Advil Cold and Sinus at the pharmacy counter? AND, you have to show ID to get it. AND they copied down my name and address. It was so strange. I have the sniffles for crying out loud - I'm not trying to buy crack!

Anyhoooo...
I have been a terrible negligent blogger of late. I had two tech weeks in a row. We reopened "Buddy" in the Columbia space and then opened "The Full Monty" at the Baltimore space. Both shows are good fun. I even really enjoy The Full Monty despite the fact that people I have known for years get naked in it. MY EYES!! MY EYES!!! I brought Amie with me on opening night and she wrote a great review of the show on her blog.

During tech for Monty, I started a new knit...

It's my very first garment! It's Picovoli from Magknits, knit with all that Debbie Bliss Cashmerino I just bought. I am praying it fits. I am sooo not good with the whole gauge idea. And my math deficiency doesn't help at all. But so far, it's going ok. And I suppose I will take it off the needles soon and try it on. I'm a little concerned that it's not going to fit over my large chestyness. At Knitnite the other night, Amie gave me a little tutorial on doing some short row bust increases. The tutorial even came with visual aids.

I was quite amused to notice that if you turned it upside down, her breast drawing oddly resembled Bart Simpson.

hee hee hee!

I'm hoping that if I can manage the Picovoli, I will start my first sweater. The yarn finally arrived in the mail.

That's Ram Wools Selkirk. I got a really great deal on it - they were having a sale. The color in the picture isn't really true. It's darker, more of a wine color - really pretty. I love it. I think it is going to knit up beautifully. It's not so soft right now, but the label claims that it will soften with each washing. I'm looking forward to working with it, but I'm trying to be good and finish the Picovoli first.

Last night, Jolene and I traveled to the Textile Museum in DC for a reception for Caps to the Capital. If anyone was ever unsure about the generosity and kindness of knitters, this event certainly proved it. Caps to the Capital collected 288,000 caps for underprivileged babies around the world. 288,000. WOW.

Look at all those bags of caps!!!

They had a selection of caps on display at the museum - some from every state in the country.

So cute and creative. And such an amazing outpouring of support.

A local radio program did a great story about Caps to the Capital - you can listen to it here.

I kept looking at all those caps and imagining all the babies that would wear them. I feel lucky to have contributed.

So.....

Tomorrow...

I'm going to DISNEYWORLD!!! We were originally supposed to leave today. I'm not really sure why the plans changed, but I think my sister had to work today. We will be staying at the Disney Yacht Club. It looks amazing! sooooo excited! I promise to torture you all with lots of pictures when I get back.

I think I'm going to leave the Picovoli at home and bring a smaller project with me. I finally cast on for the second Pembrokshire Pathways sock. (I can't seem to bring up the webpage, so I can't link to it.) This will be my "waiting in line" and "airplane" project. I'm going to throw some more sock yarn in my bag just in case I finish the sock before my vacation time is over (unlikely, but possible.) I figure I can always work on a simple pair of socks if I finish the PPS quickly.

Well, I'm going to go pack. Please think "Good Weather" thoughts for me as it is supposed to rain in Orlando every day I'm there! Not to mention the snow and ice we are supposed to get here in Maryland that could interfere with my flight.

See you next week!

2007-01-22T14:29:00.000-05:00

And we have a winner!

Congratulations Jen! You have won my blogiversary give away! I have some sock yarn for you!

I promise, the yarn is much less blurry in real life!

I finished the Tychus hat and have already given it to the happy recipient.

He seems to like it. I wasn't totally happy with it. My finishing (as always) wasn't the best. You can't tell from the picture, but there is an unfortunate nipple-like protrusion at the crown! But I wore it myself all day on Saturday, and it's really soft and warm. So it serves its purpose!

And I gave it to him with perfect timing because Maryland finally got a little winter weather yesterday.

I was stuck at work all day yesterday, so I kept running out the back door throughout the day to do a happy snow dance. I LOVE SNOW! Unfortunately, we barely got a dusting which was then covered with a layer of freezing rain, but I'm still happy that it finally snowed. The warm winter weather we had been having was depressing me.

I had a pretty good weekend in general. We reopened "Buddy" on Friday night. Our first run of it was so popular that we brought it back for a very short repeat run. I think it is safe to say that we all love this show. It's a really stupid script but it is still a great show. So fun to both watch and work on. It's truly remarkable how pleasant everyone at the theatre is. We had all gotten really bad attitudes after suffering through our dreadful Christmas show. And now we're all in good moods and having a blast doing this show again.

This week, I will be up at the Baltimore space in tech for "The Full Monty" which opens on Friday. I haven't seen a run of it yet, so I don't know if it's any good or not. I love the show and the score, so hopefully it will be a good production. I'm not really happy about being in tech for two weeks in a row, but that's my job. Besides...

I'm going to DisneyWorld in 10 days!!!!
My new favorite pastime is to send my niece Disney related text messages every day. She is a tomboy to the end - hates all thing even remotely girly. So I keep sending her text messages that say things like "maybe you can get the Little Mermaid's autograph!" or "maybe we can go to the Disney Princesses pancake breakfast so you can meet ALL the princesses!" Her response? "I could only be so lucky."

I'm trying to figure out what knitting I want to bring with me. I figure I'll need some socks to work on while standing in line for rides. I think I may make the second Pembrokshire Pathways sock.

I'm still waiting for yarn to come in the mail. I got one of my orders on Friday.

Ten balls of Debbie Bliss Cashmerino. I got a really good price on it, but I'm not really sure what I'm going to do with it. It sure is pretty though. I love the dark orange color.

Well, I'm going to go back to being a slug. I don't have to be anywhere near the theatre today and I am enjoying it!

2007-01-19T14:52:00.001-05:00

Happy Blogiversary!

Yep, today is the day. One year ago today I started this crazy blogging thing! It's amazing to think of all that has happened in the past year in my knitting life. I have met sooo many cool people, gone to my first fiber festival, knit countless socks and other items, learned many new skills, and have made many new friends. I have loved every single minute of it. So, in honor of this occasion, I'm going to participate in that time honored knit blogger tradition and have a little give away. Leave me a comment between now and Sunday, January 21st and you will be put into a drawing for some fibery goodness. I don't know exactly what the prize will be yet, but it will be yarn! I'm really interested to see how many of you lurkers come out of the woodwork for this! Comment away!! Winner will be announced on Monday, the 22.

I got a present from my Dad in the mail yesterday.

He was so cute about it. He told me he found these at the craft store and thought of me immediately. He thought they would be perfect for knitting in the lightbooth at work! I didn't have the heart to tell him that I've knit with them before. He was just so proud of himself for finding them for me.

They are fun to play with!

I finally finished my Trekking Jaywalkers the other day.

They came out a little too big, but they sure are pretty! They did soften up a bit with washing, but they aren't nearly as soft as the other pair of Trekking socks I made. Hopefully more washing and wearing will do the trick.

I am impatiently waiting for two yarn orders to arrive in the mail. I want to start a sweater!! I keep checking the mail, but so far, no luck. It's frustrating!!! I've finally decided to try a sweater, and I don't have the yarn yet. Grrrrr.

In the meantime, I have cast-on for not one but two small projects.

A pair of toe-up socks using the GORGEOUS handspun that Amie gave me for my birthday. It is sooo pretty and even more pretty knowing that she spun it! I'm just doing simple toe-up socks, no real pattern. I don't want any stitch design to interfere with the pretty colors of the yarn.

I also just cast on for a Tychus hat.

A friend of mine has been bugging me to knit him a hat. He specifically requested merino or cashmere. Well, cashmere is a little out of my budget, but I did buy some Jo Sharp Silkroad which is a wool/cashmere/silk blend. And despite the fact that he is male, I'm going to trust that he will not throw this in the washing machine. He did offer to pay me to do this, but this will be a gift. I got this yarn the last time I was at the beach, but it has been so ridiculously warm here in MD, a knit hat seemed a little unnecessary. But the temperatures have fallen, so I figured I better start knitting!

There are rumors of snow in the forecast for the weekend. I am keeping my fingers crossed. I doubt it will be anything significant, but I really would like to see a little snow this winter!

2007-01-16T23:02:00.000-05:00

A present for me!

I got the most awesome gift from my friend Jolene today.

Tilli Tomas Mogul in Ruby Wine

Isn't it GORGEOUS?! I was lusting over this yarn at Stitches, but decided I had already spent too much money so I didn't get it. Jolene got this in trade for some test knitting she did and gifted it to me. Isn't she the best??!!

Now....
The question is..

What should I knit with it??

I thought maybe this...

That is Tweed Beret by Kristen TenDyke from the winter 2006 IK.
Obviously, it won't be so very tweedy if I knit it with the Tilli Tomas. But I'm a little concerned that a beaded beret might look a little too "1970's Disco Tramp." What do you think?

Any other suggestions out there? I'll just sit here and fondle it until someone gives me some ideas!

2007-01-14T21:37:00.000-05:00

All Done

Seriously quick knit! And I kinda like them!
I washed the left one last night in a little Soak. I haven't washed the second one yet. It's amazing how different the washed and the unwashed mitts feel on my hands. Soak definitely softened up the first mitt considerably. The second one is off to the sink right now!

Hmm.... I guess this means I should go back to knitting my jaywalkers now!

2007-01-13T22:54:00.000-05:00

Bored With Knitting Your Jaywalkers?

Then you should definitely spend your Saturday afternoon making yourself a Fetching mitt out of the yarn you just won!

Knitty's Fetching
yarn: Manos Del Uruguay in color 43, Juniper
needles: size 6 DPNs
Left mitt started and finished on Saturday, January 13.
.
This yarn is so pretty, but I think it may be a little too bulky for this particular pattern. I'm going to go ahead and make the second one tomorrow though. It's such a quick and simple knit, and I figure I'd rather have an FO than more yarn in my stash!

Not quite sure how I feel about this picot bind off. I've heard several people say that it seems to make the mitt too loose in the palm of the hand, and I would have to agree. But I think these will be a nice thing to wear when I'm stuck at the theatre programming the light board for hours on end.

2007-01-12T23:43:00.000-05:00

I'M GOING TO DISNEYWORLD!!!!

Oh yeah baby! That's right - I'm going to the Happiest Place on Earth! My sister called me tonight and invited me to go with her and my neice for four days in February. I am so excited!!! I LOVE Disneyworld. I haven't been in a few years and I have been dying to go back. I have been doing the happy dance all evening - much to the annoyance of my co-workers!

Work is going to be the tricky part of this. I am supposed to design, tech and open a kid show that same week. Fortunately, it is a show we've done repeatedly and is a very simple show to run lighting-wise. So I hope to design it and have everything ready to turn over to someone else before I leave. Who that someone else is remains to be seen....

Old old old picture of me and Tigger, back in the days when I was completely obsessed with all things Tigger. You will note in this picture that I am clad head to toe in Disney attire... Mickey hat, Tigger tee shirt, Winnie the Pooh socks and fanny pack (fanny packs were HOT back then, I swear!) and a Tigger watch. (Ugh I was such a geek!) Oh, and I'll have you know that Tigger did not feel me up or hit me! (Oy, what is this world coming to?)

In knitting news....
I am currently working on a pair of Jaywalkers in Trekking 100

Overall, I like the colorway, but I have to say that I am not really a fan of that sea green color.
I bought this yarn in NYC, and I really think I like it better on the skein than on the sock! Also, the yarn is horribly scratchy right now. My other pair of Trekking socks are incredibly soft and I love them, so I will assume that these will soften up with washing too. For some reason, I am completely bored with knitting these. I keep working on them because I really don't have anything else on the needles right now.

I do like pretty heels though!

So, in a step towards maybe, possibly, perhaps knitting my first sweater, I made a yarn purchase. I bought a sweaters worth of Ram Wools Selkirk in red. At the time I bought it, it was on sale for $3.85 per 272 yd. skein. I have no idea how I stumbled on this yarn - I've never heard of it before! Somehow, Google brought it to my attention. I haven't really been able to find any reviews of it, so if anyone out there has ever used it before, please speak up and let me know what you think. I did email a blogger I found who was currently knitting with it and she said that it is a little scratchy and has a bit of sticks and such in it, but that overall she likes it. She said her swatch softened up with washing. I figure for that price, I can deal with a few twigs. I didn't want to spend lots of money for my first sweater just in case I screw it up or hate it or whatever.

I meant to mention this in my last post, but I forgot. I recently won a contest over at Fruity Sheep for people who had donated baby hats to Caps to the Capital. I won this GORGEOUS skein of Manos del Uruguay.

Thank Lia!

Speaking of Caps to the Capital... I was invited to a reception at the end of January for Caps to the Capital. Supposedly, they will have the caps on display, and Cokie Roberts is hosting the event. I'm really looking forward to going. I hope they let me take blog pictures!

2007-01-08T16:33:00.000-05:00

Happy Y2K7!

Ok, I'm a little late wishing you all a Happy New Year! I've been wanting to blog for awhile, but just couldn't get myself together to do it. Combination of lazy and busy.

I hope you all had a grand time ringing in the new year. I am happy to say that I had an extremely quiet New Year's Eve hanging out at my sister's beach house. It was heaven. I brought The Poodle with me this time and had a blissful 4 day long vacation from the real world.

I was really surprised how many people were in Rehoboth for the holiday weekend. There were actually people on the beach! Lots of people!

The Poodle was not too thrilled with the whole trip. She didn't like the house at all. I think she was upset about not being in her own familiar surroundings. She especially hated the stairs and completely refused to go down them. (very steep and hard wood, so very slippery.) I had to carry her. And then on our last day there, she fell in the fish pond in front of the house. I was so bummed I didn't have my camera because she looked so pissed off! But despite her distaste for the house, she LOVED the beach. I had never taken her to the beach before. She never stopped wagging her tail. So cute!

Of course there was a fair amount of knitting while I was away. I diligently worked on Icarus. I finished working the final chart and went to get the instructions for finishing the shawl when I realized I forgot to bring the directions with me! ARGGGGH!!! I was so pissed! It was my goal, to finish the damn shawl while at the beach. Luckily, I had brought some other things to work on, but I was so irritated with myself for forgetting.

But....

I am delighted to announce....

ICARUS IS FINISHED!!!!

Tada!

Here are some pictures of it blocking. (Sorry for the horrendous color contrast between my red bed sheets and the purple shawl!)

Icarus Shawl
IK Summer 2006
Needles: US size 3 Addis Turbos circs
Yarn: 100% Cashmere laceweight from School Products
Started: October 2006 (not sure of exact day!)
Finished: January 6, 2007

This shawl is GORGEOUS! I am so happy about how beautifully this turned out. It is definitely my favorite thing I have ever knit. But sadly, I have to give it away! This is a belated Christmas gift for my sister and she is very anxious to get it. I sent her pictures of it and she saw it in progress so she can't wait to see it in person. I know that she will love it and truly appreciate it, but it is definitely hard to have to give it away!

I got so sick of working on this. I hated the endlessness of the first chart, but really - it's beautiful and worth the effort. I had a hard time blocking it because it was bigger than my bed. But I made it work and I love it.

I finished Icarus just in time to show it off to the knit girls. I had some friends over for a post holiday knitting party at my house this past weekend. I had a blast. I hope they did too!

So, I'm currently working on a pair of Jaywalkers - a little mindless knitting to pass the time until I decide on my next big project. I think I'm going to choose something from Victorian Lace Today, but I need to give my hands a break before starting anything too challenging.

2006-12-27T00:13:00.001-05:00

Bingle Jells

I have decided that my favorite day of the year is December 26th. Ya know why? Because it is OVER! I really don't mean to sound like Scrooge here, but Christmas seriously stresses me out and knowing that I don't have to deal with it again for an entire year is really comforting!

It wasn't all bad. On the 23rd, I went out to dinner with an old friend of mine whom I hadn't seen in quite a while. We went to the Hampden area of Baltimore to see the 34th Street Christmas lights. I have mentioned before that I LOVE Christmas lights. I had never been to 34th Street before and it was everything I had hoped for and more! It is an entire block of houses that goes completely INSANE with lights for the holidays. I loved every excessive, tacky, glowing, electric inch of it!

For more pictures click here.

So much fun! After dinner, we drove back to Columbia and went to The Symphony of Lights which is a drive thru Christmas lighting display. My friend had never been before and we had a great time.

I spent most of Christmas Eve desperately trying to finish Icarus. I finally conceded defeat somewhere around midnight. I just couldn't get it finished. And I was doing serious damage to my hands. They were both really painful and my thumbs were getting really tingly so I knew I needed to stop. So on Christmas Day, I showed my sister the picture of the finished shawl in Interweave and then showed her my progress so far. She is extremely excited about it and was very understanding about it not being finished yet. And she LOVED the Hedera socks I made for her! I love knitting for her because she is truly appreciative.

My sister left today on vacation, so I have some time to get Icarus finished. I only have about 10 more rows of the last chart and then the edging and finishing to do. But I'm going to take my time to finish it. I don't want to screw up my hands any more than they already are! Tingly thumbs are more than a little scary.

As for Christmas, yes it was pretty damn stressful, but there were some good things. I got some really great gifts.

I have been pouring over these books ever since I got them. The Victorian Lace book is gorgeous. There are so many beautiful patterns in it. As soon as I recover from Icarus, I'm certain I will be choosing something from this book to make. Supposedly, there is another book on it's way - it was on back order, so hopefully I'll have it soon.

Christmas dinner was an event. We were supposed to go to some fancy schmancy restaurant for dinner. My sister had made a reservation over the internet. Well, when she called on Christmas day to confirm, they didn't answer the phone. (I'm sure you can see where this is going...) So, she and I drove to the restaurant and sure enough, it was closed. (my sister: "I swear I got a confirmation email!!!") So, we drove around until we found something that was open on Christmas Day. We had a very merry Malaysian Christmas dinner! It was really yummy but I'm quite certain that my parents were fairly irked at the situation. Ah well! Wouldn't be Christmas in my family if someone wasn't irked about something!

I hope all of you had a delightful holiday, no matter which one you celebrate. Hopefully your days were filled with lots of knitterly goodness!

I wish everyone a Happy New Year! I will be celebrating New Year's back at the beach for four glorious days!

2006-12-20T19:56:00.000-05:00

Grrrrr...

When you do not read the directions and you knit 4 more rows of Chart 1 than you need to, it does not help in your efforts to finish the damn thing by Christmas.

2006-12-19T23:44:00.000-05:00

Finishing the hat
(anyone besides Amie or Katie know what that line is from?)

So last night at knitting group, I was discussing what to get for a friend of mine for Christmas. After much helpful input from the group, I decided that I wanted to make him a hat. However, since I am in Icarus crunch time, I would just cast one on, wrap it up and tell him that I would finish it for him next week .

Then, Laura pulls out some yarn she just bought at Joann's. It was Patons SWS. I loved it!(Laura has a nice review of it over on her blog.) It is a soy/wool blend that is self striping and super soft. Of course as soon as knitting group was over, I headed over to Joann's and bought a ball.

Like I said, my intent was to cast on, maybe knit a couple rows and then wrap the unfinished product.

I cast on at 8 p.m., right before Act one of my show

I cast off at 10:30 p.m., about 20 minutes before the end of Act two.

And now I will be sleeping with my wrist brace on because OW - fast knitting hurts!

I took these pictures with my cell phone, so the colors aren't really true. They are a tad lighter in real life. And not nearly so yellow/goldish - the yellow parts in the picture are actually more tan.

Simple hat - didn't use a pattern, but bothered Amie and Laura for assistance in the process!
Needles: Takumi 16" circulars, size US 10 - Next time, I would go with a smaller needle. This knit up a little loose.
Yarn: Patons SWS (Soy Wool Stripes) in Natural Navy

Again... Love love love this yarn!

Now back to my regularly scheduled Icarus knitting....

2006-12-18T22:20:00.000-05:00

THANK YOU!!!

Wow! Thanks everyone for all the awesome birthday wishes! I am truly overwhelmed. You are all so very sweet. I had a good birthday. My sister had a nice dinner for me on my actual birthday.

And then blogless Cheryl had a birthday/holiday party at her house this past weekend.

Front row L-R Eunny, Jen, Laura
Back row L-R Amie, Jolene, Erin, Lolly and that's me on the end in the pink sweater (cashmere! birthday gift from my sister!)
Cheryl took the picture so she is not in it!

It is completely coincidental that we are lined up by the color of our tiaras!

I got lots and lots of awesome gifts. Thanks guys!!! And many thanks to Cheryl for opening her home to us all. (oh and the chicken curry? YUM!) I have been blessed to meet so many wonderful new friends through this crazy internet thing. I am so grateful to have you all in my life.

I continue to slave away on Icarus. I am almost done with the last pattern repeat of chart 1. I'm starting to question if I'll be able to finish this by next Monday (aka: Christmas) but I'm really going to try. I have a fair amount of available knitting time this week, so hopefully a miracle will happen and I will finish it in time.

Off to work on it some more!

2006-12-12T23:56:00.000-05:00

Happy Birthday to ME!

Yep, it's official.... I'm old.

And since I'm old, I feel I'm allowed to torture you with baby pictures of me!

Here, Daddy and I show off our giant craniums. Hello gene pool!

I always have loved this picture. How cute are my matching coat and bonnet? I'm pretty sure this picture was taken on Easter so I think I'm about 16 months old or so.

I think I'm three in this picture, maybe two. It's my birthday! And that's my birthday loot. Anyone recognize that baby doll? I feel like she had a name.... Crazy to think this picture was taken on this day, 30 some odd years ago. (um... yeah, I turn 39 today. I can't believe it.) I'm sure that the bunny on my head is courtesy of one of my siblings.

Obviously, something was quite funny about my birthday. Perhaps I am laughing that I had a bunny on my head!

See, I was into the Arts, even way back then! I am a Prima Ballerina! And I obviously had killer fashion sense. Yes, I did put that outfit together all by myself. I believe the lacy item around my waist is a doily off the back of a chair.

I will be celebrating my birthday by waiting tables and doing a matinee. Then I have the night off from work, so I will be heading to my sister's house for a birthday dinner.

Somewhere between my matinee and dinner, I have to rush to the MVA because I just realized that my driver's license expires on my birthday! Oops!

See I'm old and I forget things!

2006-12-11T17:29:00.000-05:00

A Lovely Weekend

Actually, it was a lovely Saturday. Since I always work all day Sundays, I don't really get a weekend. But Saturdays are mine.

I was really productive during the day and finally got some cleaning done. My room was a big disgusting mess, and now it is CLEAN! I still have a fair amount of pre-holiday cleaning that I would like to get done around here, but I'm happy to have my room back in order. I have a plastic, three drawer storgage thingy under my desk where I keep all my crafty stuff. In my cleaning frenzy, I finally got around to organizing it. I can find my glue now! Now, if the magic laundry fairies would hurry up and get my laundry finished, I'd really be a happy girl!

Saturday night, S. came up and took me out to dinner for my birthday. (which is on Wednesday, the 13th.) We had a yummy meal at Macaroni Grill, followed by their sinfully awesome chocolate cake. I even managed to convince the waitress NOT to sing Happy Birthday in Italian to me. (They make you swing a dinner napkin over your head while they sing to you. Um... No thank you! ) S. and I have both been so busy, we haven't seen each other in ages so it was really nice to see him.

After dinner, we went shopping and I bought myself an early birthday gift.

That behemoth is my new, much needed printer. A particularly lucrative waiting shift, a sale at Best Buy and she's mine. My old printer was 11 years old and definitely showing its age. I'm kind of hoping that if my mother actually remembers my birthday, she will send me her yearly birthday check and then this can be my birthday present from her!

So far, I love it! It's a copier/scanner/printer combo. And, I can either hook my camera directly to it, or it has a slot for the memory card from camera. Fancy stuff! My only complaint it that it is HUGE and takes up way too much space on my already too small desk.

Many thanks for all the compliments on my latest crop of baby hats! Here is the rainbow/snowflake one all finished:

Oddly I think it looks much better in photographs than it does in person. The snowflakes are much easier to see in the picture. I look at this hat and all I can think of is "Pinata!"

I also made this over the weekend:

I'm not really happy with my knitting on this one, but it's still pretty cute. My floats are a little too tight, so the hat is lumpy. I tried blocking it a bit, but it's acrylic, so it didn't do much good. It will be getting some pompoms on it soon, because nothing's cuter than a baby wearing a penguin hat with pompoms on it! This one is going to my college friend's baby. Hopefully, she will send me a picture of him wearing it. I'm really looking forward to seeing one of my baby hats on an actual baby!

I started another hat for my pregnant college friend, but I wasn't happy with it and frogged it. I had found a different snowflake chart, but it was really too big for a baby hat. So, I will go back to the original pattern I have been using and make another black and white one.

Well, I'm off to bed. It's my last night as a 38 year old! :)

2006-12-08T16:12:00.000-05:00

Procrastinating

I should be working on this

That's Icarus. Still. I swear, I am still working on it. And I fully intend to finish it by Christmas. No doubt I will be blocking it on Christmas Eve.

But I needed a little break.

So, I've been knitting these:

Yep... More baby hats. Lisa is collecting hats to give to Caps to the Capital and Jolene is collecting hats for the kids at the Hopkins clinic. (go check out Jolene's site - the details are there. She will be collecting hats of all sizes through January. Help her out!) I made both of these yesterday.

I love the black one, though I kinda messed up the pattern. It's a 14 stitch pattern. I did it over 13 stitches. Duh.

I did the correct number of stitches on the blue one, but you can't see it at all! There are white snowflakes (flowers?) on it if you look really closely!

Today, I started a third hat that I expect to finish tonight.

I'm not sure yet how I feel about this one. It's the same snowflake/flower/star pattern, but I used a crappy rainbow yarn. I'll reserve my judgment of it until I finish it.

I also need to knit two more baby hats for friends. Every year at Christmas, I get together with a group of women that I went to college with. It is the only time I ever get to see them. They live all over the country, but all have family in Maryland. So Christmas is our only chance to get together. I look forward to it every year.

Last year, in a completely insane moment, I decided to knit them all flower washcloths from Weekend Knitting. I think I knit 7 of them in about a week and half. I was actually late to our dinner together because I was sewing the last one together. I paired each washcloth with a bar of hand-made soap. (not hand-made by me!) They turned out to be really nice gifts, but I will never knit 7 washcloths in a week and a half again!

So this year, I've decided to limit the hand knit gifts to two of the women in the group. One is my college roommate who just announced that she is expecting her first child in March. So, I plan to make another black snowflake hat, with the correct stitch count, for her. She is not a baby pastel kinda girl, so I'm quite certain she will appreciate a black baby hat.

And another woman in the group just gave birth to her third son last month. So I'll make a hat for her too. I think I'll do another fair isle type hat, but something other than the snowflake. (I do like that snowflake alot!)

Now I just have to figure out some other little giftie kind of thing that I can make/buy for the rest of the girls!

My mom sent me an email (2 emails actually...) asking what I wanted for Christmas. I sent her a list of knitting books that I want including Latvian Mittens: Traditional Designs & Techniques . She immediately decided that she wants a pair of Latvian mittens. She has never really asked me to knit for her before. I never thought mittens were really her thing, but if she gets me the book, I will make her a pair of mittens. And despite the fact that she can't remember what she had for lunch, I am quite certain that she will remember to bug me about these mittens until they are on her hands. I thought about making her a pair of Eunny's gorgeous Anemoi mittens for Christmas, but I think I will hold off and make her mittens for her birthday in February.

After all...
I still have an Icarus to finish!

2006-12-05T13:50:00.000-05:00

Aaaaaaahhh

It was perfection. I arrived at my sister's house very late, or very early I guess - 2:00 a.m. Saturday morning. I got up with the sun Saturday. Every room at the house has HUGE bay windows, so basically, when the sun is up - you are up! (thought I discovered on my as I was leaving to come back home that there were actually blinds on my window that I could have pulled down!)

I drove into Rehoboth and had breakfast at a little diner on the the main street. Then I just wandered around Rehoboth for a little while. I was really surprised at how many of the shops were actually open. Most of the tacky beachy shops were all boarded up, but the little specialty gift shops were open. I guess they were open for the Christmas shopping season.

Then I headed to the beach. It was a beautiful day, but really chilly.

Looking North on Saturday

Looking South on Sunday.

You will notice that there are NO other people on the beach. Anywhere! I had the whole beach to myself! It was incredibly peaceful.

After visiting the ocean for a bit, I headed back into town. I was hoping to go here:

That's Knitty Gritty of Rehoboth. And it was CLOSED. I was very sad! There was a sign in the window that said "we will be closed Monday, December 4." Um... Ok... How about Saturday, December 2?? It was supposed to be open!

After my yarn store disappointment, I went back to the house. I spend the afternoon watching movies, knitting, and enjoying the incredible view.

In the late afternoon, I headed to Lewes, DE. I hadn't been there in years. It's a cute little seaside town with lots of nice shops and restaurants.

So I'm strolling past a little antique store when I see this:

And in the window, I see this:

Yarn for sale?? why yes thank you, I think I will!

SCORE!

In the back of this little antique store was a yarn shop!!! Huzzah!

How cute is this place?? It's Ginger Moon yarn shop. I was greeted by Betty who I stupidly did not take a picture of. Betty was (according the shop owner) a Jackuaua - part Jack Russell Terrier and part chiuaua. Whatever she was, she was very cute. She obviously thought that everyone who came in the shop was there just to see her!

I figured since I was on vacation, so I could buy myself a little present or two, right?

Wool in the Woods in colorway High Sierra.
I need more yarn! really I do!

I've been coveting this book for awhile, so I finally bought it.

After a quick stop into a coffee shop for a mocha latte, I staked out a spot on the street to wait for the Lewes Christmas Parade!

So cute! I had such a great time! It was surprisingly long. I think every fire engine, scout troupe, and church on the Eastern seaboard participated in the parade. But the thing I truly loved about it was the small town feel. It was such a cozy, quaint and festive atmosphere. My camera does not like to take night shots, so these pics are a little hard to see, but trust me - super cute!

I drove back to Rehoboth feeling very festive and Christmassy. It was still fairly early, so I went to the Rehoboth Boardwalk to see the Christmas lights there.

(by the way.... note to Ava, I am using Flickr Toys to make these mosaics!)

A quick stop to buy a bottle of wine, and I headed back to the house. I had some pizza, drank some wine, knitted a bit and watched some mindless TV.

Sunday was very quiet. I went and got some coffee and breakfast, wandered the beach a bit, wandered the shops again and then went back to the house. I had contemplated going to some of the Rehoboth outlets, but they were insanely busy. I decided to continue with my peaceful weekend and avoid the Christmas shopping frenzy. I spent the rest of Sunday just hanging out at the house. It was wonderful.

It was so painful to have to leave. I did not want to come back! I definitely like the beach in December. It's an entirely different experience than the beach in August.

Fortunately my sister just said to me on the phone "You can use the house anytime you want!"

Yahoooooo!

2006-12-01T00:18:00.000-05:00

Pretty Hedera

Knitty's Hedera
Yarn: Tess superwash (I think the color is called "nutmeg")
Needles: Addi Turbo 40" circular, US size 1
Knit magic loop, two at the same time
started: November 4, 2006
finished: November 27, 2006

I could not be more pleased with these. I think they are gorgeous and are going to make a great xmas gift. They took me forever to finish, but mainly because I was being a lazy knitter. The pattern was very easy to memorize and it was also very easy to catch mistakes early. I am going to be sad to give these away, but they are destined for my sister!

I had fully intended on having an outdoor photo shoot for these, but I haven't had a spare second of free daylight time to photograph them. I haven't had a day off in two weeks! And in the span of four days, I will have worked 10 performances of three different shows and four waiting shifts. I am exhausted!

Fortunately I am running away this weekend! YAY!

I will be here:

Enjoying this view:

That is my sister's beach house. It's actually on the bayside, but only 5 minutes from the beach. She has graciously offered it to me for the weekend. Originally, she had invited me to go with her, but sadly there was a death in her husband's family, so she can't go. But she told me that I can go anyways. While I am seriously bummed that she can't go, I am still ridiculously excited. A whole beach house all to myself for an entire weekend!!! Sanctuary! I will knit and read and knit and shop and knit and relax and knit... And I will visit the ocean and try not to freeze to death! And most importantly, I will NOT be at work!

I did a little research and supposedly the boardwalk will be lit up with Christmas lights. I LOVE Christmas lights. Christmas in general tends to stress me out, a lot. I know that's sad. I used to love Christmas, but in the past few years, the magic has dwindled for me. However, I am huge sucker for Christmas lights. I love going to see the houses where the people have gone completely mental and covered every square inch of their property with lights and light-up plastic reindeer and giant blow up santas. I also love the more simplistic approach with a single candle in every window. Every year I will happily fork over the $15 it costs to go through the local hospital's drive through lighting display, despite the fact that it is the same every year.

So, slap some Christmas lights on the boardwalk and I will be a happy girl!

I've never been to the beach in December before, so I'm sure it will be interesting!

Have a great weekend everyone! I'll be on retreat!

2006-11-24T12:52:00.000-05:00

I'm FREEEEEEEE!!!

theatre stuff!

The show is FINALLY open. I am done with my two weeks in tech hell. For some stupid reason, it has become "tradition" for us to open a show on Thanksgiving Day. It sucks. I am always stunned at the number of people who decide to spend their holiday at a dinner theatre. Trust me, if I had any choice in the matter, I wouldn't be there!

The week actually didn't suck as bad as I thought it would. There were some huge problems with the show that had nothing to do with lighting, so I had it fairly easy. We were in amazingly good shape lighting wise. So I spent many hours doing nothing and getting paid for it. Love that. The lighting designer and I played Scrabble against each other on our Palm Pilots a lot. We were being terribly professional!

I'm going to be very diplomatic and say.. This show is not my favorite. (I'm being very very diplomatic!) Fortunately, it is a fairly short run, so I won't have to suffer through it for too long.
Hopefully the audiences will appreciate it for the holiday fluff that it is. I'm really interested to see what the critics think! (I know it's horrible of me, but I enjoy a bad review!)

After the show I headed over to my Aunt and Uncle's house for Turkey Day. I really wanted to just go home, crawl into bed and watch cheesy holiday movies instead of suffering the family holiday(two weeks of tech I tell you!), but I sucked it up and went to join the family. It's always nice to see my cousins, so for that, it was worth it.

Before

After

Before

After

That's my cousin's puppy Maggie. So cute! And very lucky. She was found wandering around a dump in Texas. She was very skinny and sick. A friend of my cousin's found her and took her in. Then my cousin adopted her. She is currently living with my aunt and uncle where she is thriving and getting pampered! And despite her incessant need to chew on my fingers, she was remarkably well behaved.

Despite the large chunks of free time during tech week, I didn't knit a whole lot, but I did get a little done on the Hedera socks.

I'm closing in on the toes! I think I might be able to get these finished by the end of the weekend. It's going to be hard to give these away. I love them. I hope my sister loves them too!

I'm going to go back to enjoying my day of NOTHING. I don't have to be anywhere until 5 pm. I fully intend to be a complete slug for the rest of the day!

2006-11-18T13:42:00.000-05:00

Bad blogger

so um... I said I was going to post on Thursday, and yeah.. um that didn't happen! My show opened Thursday afternoon. When it was over, I came home and crawled in bed. I didn't get up until Friday! So, no Thursday post. Or Friday for that matter! I've just been too exhausted.

I spent the week here...

(pardon the blur... my camera doesn't seem to like taking indoor pictures.)

Despite a really hateful tech week, the show had a fairly decent opening. No major train wrecks, the audience seemed to really enjoy it, a good time was had by all. But I was sooo glad when that curtain call was over! Everyone had been so stressed out and evil all week, I was really happy to get away from them all. Again I say... the best part about working there: I open the show and I LEAVE.

Leaving actually proved to be quite a challenge. Baltimore got hit by a serious storm. I walked 20 feet from the door of the theatre to my car and was soaked through. I couldn't believe how hard the rain was coming down. I got in my car and tried to maneuver my way home, but it was really scary. I couldn't see anything except rain. Sheets and sheets of it. Fortunately, the further south I drove, the storm lightened up. By the time I was back home, the skies looked like this:

My pictures aren't even close to showing how beautiful it was. In the bottom picture, the clouds were actually a really dark orange. Just gorgeous.

I almost forgot...
I meant to tell you all about my trip to see Altar Boyz. As I mentioned before, I was offered free tickets to the show. Sadly, the show wasn't selling at all. So, I invited the ever fabulous Erin to be my date for the evening.

After a few beers and dinner, we headed to the theatre.

To my surprise, we were in the very front row. (many thanks to producer Ken Davenport for the tickets. Apparently, he is a fan of my blog - HAAAAAAA!!!)

The show was a delight. It's about a Catholic boy band. The boys are Matthew, Mark, Luke, Jose and Abraham. It was funny, upbeat, totally toe tapping and rocking. And did I mention funny? It turned out that I actually knew the guy playing Abraham, Nick Blaemire. I was so impressed with him. He did a great job. They did some hard core dancing in the show, so much energy it was crazy.

After the show, Erin and I went to the stage door to see Nick. There was this crazy stalker groupie waiting for the boys. She was seriously a loon. She's seen the tour something like 8 times and saw the NY production 33 times. I have to say that the cast showed a lot of patience and grace in dealing with her cause she was clearly crazy. At one point she said to one of the guys "You have to hug me, I won't see you for a while!" Then Erin said "well, I won't see you either!" And he hugged her too. It was pretty funny.

So, if Altar Boyz comes to a town near you - go see it. It really is quite good. And it is extremely sad to me that it was selling so poorly. I heard that the Hippodrome had to cancel the first week of the Dirty Rotten Scoundrels tour due to poor sales too. If the Hippodrome can't sell tickets, what hope to smaller theatres like ours have? Go support live theatre people!

I guess I should get around to some knitting content, huh? I'm feeling like I'm in a bit of a slump. I am still working on the Hedera socks, but it's kind of a chore. First of all, I am having a lot of trouble with my hands. I don't know if it was the endless hours of programming the light board or what, but my fingers have been so painful lately. My wrist was bothering me the week before that, but thankfully that has eased up a bit. So, I've been taking it a bit slow with the knitting lately. However, I do have a progress shot for you...

Hedera socks modeled by the lighting board. I've actually made a bit more progress since I took this picture but I'm still not done with the decreases from the gusset. I really want to get these done soon so I can get back to the Icarus shawl. I'm still laboring under the delusion that I may actually complete both the socks and the shawl by Christmas.

It may be a bit before I can post again as I am headed straight back into tech rehearsals next week. We are opening a show on Thanksgiving Day. Always a treat. Then I will be heading to my Aunt and Uncle's house to suffer through the family dinner. Is it bad that I'd much rather come home and eat leftovers than have to deal with my family? Actually, to be fair, I am looking forward to seeing the cousins. Other than that - coming home is much more appealing.

Unfortunately, due to tech week, I'm not going to be able to make it to Knit Knite. Sad, sad, sad!

2006-11-15T00:35:00.000-05:00

A No Picture Post

Just a quick post to say yes I am still alive. I am in tech week hell at the Baltmore theatre this week. It is not going well, but I am striving to remain pleasant and upbeat. It's my favorite thing about working at the Baltimore space... I go in, program the lighting board, and LEAVE. People bitch and complain and I just nod and smile. I don't have to get involved in all the drama and stress and tension! I am going to have to run lights for the opening performance of the show, but then I will be going back to Columbia, where I will go right into tech for our next show there. Busy busy girl right now.

Not much knitting to speak of. Usually I am able to knit through rehearsals, but the lighting designer for this show is keeping me very busy. I've only been able to work on my Hedera socks for a few minutes. Which is probably a good thing because my hands and my wrists are KILLING me lately, especially with having to program the lighting board for hours on end.

I hope to have a post with pictures for you on Thursday evening. In the meantime... head over to Mama E's to read tales of our trip to see Altar Boyz. (which was completely AWESOME by the way! More about that from me on Thursday.)

2006-11-07T12:45:00.000-05:00

Stitches East

I have a yarn hangover. Three days after the fact! The day started bright and early with breakfast at Panera. A group of wild-eyed yarn addicts met for some pre-shopping caffeinated drinks.

That is Lolly, Laura, Diane, Jolene, Jen and the back of Suzanne's head. Jenna was there too, I somehow managed to not get her in the picture.

We all made the trek to Baltimore and met up with Erin, CAm, Eunny, and Stacey who made the trip all the way from MA for the occasion.

Before I ripped out my wallet, Erin presented me with an early birthday present.

That's the long sought after Handmaiden Seasilk!!! I LOVE IT. It is just beautiful. Thank you thank you thank you Mama E!! (She also gave me some chocolate, but oddly, it has vanished.... yum!) Erin didn't want me to be in a desperate search for it all day, so she gave it to me early. That Erin... she's the best. I am taking suggestions on what this wants to be knit into! Meanwhile, I shall pet and fondle it endlessly.

At some point during the day, some woman offered to ball it up for me - mainly so she could demonstrate her electric ball winder. I will say, it was very cool. However, with a price tag of $275, it is more than out of my range! She said that our knitting group should all pitch in and buy it. Ha! We'd all be fighting over visiting rights!

We tried to stay together. We tried to have a plan. We tried to be methodical in our shopping methods. But all that fiber just made us all dizzy and all our plans quickly dissolved into a yarn buying frenzy. I spent way too much money, but thanks to an extremely profitable waiting shift the night before, I was flush. I almost managed to stick to my shopping list. Here's the haul...

um... yeah, that's another skein of Seasilk up there in the upper left corner. Erin found three skeins of it hiding in a booth. She bought one, I bought another and Jolene got one too. The Noro is where I strayed from my shopping list. I've been watching Laura, Eunny, and Sarah knitting entrelac and I wanna try it. So, I bought two skeins of Noro to try out a little entrelac. Lord knows when I'll get around to it, so for now it is stash enhancing!

I also bought this

It is exactly what I was looking for. It's a little darker than the picture shows. I wanted a variegated yarn in greys or blacks and this is it. It will eventually become socks. I'm thinking perhaps it will become another pair of Jaywalkers.

And I bought this...

That's Tess superwash sock yarn. I love love love this yarn. The color, the texture, everything. I have been hearing about the virtues of Tess yarn for awhile now and was thinking I would probably get some at Stitches. When I saw the brown, I knew I had to get it. And as you can see, I immediately went home and cast on for some socks for my sister for Christmas. The pattern is Knitty's Hedera.

I think these socks are going to be gorgeous.

So, other than the Noro, I didn't stray from my wish list too much. I also renewed my IK subscription while I was there. I had a great time though it really was overwhelming and I don't feel like I saw everything. I wish I had time to go back on Sunday. But I guess it's better for my wallet that I didn't! Stitches has a totally different feel than MS&W. It felt much more commercial. And it was definitely all about the shopping. MS&W had more of a community feel to it. But Stitches was good fun nonetheless.

In other knitting news...

I finished one Pembrokeshire Pathways sock

There are mistakes, but overall, I think it came out well. The second one is going to be awhile in the making as I am now onto Christmas knits. Hopefully it will not languish as long as the Pomatomus socks have!

I also finished this

It's a simple 2X2 rib in Reynold's Smile. I have been wearing it nonstop since its completion!

And finally... How cool is this...

I got an email this morning from the director of marketing for the national tour of "Altar Boyz." Seems they did a search for Maryland theatre bloggers and found me. They offered me two FREE tickets to see the show at the Hippodrome in Baltimore!!! Yahooo! I'm going on Sunday! Earlier in the week, they sent me an email offering discounted tickets at $26. If you are at all interested in the discount, shoot me an email and I will forward it to you.

GO VOTE!

2006-11-07T11:14:00.000-05:00

2006-11-01T16:57:00.000-05:00

Color Changes

2006-10-31T13:02:00.000-05:00

Bite My Crank!
(betcha thought I wouldn't!)

Happy Hween! It's my favorite holiday during my favorite time of year and I currently feel like someone stuffed yarn up my nose. So congested. Yuck. So I will be spending my Halloween at home being a sick slug. I'm actually ok with being a slug today as the rest of the week is pretty crazy for me. On Thursday, I have to work three different shows... in one day... in two different theatres. Good fun! I am definitely not complaining - I am happy to have work!

So today is the end of Socktoberfest. I did not complete my Socktoberfest goal which was to finish my damn pomatomus socks. I really should just frog them and move on. I do really like the first one I made. I just can't seem to get the second one done. But I did start and finish the Pistachio Chip socks during Socktoberfest. And I am in the home stretch with my Pembrokshire sock.

I was having some issues with the instructions and got very confused when it came time to knit the heel. But I suddenly realized "um... Hello! You know how to do a heel!" So I just improvised. I decided to try an "eye of the partridge" heel. I think I messed something up in the middle, but it's fairly imperceptible.

I did make a bigger mistake in that I should have rearranged the stitches before starting the heel.

There should be two rows of purl stitches to the left of that cable. But, I am not going back to fix it! Besides... How pretty is that gusset!

I've decided that these are going to be for me. Mainly because they are not superwash. So, I'm thinking I may make a second pair for my sister in a darker, less girly color in superwash. I will be hunting for the perfect yarn at Stitches this weekend. I may change my mind about the pattern and do something different, but I definitely want to do a lace patterned sock in a solid color. I have a few other items on my shopping list for Stitches. I would like to find a variegated sock yarn in black and greys. And I will be hunting for Handmaiden Seasilk, though I think it may end up being a little cost prohibitive. We shall see!

Yesterday, I decided to whip up another baby hat to take to Stitches with me. They will be collecting baby hats for Caps to the Capital. I tried to get The Poodle to model it for me, but she was not cooperating. So thankfully, Patrick stepped in.

Much to Amie's complete disgust, this hat is 100% acrylic! (She apparently breaks out in a terrible rash at the very thought of acrylic.) The yellow is Caron's Simply Soft and the rainbow yarn is probably Red Heart, though I'm not really sure. I'm going to try to make at least one more baby hat before Saturday. I bought the Caron's specifically to make a baby lemon hat, so I think I shall stitch that up soon.

I hope you all have a safe and fun Halloween! Here's a little Halloween fun for you.... I warn you, it's a little addictive!

Pumpkin Patch

My pumpkin is in the patch under "lightingchick" if you want to check it out! If you make one, let me know... I'd love to see it!

2006-10-24T13:02:00.000-04:00

Pistachio Chip

Yarrow Ribbed Socks from Knitting Vintage Socks by Nancy Bush
Yarn: Pistachio Chip from Mama E's C*Eye*Ber Fiber
Needles: Addi Turbo US2 40" circular
Knit magic loop/two at the same time
Started: October 13, 2006
Finished October 22, 2006

When I saw this colorway on Mama E's site, I knew I had to have it. Love love love it. (I'm a big fan of green.) These socks were a super quick knit. The Yarrow Rib pattern is simple but works well with a striped yarn. I made them pretty long in the leg. They are a little big on me, just a little, but I'm hoping they might tighten up a bit after a washing. And they are sooo comfortable! Perfect for this crazy cold fall weather!

My Addis were not lying dormant for very long. Yesterday on the subway to the zoo, I cast on for the Pembrokeshire Pathways Socks. I had originally started to knit these with the Pistachio Chip yarn, but I found that the colors competed with the pattern too much. I got some Knit Picks Palette in the yarn swap, so I used that to begin these socks. I'm really happy with them so far.

I just love the little baby cables!

I haven't decided who these socks are for. Possibly for me, possibly for my sister for Xmas. Obviously, these are going to be some seriously 'girly' socks. I'm not really sure how my sister will feel about girly pink lacy socks. She's in her 50's, so I don't really think she does girly anymore! But I guess I will finish them before I make a decision. She may just love them.

I've been having serious issues with the calendar lately. I found out Friday evening that November is NEXT WEEK. I knew that I have to open a children's show on November 2, but I swear I thought November wasn't for another TWO weeks. How did this happen??? Where did October go?? Suddenly, I am extremely busy!

I have spent the last two months sitting on my ass doing nothing, and now suddenly I'm drowning in work. Work (read: money) is definitely a very good thing, but wow... I have to open four shows between now and Thanksgiving. Four and a half if you count the fact that I have to re-cue the lights for the children's show the weekend after Thanksgiving. I will be in tech for two solid weeks. We open a show at the Baltimore theatre the week before Thanksgiving, and then go immediately into tech for the Columbia show which opens on Thanksgiving day.

And tomorrow, I go into tech for a show at another theatre that I am helping out with as a favor to our lighting designer. She is leaving for Scotland on Thursday, so I am going in as her stunt double. She's hoping to have everything done before she leaves, so I will just be there in case they need to change anything before opening. Hopefully, nothing will change!

The one good thing about November occurring in a week.... STITCHES!

2006-10-23T22:45:00.000-04:00

Extreme cuteness

I went back to the zoo today. Can you tell?

In the words of Mama E.... I am completely broken about that baby panda. I think I'm a little broken about the otters too.

2006-10-21T16:36:00.000-04:00

Yeah, I didn't go either.

It's a beautiful fall day. There are hundreds, perhaps thousands of yarn crazed knitters enjoying the fun and fiber at Rhinebeck today. Me? No such luck. I've been home all day being a total slug. I watched "Bring It On", ate way too much candy corn, played Scrabble online and knitted. Eventually, I will have to drag my sorry ass to work. I'm cranky and I'm cold. And I'm not in New York buying way too much yarn. Grrrrrr.

I am however, getting some quality Socktoberfest knitting time. I am almost done with a pair of socks that I started at Mama E's birthday party last week. I don't want to show them off until I am done with them, so I will just give you a little peek for now.

That my friends, is what has to be the most perfect heel I have ever knitted. NO HOLES! It is a German heel from Nancy Bush's Knitting Vintage Socks. I have become a big fan of the simple ribbed sock patterns from this book. This is my third pair from this book. The patterns work so well with variegated yarns. (Speaking of Nancy Bush, be sure to check out Lolly's interview with her!)

I am having serious issues with wanting to start new projects. I want a new scarf, I want to make the Pembrokeshire Pathways Socks (you'll have to look around the site for the pattern, for some reason, I can't get a direct link), I want to make more baby hats and a friend offered to trade me back massages for a knit hat (I already have a similar arrangement with a different friend. I made him an afghan for his mother for xmas several years ago and now I get back rubs whenever I want them - excellent deal.) (oh, and he's REALLY good at it!)

And none of this even takes into account the fact that I still have the Icarus Shawl to finish and the Pomatomus socks that I STILL HAVEN'T FINISHED!

Yesterday I had lunch with a friend of mine whom I had not seen in AGES. We had a really nice time catching up - she truly is one of my favorite people and I'm sad I don't get to see her more often. I got to see her daughter who is about 20 months old and SO cute. As a christening gift, I made her a crocheted sheep. I was thrilled to see the sheep yesterday - it is dirty and ratty looking, obviously very well loved. I couldn't have gotten a better compliment! I just emailed her asking for a picture of the baby with the sheep, so hopefully I will be able to show you someday.

Well, I'm going to go back to pouting about Rhinebeck. I hope you all have a great weekend whether you are at Rhinebeck or not!

2006-10-15T00:51:00.000-04:00

Stealth Knitting

I haven't been able to post about my knitting this week because I was making this:

as a birthday gift for my friend Mama E:

It's Shedir from the special Fall 2004 Knitty issue. I had been wanting to try this pattern for a while - and who better to make it for than my friend Erin! Somewhere in the past few days, I have successfully lost the label for the yarn and so I can't remember what kind of yarn it is! But I can tell you that it is a cotton tweed. The hat was knit on US size 3 needles. And I made a few modifications. I twisted all of the knit stitches (knit through the back loop.) I really like how the twisted knit stitches make the cables pop. I didn't do all the pattern repeats - I think I did three instead of five. It just seemed like that hat would be way too big with all the repeats. (Gauge? What gauge??) I was having a really hard time with the "purl 2 together through the back loop" stitches, so I just gave up and purled two together. This turned out to be a really challenging knit for me. But it was definitely worth it! I'm happy with how it turned out, and Erin says she loves it!

I gave Erin her gift at her FABULOUS S&B Yarn Swap Birthday Party! I think it's safe to say that we all had a blast.

There were friends

Jolene, Amie, and Jen

Lolly

Erin and Eunny

There was yarn cake (made by Amie - so cute and so yummy!)

There was knitting

There was wine

No really! There was wine! I swear!

And there was some serious YARN SWAPPING!

Check out that pile!

I was thinking "oh this is great! I'll be able to thin out my stash a bit!" Then of course, I came home with this:

I brought 10 skeins and came home with 10 skeins. So much for thinning...
If you click on the picture, I labeled what everything is.

Many thanks to CAm for having this great party and inviting us all to her gorgeous house. Great food, great fun!

And one last time....
Happy Birthday Erin! XOXOXOXO

2006-10-10T21:37:00.000-04:00

Acting On Impulses

So here's what I've been up to the past few days....

SATURDAY

No, that is not me under all that armor! Saturday, went to the Maryland renaissance Festival. A yearly tradition. Drank too much beer, ate too much food on sticks. More pics here.

SUNDAY
Worked all day. A necessary evil.

MONDAY

Decided to head to Great Falls for the day. It's one of my absolute favorite places in the DC area. It was the perfect day for it. I went to the Maryland side, though I really love the Virginia side too. There are beautiful parks on both sides of the river, in both states - each with spectacular views. I walked along the C&O Canal and just enjoyed the beautiful weather and scenery. I even brought some knitting! It was a really nice escape. More pictures here.

TUESDAY

I woke up this morning and for some strange reason, my first thought was ZOO! So I hopped the Metro and headed into DC. How cute are those pandas??? That is Tai Shan, the new baby panda and his mom Mei Xiang. SOOO CUTE! I stood and watched them for over an hour. Endlessly entertaining. They are opening a new Asia exhibit at the zoo next week. The pandas will have a brand new habitat. I will definitely be going back! Way back, many many years ago, when dinosaurs roamed the earth, (um... 1972 to be exact) I remember when the zoo was given Hsing Hsing and Ling Ling. My family lived in New York state back then, but my parents brought me here to DC just to see them. I was OBSESSED with them. I had panda toys and tee shirts and posters - all the cool panda swag. Well, after watching Tai Shan today, my love has been renewed! So damn cute!

I hadn't been to the zoo in forever. I couldn't believe how much it has changed. They have done a lot of great renovations and updates. I was really impressed. But I kept getting lost - it is a BIG zoo! I used to know my way around there, but so much has changed!

I even got to watch this guy pick food out of a hippo's teeth! It was kind of funny. The guy kind of splashed his hand in the water, the hippo swam right up to the edge. The guy said "c'mon, open up!" and the hippo happily did so!

He's not nearly as cute as Tai Shan, but still... pretty cute!

More zoo pictures here!

and one more here....

heeeee!

2006-10-09T18:15:00.000-04:00

Happy Birthday Mama E!!!!

Just wanted to wish my friend a very very happy birthday! Love you friend!
Go over to her blog and wish her a happy birthday too!

2006-10-05T00:48:00.000-04:00

More obsessive knitting

There are babies in my life that I cannot knit for.

One of these babies has been on my mind quite a bit lately. (and just to be clear, no -I did not sneak out and give birth while you weren't paying attention - ever.) It occurred to me last night that there were plenty of other babies out there that I could knit for.

In another spurt of insanity knitting, I made three baby hats in the past 24 hours. I made the yellow one last night when I got home from the Baltimore SnB. The blue one was created during my matinee this afternoon and the apple hat (my favorite) was born during my evening show.

Details....
The yellow hat is from a Kate Gilbert pattern that I don't remember purchasing, but was on my computer. In my typical way, I didn't read the directions and didn't realize that the hat was to be knit on 6 DPNS. I used 5 and so there are only 4 points on my star. But it came out ok anyways.

Pattern: Shining Star by Kate Gilbert
Needles: US6 DPNS bamboo... Clover, I think.
Yarn: um.... yeah... um...That right there is some Red Heart Super Saver. Aaacck! The dreaded acrylic!

Confession... see, back before I was a knitter, I was a crocheter. And when I was a crocheter, I got the brilliant idea to make a giant afghan that had pigs all over it it (for a friend with a pig fetish.) I bought way too much icky Red Heart, started the afghan, never finished it and even threw out the pieces of it that I had completed. Now the overflow of Red Heart is lingering in my "sub-stash." It's not even allowed to share space with the yummy wools I have in my real stash. I am blaming Amie for reintroducing icky Red Heart into my life. (See the black and pink blob in my last post for reference.)

I would like to take a moment to apologize to the baby who receives this hat. I'm sorry the yarn is scratchy and icky. Hopefully the fashion value and cuteness factors will override your discomfort. I can only hope that you outgrow it quickly.

Pattern: Becky's Preemie Fruit Orchard Hat
Needles: US 6 DPNS and a crochet hook
Yarn: Lionbrand Wool-ease and scraps of Cascade 220 (Wool-ease also from "sub-stash" and crocheting days.)

Again, I apparently did not use the correct number of DPNS. The pattern doesn't specify, but by the end of the pattern I got the impression I was supposed to be using 4. Of course I was actually using 5. So this hat is not really preemie sized. But it is definitely baby sized and super cute. I had left the pattern at home when I was making this. But I remembered that it said that the leaves were crocheted. I have no idea how I was supposed to make them, I just made them up myself. Wool-ease is not a bad yarn in my opinion. I have contemplated using it to make my first sweater someday.

Blue hat
Pattern: a modification to the Fruit Orchard hat
Needles: US 6 DPNS
Yarn: Caron's Simply Soft

My modification is that I just made a longer icord at the top of the hat and tied it in a knot. And the incorrect number of DPNS were used again!

I am fan of Caron's Simply Soft. For an acrylic yarn, it knits up nicely and really is very soft. Perfect for baby.

All three hats will be donated. There is a charity knitting event happening in Columbia next weekend, I plan on dropping them off there. I figure this was a good place to channel my obsessiveness. And since they were ridiculously quick and easy knits, I may just have to make more.