The. Harlot. Cometh.
I just heard... apparently the Yarn Harlot (do you really need the link?) is coming to Kingston. A talk and a signing at the Kingston Chapters on Princess. A week from tomorrow, Wednesday, November 8th, sometime in the evening.
I immediately started thinking: what will I take to knit??? Then I checked my schedule.
I am crestfallen. I have to work. I can't get out of it. This is a BIG drag.
In other news, here's a pic of some Kureyon (so appropriately named 185), I picked up for
Norovember, destined to become a multi-directional Christmas scarf. (Thanks for the inspiration,
Tammany).
Also, as promised, the hat in the works. More details
a few posts ago. Can I just say... Malabrigo makes me happy. This is lime blue, and it's just so squishy and soft that I love having it in my hands. Somehow I got 2 stitches off somewhere (? damned if I can find it???) but I'll make up for it when I get to the decreases. Knitting is not an exact science.
Want versus Need
And the winner is... aww, let's not even go there.
(and for the record, it's called STASHING, not HOARDING.)
I just placed a very large order (for me) at
Webs.
I am filled with the glee of lovely things about to be delivered. Visions of alpaca, of merino, dancing in my head. With a teeny, tiny twinge of... oh god, I just put a large order (in USD) on my credit card.
Can't wait to get my parcel!!!
Edited to add: For those who were wondering, I ordered some stuff for two projects in Melanie Falick's Handknit Holidays. Some Fiesta La Boheme for the scarf/hat set, and the Blue Sky Alpaca required for the Santa hat. I know, I know, it's cornball, but it's adorable and I want it. Also ordered enough Reynolds Odyssey to make the Here and There scarf from Scarf Style. Oh baby! At least I have a plan for the new stash!
in which there is a FO and a new technique
I give you Wavy!
A super-speedy knit for the likes of me, she was completed in under 2 weeks, and she is
L-O-N-G! (about 6 feet)
I used almost 4 whole balls of Noro Kureyon in 92 which, despite its name, is a cheerful, happy kind of colourway, perfect for its intended recipient. Yes, I will be giving this away. But I think I'll test drive it first... then wash, fold, and know that I'm sending someone a nice Christmas prezzie.
And speaking of Christmas prezzies, who wouldn't love a hat made out of Malabrigo worsted? In lime-blue? And made from the
Official Kitty hat pattern (minus the ears... the intended recipient would not want the ears. Or the pompoms.)
I totally ripped this idea off from
Jared's hat parade last year over at
Brooklyn Tweed. But it's a good one.
And a new technique for me... well, this comes from the obsessive tendencies of an impatient "instant gratification is too slow" kind of knitter. I wanted to start my hat immediately. Last night. A Friday night. The LYS was already closed, and of course, I did not have the correct sized needle. A size 7 (that's 4.5mm), 16" circular, plus a set of dpns. Optimistically, I headed over to Michaels with my weekly 40% off coupon (do they really think they're making any money with those???). They did not have what I needed. They did, however, have 2 29" size 7 circs. So I bought them, intent that I could teach myself the "magic loop" technique, or whatever. I could, and I did, and I have about 1/2" of hat, so far.
Sorry for the crap-tastic pics. It's grey and rainy and depressing around here today. But here it is so far.
(Argh. Blogger behaving badly. You'll just have to believe me. I'll post it tomorrow when it's bigger.)PS: Patty - you can TOTALLY handle the wavy. It's simple. Get yourself a row counter, and write out the pattern in full (none of this "as row 5" junk). In fact, I can e-mail you a copy if you'd like it.
PPS: For anyone else who loves Noro, Minxknits had a good idea:
NORO-vember! This is a KAL I can get on board with!
Handknits mean someone loves you.
I want to show you guys something:
This is a giant Paddington Bear sweater that my mom knit for me several years ago.
It’s enormous, warm and bulky, it weighs a ton, has a hood, and it’s absolutely adorable, and mom knit every stitch for me. I wear it mostly around the apartment when it’s cold, and now that I’m a knitter too, I know just how much work and care went into it. (look closely at the little brown tag: Please look after this bear.)
Handknits mean someone loves you. It’s one of the reasons I gift-knit. How often do we knit for someone we don’t really feel strongly about, right?
Okay, there was that one scarf, that one time, for that one not-quite-mother-in-law, but it was only to try to make her like me. I realized later that NOTHING could have made that B!+@# come around(!), but still, I tried with a handknit. Come to think of it, I guess I *did* feel strongly about her. Just not GOOD strongly.
Conclusion, handknits (generally) mean someone loves you. Love you too, mom.
I'm in love...
With my Noro Kureyon 92, and the
wavy pattern. I've never knit with Kureyon before, and I LOVE it. Did I mention I love it??? I think I prefer it to Silk Garden, even. I like something wooly that you can feel in your hands like that. And I love the vibrancy of the colours, and the way they change. I knit nearly the whole ball in 1 day. 2 whole repeats (of the 44 row pattern) yesterday and another this morning. THAT'S how in love I am! I could potentially finish this entire scarf in one week, and we all know what a s-l-o-w knitter I am!
Feeling slightly creative today(probably because of the sunshine), I went to a nearby park and found an obliging tree for my photo efforts today. And thus cemented my image as a crazy person. People were looking, seriously. I'm still a crummy photographer, but I give you: Clapotis.
Edited to add: Nearly 7 balls of Noro Silk Garden in 225, but I added an extra repeat in the straight section because I wanted it a bit longer. Slight annoyance at yarn which broke several times -- found SG was not a consistent yarn, sometimes fuzzy and thick, not really spun in those sections, sometimes scary thin. But overall, it's still gorgeous and I'm really happy with it!!! (extra soft after the Eucalan spa treatment, too!)
kicked out of bed for...
I actually slept on the couch last night so that Clapotis could finish blocking. As
Heather pointed out, for some reason that Silk Garden takes a long time to dry. She's done now, and she's soft(er) and lovely, but I'll wait for the morning light to take a reasonable photo. I've learned that when I take evening photos, we end up with horrible pics like this one:
Badly lit, funny face, out of focus, self-portraits. And another finished object: the Teva Durham's Turtleneck Shrug from
Scarf Style. I finally sewed in the ends, Friday night/Saturday morning. I'm a finishing fiend this weekend. With Christmas giving on the brain, I felt like I had to clear the cache a bit.
So, tomorrow I owe you a good Clappy pic, maybe a better shrug pic (if I can figure out a way), plus I'll show you my new love.
For tonight? I'm about to browse the stash to see what can be Christmasized this year. Wish me luck. It's not stashbusting, exactly, more like budget-busting. Happy Sunday.
Clap-happy
Two posts in one day. What's gotten into this girl??? I'll tell you what... she's clap-happy! It's a finished object.
Not blocked yet, but I'll do that tomorrow. Today I wore it out. And graciously accepted compliments. Thanks for the blocking suggestions. I'll get on that tomorrow, then take a better picture. But doesn't she look pretty with my fall velvet coat??? :)
Also, since I had a FO, I thought it was okay to hit the LYS for some stashy-stash. Seems fair, right? So here it is:
Noro Kureyon alluringly named... 92. Blues, greens, pinks, purples, and a little bit of a coffee yum. This photo ALMOST does it justice, but it's so grey and crappy out today that lighting was an issue. Anyway, it is soon to be
Wavy. (Thanks for the inspiration,
Anny). If I'm feeling generous, it may go in the Christmas present pile. But I suspect I will love it too much to part with it... we'll see.
One more funny. For any cat lovers:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z9eiRbFdhb4The cat's expression is worth the price of admission. The dancing is kind of funny too...
Have good weekends. I'm going to sew in the shrug ends. (so ambitious today! maybe the unlucky days agree with me?!)
sew much sewing
Okay... the knitting is done. Clapotis is knit, the shrug is knit. The ends have yet to be sewn in.
My clapotis seems a bit wibbly at the first corner, slightly bigger (?), but maybe it's just stretched out. I'm hoping blocking will fix it. I have a confession to make, and I'm hoping you can help me... I'm not sure what I'm going to block on, because I've actually... never really blocked before. I don't have an extra bed, I don't have a carpeted room. I'm thinking about pinning it to a yoga mat? If you have any suggestions, they would be welcome.
As for the shrug, a few ends have been sewn, but it's time for me to finish these projects. Today, I hope. Barring disaster of some sort (after all, it IS Friday the 13th). Then I can start the holiday collection.
In the meantime, here's the latest in my stash acquisition. An ADORABLE sample knit up in the
Muskoka Yarn Connection lured me into this froggy-hat kit, knit in a bulky luxury alpaca. I think it will knit up quickly. I don't know whom it will be for. Perhaps even for me... (it's THAT cute, and I'm THAT immature).
FOs coming soon...
Edited later to add: OH HELL. I was just putting my little froggy kit back into the bag when I noticed the instructions. It's CROCHET. I don't crochet. I guess I'll either have to adapt the pattern to suit my knitting habit, or learn to crochet this frog. Guess I was lured in by the soft, soft yarn, and the cute face. What we won't do for a cute face. Damn.
laugh til it hurts
Everyone, please, for your own sakes... go have a look at the first picture in this post:
http://yarnovermanhattan.blogspot.com/2006/10/entertaining-eye-candy-friday.htmland try not to injure yourselves laughing.
gobble gobble
Okay, Blogger is still behaving badly, but I think I finally got the pictures up. Clapotis is a little farther along now, not too many decrease rows left. It will be finished over Thanksgiving, blocked next week. The openwork is on the go, a little too fiddly for my liking, but quite pretty. Tough to tell, because I think it will really need a good blocking to show off the pattern, but you get the idea. More after the weekend... maybe even a FO or two. (I'm taking the shrug and the sewing-up needle on my Thanksgiving weekend... here's hoping the magic finishing fairies come in the night).
Happy Turkey!
SP8 and WIP, or bad blogger redeemed...
Okay, I stink. I know, I know. It's been a while, I'm an irresponsible blogger. But here's the good stuff.
First of all, I want to say a big giant thank you to my awesome Secret Pal,
Heather. Heather was so crazy super unbelievably generous throughout the Secret Pal exchange,
and best of all, we exchanged a lot of e-mails, some of our artistic work (she's a talented writer), and I feel like I have a new friend in Calgary. I hope we get to meet in person one day!
Here's a photo of her final package: a "here comes treble" nightshirt (yeah, she got to know me pretty well), some
Sweet Georgia sock yarn in Blue Steel, some native Canadian Wild Rose seeds, native to Alberta and BC (I will do my best. Plants tend to commit suicide around me), a postcard DVD o fthe Canadian Rockies, and a girl's best friend next to yarn: a
Moleskine journal. I love these books. I write in them exclusively.
If you're a wordy person who writes and you've never had a Moleskine, get thee to a store and get one. You will LOVE it. Warning: you will also become addicted, incapable of allowing your pen/pencil to touch other notebooks. They're really special.
As is Heather. Heather, I had such a great time getting to know you! You're an incredible (and prolific!) knitter, a talented writer, and an inspiring human being. Plus you're super generous and you sent me cashmere!!! (If you didn't see the incredible spoiling Heather bombarded me with, check out
here and
here as well). I'm really glad the fates matched us up, and I hope we will be in touch for a long time...
Now... a nearly FO. The shrug. I have to sew the ends in, but here it is. 3 skeins of Patons Classic Merino in Tree Bark Mix. I have mixed emotions about this one. It's knit entirely in the round, 3x3 ribbing, and spiritually I finished this project before the knitting was done. That's an awful lot of 3x3 ribbing.
As for the garment, it's kind of weird. I like it, but I know I'm going to have to defend it when I wear it in public. "Why didn't you knit a whole sweater?", and so on. One friend's husband said "Oh! No, it's nice... I thought you were kidding that it's done". Uh-huh. Anyway, it's warm and cozy and a beautiful color, and I hope I never knit that much ribbing again. End rant.
I'm quite happy with the progress on Clapotis. (and now blogger decides photos are not really necessary... I'll try again later with that one). I'm 12 rows away from the decreasing, and I'm pretty sure I'm going to have enough Noro. I'm also pretty sure it will be long enough. (hints from previous Clap-knitters? Did you do only 12 repeats in the straight section? more/less?)
I hope I like wearing shawls. I've never thought of myself as a shawl girl, but I've never spent this much money on shawl materials... (it IS silk garden!).
Last but not least, I started an open-work scarf in Rowan Kidsilk Haze. (still with the photo uploading... grumble). Inspired by
kmkat and pattern found
here. I've had this KSH for a while, looking for a good openwork project. It's a simple pattern, I think it will turn out well, but all that wrapping is a bit fussy. Am I the only one who finds KSH a bit of a pest to knit with??? I keep reading that it's the crack-cocaine of knitting; this is my second project, and I'm not that enamoured yet. Sure, it feels nice, but it's like knitting with cobweb. Maybe I need a few more hits to get addicted. Maybe I'm just not a lace girl.
Christmas reconnaissance has officially begun. I think the girls at
Wool-tyme think I'm nuts. 2 visits in 2 days with no purchase, just a lot of touching. Choosing for others is so much more difficult than choosing for myself. I KNOW what I like... more on this later. (but not much more; these are for surprises).
Okay, I hope that's some good blog redemption. Talk to you soon.
