WIP it WIP it good....

No longer the WIP albatross it once was, it is now the completed WEDDING AFGHAN!

Pattern: Aran-Style Afghan from Cables Untangled
Yarn: Swish Superwash in "Capri" #23878; June 2007

Skeins knitted: 27 in all, including fringe, roughly 2970 yards
Yarn enabler: Knit Picks, June 2007

Knit on: One 40" Knitpicks Size 8 Circular Needle
Time spent knitting this afghan: 86 Days!

# of days that S & C have been married: 64 days

Repeats completed: 12

Size: 50 inches by 60 inches.

These are pre-washing photos. I trepidatiously (ok, it's not a word...) put it into the laundromat washing and drying machines, to good effect except now the fringe has some 'split ends,' but if I trim the split ends, the next time it's washed (by the receiving couple) the fringe will get even shorter. Probably should have gone with a different border, but it's too late because there is absolutely no yarn left. I also think it should be a bit longer, but there's NO YARN LEFT. Good thing I cut the fringe for the whole thing before knitting the last few rows, as we're talking roughly 120 yards just for the fringe!

Now give me a moment while I do the 'it's-finished-now-I-can-knit-the-million-other-things-in-my-queue dance.'

(MOMENT)

There..I feel much better. Tomorrow, I turn this lovingly (ahem) knitted item over to the bride to enjoy a life in their happy home.

Keep it comin'

What's crack-a-lackin'? Yes, work has begun again and the make-your-own-agenda of the summer is over, so knitting time as been at a premium. And with ALL the projects on the needles, progress has been steady, but a little watching-the-grass-grow slow.

And then--SURPRISE!--this came in the mail today.

I had totally forgotten that I had signed up for the Hill Country Yarns Sock Club back in August, so when I saw a package from a yarn company in the mail. I had to squeal like a little girl. And then when I opened the package, I was doubly happy because I love the color periwinkle and I love Sweet Peas (in fact I carried sweet peas in my wedding bouquet.). And boy am I glad that the green sock in the picture of the pattern is NOT the yarn I received...

More incentive to finish the projects on the needles. And to prove that I am indeed knitting, here are some progress shots. I am on Ravelry now, and have 'made it big,' so to speak, because my picture of the afghan is the featured picture for the Melissa Leapman pattern. Yahoo!

Oy Welt!

Poem-man has new socks that he really likes! The colorway makes them perfect to wear with jeans, and the merino-tencel blend makes them cooler, lighter, and comfortable for warmer-than-winter weather. I'm not sure that the chevron welt was the right pattern for the colorway and color-stripey-repeat action, but Poem-man really likes them, so I'm happy, too. I want to make some merino-tencel socks for me because the drape and snugness of this blend is really nice.

Pattern: Chevron Welt from Sensational Knitted Socks.
Yarn: Yarn Love Joan of Arc (merino-tencel) in "Contentment;"
Yarn enabler: woolgirl, August 2007
Knit on: One 32" Knitpicks Size 0 Circular Needle
Time I spent knitting these when I should have been putting my conference presentation together: 10 days.


Wedding Afghan update! Woo hoo!
Time elapsed: 35 days
Number of days that S & C have been married: 12 days.
Repeats Completed: 6.5
Skeins knitted: 14 of 26.
Length: 30 inches
Hence: I am more than halfway home!

Lastly, I'm off this weekend on another little mini-vacation. While it's true that I will be visiting my mother-in-law, it's also true that I'll be headed to Vermont (a state full of yarn and cheese!) by way (either on the way there or the way back or both!) of WEBS in Northampton. And just look how many spaces I have to fill in my stash!

Discovering jewels

I found a JEWEL in the Connecticut River Valley this weekend. There were many contenders: the lovely, unpretentious B&B we stayed at, Riverwind Inn; the old school French restaurant where Poem-man and I actually got to speak French, Restaurant du Village; the fancy inn where we enjoyed the gardens and elegant food, Bee and Thistle Inn, and the lovely Goodspeed Opera House (unfortunately the production was the fake paste gem of the weekend.)

But the jewel of the trip was Yarns Down Under. Poem-man and I got lost and annoyed driving around the River Valley and as we (unbeknownst to us) neared our B & B, I saw a little sign for the store with an arrow pointing down a road! Woo hoo! Dust flew as a hung a yoouuie (as I call a u-turn) and on we went. I had read that there was a yarn store in the village we were staying in and I assumed I would find it on Deep River's small main street area, but I hadn't, and had thus decided I wasn't really going to go looking for it since I hadn't planned on any yarn purchasing during the weekend, but THERE IT WAS, the place around the next bend that would make our getting lost worth it! We drove on a small road, parked in a gravel driveway over looking a small golf course, and I turned to Poem-man and said if it's scary or small we'll leave right away. We made our way past a golfing office and down some stairs becoming more unsure that this was the right thing to do and walked into a YARN HAVEN! Really, this is a yarn store for Knitters, capital K and double Ts!

All the yarns you haven't seen in person are there, including the great Simply Shetland stuff, Bear Mountain sock yarn, Claudia HandPaints, every kind of Schaefer yarn, all kinds of Rowans--everything! This is a store for people who knit, really knit. What do I mean by that? Well, there's great quality yarn of every kind of fiber, but it's not yarn for the sake of yarn (and expensive yarn at that, i.e. Purl Soho). The store is organized by fiber and weight but is delightfully crammed full of yarn enough to feel like you'll keep uncovering wonderful yarn after yarn. Sheila, the owner (on the right), and Sheryl (Cheryl? Sherri? sorry!) were great people to ask questions of and talk to who really knew their stuff. There are kits they've created for particular projects, yarn spun and dyed (I think) of local purveyors, tons of books, well just everything! I even got a back issue of Interweave Knits (2004!) that I had wanted. I wish I had been more prepared to really shop, list of yarn needs in hand. For instance, I'm thinking my next project is a EPS sweater with a fair isle-ish yoke and this store would have been the place to put that together, but I wasn't prepared. All I bought was some Noro Kureyon for a felted purse (see in my I wanna Knit list). I would go back in a heartbeat to shop. And, they have a knitting retreat next summer---must get on bandwagon! Or perhaps an Autumn trip to this area with a few knitting chums, hmmm?

Well, the wedding afghan has seen no progress since Friday since I was away during this weekend and it is a at-home project not meant to be dragged around in the heat. More excitingly, here's the happy couple recipients-to-be of the afghan! It was a joyous, thoughtful, meaningful wedding and reception. I love weddings! I'm re-inspired to work on the afghan! On the other hand: 1. They're young. 2. It's too hot to enjoy an afghan right now. 3. They know the afghan is coming. 4. Ms. Manners says I have up to a year to give a wedding gift. I'll get it done!

And look we all got mini-wedding cakes for dessert!

Actual Yarn Love.

I'd been complaining and complaining that I hadn't found any yarn worthy of the FOUR empty places on my yarn stash. I'd been shopping online and even tried to buy yarn at Purl Soho when I visited with the the funsters: the Tawana, Nicole, and Allena. Alas and alack they did not have enough of the O-Wool balance in the color I wanted for Cinxia. DRAT. I waited in vain for Wollmeise to come up on Loopy Ewe only to have it come up and disappear in the wee hours of the morning when people should be sleeping not stalking yarn. Whatever. But then, I found some LOVE from my friends at woolgirl.com. Actual Yarn Love.

The colors are so appealing to me, though I've begun to doubt my color sense. Poem-man even thought both colors masculine enough for socks for him. WHAT???? Maybe he can have the blue colorway... The rose-ish one is a wool-nylon blend and the bluish one is merino-tencel. Never tried the tencel before, so I'm pretty excited to cast on!

Of course, first I need to finish the Ambrosia Socks. I had a 24-hour setback because the first time I completed the heel on both socks and had worked my way onto the legs, I tried them on and thought, "Gosh, these heels seeme loose and bulbuous." Yeah, well, they were because I hadn't slipped the stitches on the hell flap--I had 34 stitches of plain ole stockinette on the heel. Quel stupidity. Anyway, I ripped out and re-knit and NOW I'm on the final stretch. Of course, this is Brooklyn Handspun, so there's like 3 billion yards, and I hate left-over yarn, so I may be knitting hip-length waders.

Oh, I got some other goodies from woolgirl
as well!

Cute, really TINY penguin stitch markers. (See the penny for scale.) And this funny String Warrior girl. I got her as a reward for trying to do yoga again.


In the meantime, the wedding afghan moves glacier-like to completion.

Time elapsed: 18 days

S & C's Wedding Day: -4 days.

Repeats Completed: 4.5

Skeins knitted: 9.5 of 26.

Length: 20.5 inches

Hence: Do you think I could knit it during the actual ceremony and reception?

Dream or nightmare?

Last night I had images of a past relationship. Partly dream, partly nightmare--it's all how you look at it. I think I was influenced by this: holy sh;t!


See--it's a dream or a nightmare depending on how you look at it. It's a lot of yarn to knit--what a dream. It's a LOT of yarn to knit--nightMARE! Dream: There's a lot of yarn. Nightmare: What yarn do I actually have?


For me it would be a lot like having an LYS nearby that was poorly organized. And of course, in the city, there's no WAY I'd ever have enough room for all that yarn. The pressure of knitting up all that yarn would also weigh on me until I was flatly blocked like some huge piece of lace.


By the way, check out the rest of that blog. Some incrediby cute thingamajigs to knit!


I am happy with my paltry 10-yarn stash (temporarily languishing at only 6 yarns) and knowing my yarn well and having it call out to me what it wants to become. Whew.


In the meantime, here's a wedding afghan update:

Time elapsed: 16 days
S & C's Wedding Day: -7 days.
Repeats Completed: 3.5
Skeins knitted: 7.5 of 26.
Length: 16.5 inches
Hence: I have GOT to get crackin' on this.

I keep getting distracted by these little buggers. In fact, I'm about to go exercise just so I can go work on them...

A winter sunflower...

In the midst of a beautiful summer day knitting with some great folks with beautiful weather and obnoxious music and inconsiderate mary-jane smokers (aren't I cute...) in beautiful Central Park, I finished the Entrelac Beret. As I wrote before, this was my first entrelac experience, and I really enjoyed it. I got good at knitting backwards and at making things up as I went along. I really got to practice my entrelac skills because I practically knit the whole thing twice. The first time I 'finished' it, you could have used it as a tote bag for three bowling balls it was so big. So I in the end, I only did three rows of 7-stitch entrelac, and then one 6-stitch, one 5-stitch, one triangle row , then the decreases and OUT! Know that I have a big head. Physically, I mean!

Pattern: Entrelac Beret

Yarn: Elsebeth Lavold Angora in Black (1.5 skeins) & magenta (1ish skein)

Yarn enabler: elann.com in March, 2007

Knit on: One 36" Knitpicks Size 6

Time I spent knitting these when I should have been putting musical theater youngsters through their paces: 14 days, July 8-22.

I can't believe this is how I decide to show my face online. Oh well. It's a bathroom-sited self-taken portrait of me in my slouchin' entrelac beret trying to match my magenta parka lining/inner jacket thing. I couldn't bring myself to put on my whole winter coat in the middle of July. I'm hoping I have enough left-over yarn to make some mittens to complete the set. They won't be entrelac though--I mean talk about overkill...

This picture shows my wedding afghan project. Here are the stats:

Time elapsed: 10 days

S & C's wedding Day: -12 days. (Twelve days to go!)
Repeats Completed: 2.5

Skeins knitted: 5.5 of 26.

o. mah. gawd.