Random knitterly thoughts.

Well, the second skein has been located, so Rogue will (eventually) be finidhed.

I've got nothing today to share, except some knitterly progress. Sorry for no pictures, but these are gifts for those who read the blog.

The felted clogs are done and washed. Pictures to come.

I have turned the second heel on the birthday retro ribs, and now more tedious ribbing to go. I have to say even though the ribbing gets old pretty quick. the finished socks are awesome, and very stretchy.

I'm on the last repeat before the edging of Wendy's kiri. then it's some blocking and off to Wendy by next week.

Remember my green Odessa? I had started the decreases, only to realize I had missed a couple beads. I ripped it out and started over.

My friend's baby girl turns one next week, and I've promised the little girl a bunny hat. It just needs a face.

I've decided against putting the lace edging on my pie shawl, I owe you a modeled shot.

I'm hoping once I finish up some of these gofts, I can get to work on my sockpal socks.

Hey, Brother, can you spare a skein?

Thanks for all your comments on Rogue. I'm not so much upset about not finishing on time, as I am that I have run out of yarn. When I went to order more, they were out. (Does anyone have a skein of Bartlett Rangley 2 ply in winter berry hanging around?)

But I have had a pair of birthday gift retro rib socks, a pair of birthday felted clogs, and Wendy's thank you kiri to console me. (Wendy, I'm two repeats from the end. I'll be needing your address soon.)

Also, for those of you who might be concerned about my mention of doctor appointments, do not worry. Nothing major if afoot.

fall before the finish line.

Erin is too upset to blog today. Yesterday, as she was working to finish the second sleeve of her Rogue. She started her sleeve cap, only to realize the shad only 9 inches of yarn left. No Olympic gold here.

Why do I do this to myself?

I have one Rogue sleeve. Yes. One. Actually not even one. Will I finish on time?

Not if I continue to gallavant with all these other projects. Last night it was baby bonnets. or rather writing baby bonnets patterns.

I'll be posting the free (and tested) pattern here. I'll post pictures this weekend. as soon as they are dry.

The New, Improved, long awaited...

(Red is side view, blue is folded with top edge and bottom edge touching.)
...baby bonnett pattern.


Baby Bonnett

Size: Newborn to 3 months
BLUE
frog tree alpaca, 137 yards. (sport weight)
Size 4 needles or size needed to obtain gauge
3/8" Ribbon
2 Stitch markers
Gauge:24 Sts= 4 inches


Size: 3-9 months
RED
some sort of Dale of Norway(Dk weight yarn)
Size 6 needles or size needed to obtain gauge
5/8" Ribbon
2 Stitch markers
Gauge:
22 Sts= 4 ins



Instructions are the same for all sizes of bonnets. They are worked in different gauges to achieve the different sizes. I would imagine this pattern may work with worsted weight yarn, and appropriate needles for an older child, but I have yet to try it.

The lace trim is borrowed from the book, Knitting on the Edge, by Nicki Epstein.

Knitting definitions

k- knit
k2tog- knit two stitches together
p- purl
pm- place marker
p2tog- purl two stitches together
sl m- slip marker
sl 1- slip one stitch as if to purl
sk2p- slip one stitch, knit two stitches together, pass slipped stitch over stitch just knitted
st- stitch
St st- Stockinette stitch
yo- yarn over




Bonnett
Cast on 63 sts.
knit 2 rows
row 3: k2tog, yo,*k3, sk2p, k3, yo, k1, yo* repeat to last st, k1.
row 4: purl
row 5: k2,*yo, k2, sk2p, k2,yo,k3* repeat to last st, yo,k1
row 6: purl
row 7: k2tog, yo, *k1, yo, k1, sk2p, k1, yo, k1, yo,sk2p, yo* repeat to last 2 sts, k1, yo, k1
row 8: p2tog, purl to last 2 sts, p2tog (63 sts)
row 9: knit
row 10: knit
row 11: k1, *yo, k2tog* repeat to end
row 12: knit
row 13: knit
row 14: *k1, p1*, repeat to end
Contine one by one rib for 2 more rows. (rows 15, and 16)
row 17 through row 22, work in St st.
row 23: k23, ssk, pm, k13, pm, k2tog, k23
row 24: purl
row 25: knit
row 26: purl
row 27: k 22, ssk, sl m, k13, sl m, k2tog, k 22
row 28: purl
row 29: knit
row 30: purl
row 31: k21, ssk, sl m, k13, sl m, k2tog, k21
row 32: purl, removing markers
row 33: k34, k2tog, k1, turn
row 34: sl 1, p12, p2tog, p1, turn
row 35: sl 1, k13, k2tog, turn
row 36: sl 1, p13, p2tog, turn
Repeat rows 35 & 36, working to first stitch before gap until all side sts are used up.
Bind Off


Pick up 43sts along the bottom of bonnett.
Work one by one rib for 3 rows.
next row: Bind off.
sew side edge of ribbing to edge of lace trim on left side. Repeat on right side.
weave in ends

Thread ribbon through eyelets and block lightly.

2 sleeves to go...

Will I make it? I think I can.

I finished the hood yesterday. It's ginormous. Seriously. Check it out.

It's so big I couldn't fit it all in the picture.

I wore the thing yesterday afternoon, then decided I should probably sew up the hem.

Now I'm curious as to how many other people out there wear their works in progress. I do this a lot. I'll wear the torso of a sweater while I work the sleeves, or one sock while I work on the second. Does anyone else to this? I can't be the only one.

I have to run up to the YS today. I keep losing my #2 doublepoints. so I'm just going to buy more. You can never have enough double points.

Slow going

I've got about 30 rows of hood and two sleeves to go. I'd show you a picture but the pictures are not coming out. Will I make it? Maybe if I can stop picking up other projects. Yesterday? I worked on a baby bunny hat. I had to have a sonogram yesterday. (No, the baby hat is NOT for this family. Don't get any ideas.) Could I have taken Rogue with? Yes, but it's too stinking heavy to be lugging around with me.

Today, I have bloodwork. Again, Rogue will not be tagging along. I guess I could start on the sleeves.

It's come that time of year to clean out my craft closet. Stay tuned for my virtual garage sale.

Always happy to entertain...

Yesterday, Nate discovered the blog. (He's known about it. He's just never read it.) He was at work, and he and his co workers were especially tickled to see me knitting at Farm Aid.

I finished a whole five rows on the Rogue hood last night. At this rate I'll never make it to the 26th deadline. Kiss my "gold medal" goodbye. Eh, oh well.

Complete lack of focus.

I'm now behind schedule for the knitting Olympics. It's my own fault. I was distracted.

I made my Mom a newsboy hat(black), I worked on Kiri, I put and edging on my pie shawl(note: there is no edging on my shawl. I got halfway through and decided I didn't like it and ripped it out.) I started a bunny hat for baby Sara's birthday, and started the second sock for my FIL's birthday. The other sock is in the kitty pouch. Isn't it cute. I absolutely LOVE it. If you'd like one, head over to Piddleloop's store and pick one up

Complete lack of focus.

I think I should be able to finish still on time. Last week I had a couple of days I took off from Rogue. (This thing's getting heavy. I look forward to finishing the hood, so I can move on the the LIGHTWEIGHT sleeves.)

Thanks goodness for blog fodder.

Jess has been especially needy today, so all I have for you is the Meme Lynne tagged me for:
(lynne's got a contest for hers, go check it out.)


4 jobs I've had:
1. "sandwich artist"
2. Gas station clerk
3. CNA
4. Craft store Sales associate.


4 movies I can watch over and over: (aww...just 4?)
1. Arsenic and Old Lace
2. Any Mel Brooks Movie
3. McLintock
4. Pirates of the Carribean (mmm...Johnny Depp..)


4 TV shows I love to watch: (mind you this is limited since we only get like 4 channels. Fox, Pbs, Upn, and the bible channel.)
1. Arrested Development (there's still hope, right?)
2. House
3. Any of the "house" series on PBS (i.e. 1900 house, frontier house, Regency house party..)
4. everything ekse I used to watch either sucks this season or has been cancelled.


4 places I have lived:
1. Griffith, In
2. Chesterton, In
3. Hammond, In
4. Highland, In



4 places I have been on holiday:
1. Orlando, FL
2. San Francisco, CA
3. Seattle, Wa
4. Rome, NY


4 of my favorite dishes:
1. Huevos Rancheros
2. pizza
3. Turkey Schnitzel
4. tamales



4 websites I visit daily:
1. Google mail
2. yahoo mail
3. bloglines
4.


4 places I would rather be right now:
1. someplace quiet. :)
2.
3.
4.



4 bloggers I am tagging:
I'm leaving this open. If you'd like to do it, leave a comment so we cal go take a gander.

the mailbox overfloweth...(picture heavy)

Holy Postal booty, Batman!!!

Wendy most definitely came through with my Beatrix Potter Needle case. It's awesome.

Check out the stitch markers too!

Then, Cara had asked If I would make her a sweater, which I of course said no problem to, and her yarn came today.

With a little something for me.

My lone Lopi skein arrived.

and my squirrel shirt has arrived.

Check out this case. It has Jeremy Fisher on the flap (One of my favorites) and The address label was Squirrel Nutkin (My other favorite.) It's wonderful, Wendy Thank you so much. (Your shawl is coming along.)

the plan

So, this has been the plan for the KO. Rogue is going to use 7 skeins of yarn. So I figure if I go through a skein of yarn every two days, I'll be right on schedule. so far this has been working. I'm still working on the back, but I'm going to have to stop and wind another skein of yarn soon.

Today Jess has a dentist appointment, so I should have some extra knitting time, being that I can lug this sweater around. (It's starting to get heavy.) Tomorrow I have a dr appt myself. (read: more knit time. Although this appt. has me a bit nervous.) Being that Jess has Friday and Monday off, I'm actually looking forward to waiting rooms.

I have word that my lone lopi skein is en route to my house, so the pie shawl should recommence soon. I'm hoping the different dyelots won't be too noticeable.

guilt

Ok, so in case you were still unsure about my feelings for the holidays, I'm very solidly anti-Valentine's day. But then, I've never been much of a romantic either.

My hand is feeling much better, thank you all. I think I just needed to rest. But resting time's over and here we have a Knitting Olympics progress report.


Also in order to have something a bit more portable, and to finish it in a timely manner, I have started on Wendy's Kiri. (Sorry no pictures until Wendy recieves it.)


I honestly picked Rogue thinking it would take me much longer than it has. (Of course I have yet to do the cabling on the hood.) I think I might have underestimated things.

My lone skein of lite lopi should be arriving any day, so that I may finish my perfect pie and move onto the edging.

You know, I realized today, that I really like to knit, but I find it hard to justify keeping things. Take the Lady E I finished recently. I've worn it once in order to take pictures of it. Other than that it sits folded up on a shelf. I feel guilty because everytime I look at it now, I think about how much I spent on the yarn and how it could have been spent elsewhere. It's gorgeous, but I don't enjoy it.

VD

To quote a good friend of ours, "Valentine's Day and Venerial Disease share the same initials. Coincidence? I think not."

My (hindered) progress.

Here's my Rogue. (next to it is a baby bonnet.) I have one more cable repeat before I divide the front and back. so far I'm ahead of schedule, and I must say this surprises me. Saturday, instead of working on Rogue, I taught my Ma and SIL to knit. Then Sunday, I did not have much progress due to a pain.

I have a scar right under my right thumb. When I broke both bones in my arm completely through, and the idea was to insert a rod into my wrist and down my arm. Unfortunately this did not work and they had to go back into my forearm and install a plate. Anyway, sometimes this still hurts. Like it did on Sunday and still does today. It sucks because it even hurts to hold a pen. So today I have to take a break. I'm hoping to be able to pick rogue back up tomorrow.

In needlecase news, Wendy has volunteered to make my case, and had actually finished it yesterday! I am planning to make her a kiri shawl as a thank you.

Seriously.

Who can I bribe to make a me a needle roll like this.

Seriously. I'm open to a barter. Any takers?

Foreshadowing?

This is where I ran out of yarn on my perfect pie. I have a third of the last wedge to go. Still waiting for the extra skein to arrive.

Yesterday I realized I had missed a bead on the second beaded row of my Odessa and I ripped it all out.

I hope this is not an omen of what's to come.

I think I'll go knit an orange square.

Please bear with me

My Best Friend's a Dork is preparing to move, so please excuse any funny goings on that might occur in the process.

Help me choose...

...I cannot decide on a sock pattern. The info I have from my pal is that she would prefer tall socks that are more textured than lacy. There are a few I like in Knitting Vintage socks, but I don't have it in the budget to buy another book.

So far I've narrowed it down to these.

Retro Ribs (IK winter '04 I cannot find a link with a picture.)
These socks
Almost Argyle
River Rapids

Discuss...


In the meantime, I'm knitting what I can with my last ball of lopi, and I've cast on a green odessa to hold me until Friday. :)

random knitting thoughts

Well, I broke down and just bought another skein of yarn for my pie shawl from the shop I had originally ordered the rest from. (Lambikin's Hideaway, if you are wondering. It's the closest yarn shop I have found to my in-laws, although I have yet to be able to sneak in a trip there on our visits.) The have Lite-Lopi for 3.25 a skein, so the body of the shawl has cost me $19.50 (minus shipping)for all 6 skeins. I have picked up some yarn for the edging at my LYS. The color match is not perfect, but close enough for me. It's 2 ply Shetland Spindrift. I'm hoping 2 skeins of the will be enough. (If so the shawl will be under 30 bucks, which I'm pretty happy about.) It doesn't look like it will be finished by Olympic stime, so I have decided to finish what I can and when the yarn arrives, take a break from my Rogue to finish my shawl. Just to add a bit more pressure.

I still haven't decided on my socks for my sockpal. I want to go with a more textured sock, but I'm not sure the patterns I have been looking at will be a comfortable fit, or if I'll have to modify the pattern.

I've also picked up some yarn today for my corrected baby bonnet pattern, so I can test knit it and put it up here. (Especially for Ann. See, I haven't forgotten.)

I have the back of my sweater I'm designing. But I think I'll be ripping it out and starting over. I had an idea of what I'd like to do differently while I was about two thirds through the back. I had thought about submitting it, but I think i'll just post here when I finish it.

I bought some yarn to make a Odessa today as well.

I have also been tweaking a couple of other patterns I had requests for, so hopefully I'll have those up soon.

Ruh-roh

The yarn I chose for my sockpal has arrived.

Pretty huh? It's Shelridge Farms, Crocus. I'm still trying to decide on a pattern. Among those I'm consodering:

Embossed leaves (IK winter '05)
Jaywalker
Almost argyles

There are a few others I'm contemplating.

I'm trying to finish my Perfect Pie before the Olympics start. I'm almost to the halfway point of the third wedge. I think I may have a problem. It looks like I might be a half of a skein shy for this project. I know exactly why. I went up to a size 11 for this shawl, because I liked it much better than when I was using the reccommended size 10s. The only problem is when I ordered this yarn, I only ordered 5 skeins, and although my LYS carried Lite Lopi, they do not have this color. My only hope, other than placing another order is to check out the yarn shop in Highland.

Hahahaha!

Look what was in my inbox this morning. (My time stamp is off, and for some reason I can't change it.)

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ecard-pickup/35736-97750-7487/002-3887590-0280810

It made me laugh my tookus off.


So, after poking around on my sockpal's site, I've gone and ordered my yarn, and I'm in the process of narrowing my pattern choices. I have a few days before the yarn arrives to hear back from her and make up my mind.

My wrist is still bothering me a bit, so I have no real progress to show. Sorry to disappoint.

Sock Sistah

Sockapaloooza officailly kicked off today. I voluntered to be a "sock sistah" to help with the KAL updates and such.

I've got my pal and I am now trying to figure out what to make her.

Also, it's a small small knitblogging world, as I just found out that Susie is in my sock sistah group. I met Susie last May in Kalamazoo when stephanie was there on her Harlot tour.

My sock pal has emailed me a few questions that I thought I would answer here.

I hope you're as excited to knit socks for your sock pal as I am to
knit socks for you! Because you're an experienced sock knitter, I
thought I'd ask you a few questions so I could use the answers to make
something special for you (I know you don't like alpaca).

Did I write alpaca? I probably did but I meant angora, as I'm a little sensitive to it. I actually love alpaca.

1. Please name at least one sock yarn you've never used, but would like to try.

hmm...well, there's fleece artist, kroy, opal, cherry tree hill, lana grossa, and that's all I can think of right now.


2. True or false: Variegated yarns are beautiful in the skein, but you
have to choose carefully, because they can pool, flash or stripe in
unexpected ways, and that's annoying.

Actually flashing and pooling doesn't really bother me at all. It's all part of the charm I think.

3. You're shipwrecked on a desert island with a trunk full of one kind
of sock yarn. What yarn would you want to find in the trunk?

Ooo...this is hard but I have to go with koigu.

4. You are at Stitches Midwest in Illinois. A fight has broken out
between Nancy Bush (cabled, striped and more traditional socks; author
of Knitting on the Road) and Jackie Erickson-Schweitzer (lacy,
feminine socks, author of The Sock Calendar) over who's the better
designer. Who are you rooting for and why?

Ha haha, oh man, i like them both, but I'd have to go with Nancy Bush. She's amazing.

5. Which statement is most appropriate for you?

a. I would wear hand knit socks every day if I could, so I don't mind
more muted colors and patterns that don't stand out at work or more
formal situations.

b. I wear hand knit socks mostly on the weekends, so I like wild and
crazy patterns and colors that are eye-catching and fun.

c. I would wear hand knit socks every day if I could, and I like
bright colors and patterns for any occasion, even at work.

Well, since I have no work or formal occasions then I'd have to go with C

6. What color do you see most in your closet? Is that a good thing or
a bad thing? Would that color be one of your favorites?

Hmm, Brows, blues, dark reds, and lately a lot of green. Green is one of my favorite colors

7. Do you like surprises?

I LOVE surprises.

Thanks, Erin - I'm looking forward to your answers, either here or on
your blog!

Thanks, Sockpal for taking the time to get to know me bit better, giving me a laugh, and a bit of blog fodder.