two knits of ivory

I wasn't that inspired to post today, or lately, to be honest. Yet, I was over at Peaknit's blog , catching up on my blogstalking, and saw her sweet happy birthday message to her mom, who so happens to be a leap year baby. Obviously, leap year birthdays are rare, and probably relished all the more so because of this and so I immediately thought it would be good to mark today's date on my blog for the same reason. But what to talk about, as all my knitting are slogs? I'm still vacillating on whether to restart my La Digitessa's using a more appropriate yarn. It worked like a charm on my first pair of Firestarters . Yet....I'm just not ready to give up. I think as soon as I'm done with Blue Wavering , I'm going to hit these full force and not frog and restart. Speaking of Blue Wavering, I frogged the first sock back to the start of the gusset two days ago and am just about to begin the short-rowing on the heel. I just might have these done this weekend if...

Part of what fueled my fire in getting the mitts done was the fact that the first Blue Wavering sock had a gusset the size of Manhattan that I knew was a problem. I also knew my inclination to ignore rather than fix was strong. The Giftee would never, ever know. Knitting the mitts gave me time to get over my lazy ways and do the right thing. I haven't frogged yet, but as soon as I'm done with the second sock, I will. I thought I'd err on the side of caution with a gusset of 17 increases. But when I turned the heel on the sock and had hubby try it on, it was ginormous. Seriously ginormous. On the second sock I increased the length of the foot by seven rows and reduced the gusset increases by five. Although, once I reduced the gussets, my heel was understandably short. On the original sock, it is 34 rows tall (17 increases x 2). On the second sock it would be 24 rows tall. I didn't take any measurements, but it isn't hard to fathom that a heel 10 rows shor...

My sister received her socks, the Christmas Balls socks , and she wont try them just yet, even though I need her to tell me if they are too tight. She's parsimonious like that. Me, I have to jump right into things immediately, or they lose their charm. Not my sister, she is doomed to save, save, save. Being the opposite, I've always assumed she's missing out by being frugal, hence the "doomed," but maybe she enjoys the savoring, more than the wearing. I can't believe I'm just realizing this possibility now, as in right this minute as I write. The first real socks (real-life, foot-shaped socks in sport weight yarn, as opposed to christmas-stocking size socks, in worsted weight yarn, the likes of which hubby still wears around the house) I ever made were for her. And you know after I sent her the pair I realized she might never wear them. Why? She's a hoarder. It's just her way. So you know what I did? I made a second pair immediately and...

Maybe it's the barometric pressure, or too much political punditry in the air, but in the past week I've had knitting mush for brains. I'm closing in on a few things but I also feel like I'm getting no where. (I so wanted to add an "s" on that!) Monday night, desperate for a new hat, I took out my needles, cast on eight stitches using Judy's magic cast on, and just knitted. I wasn't sure I was going to like what I came up with, but I needed an FO in this yarn, in the worst way. By Tuesday evening my mission was accomplished. Because of the overal ribbing, and the width I chose to knit in, it fits like a cloche. I expect it to expand more after its first wash. I have a strong disinclinition for tight clothing, so hat sizing is always a gamble for me. I'm in love with the striping going on as the hat's circumference increased. I just wish I could get the companion scarf to do that. After multiple tries last night, I had to give up. I...

Last month, my Dad and his wife, Chris, came to stay, and wouldn't you know it I was charged with planning a yarn crawl for her and myself. We hit my three fave LYSses that Saturday, and then braved a morning squall on Sunday to visit a not-so-local LYS that I had yet to see, The Woolpack , in Littleton, MA. Even with the fabulous sale at Wild and Woolly, I bought nary a thing that Saturday. Luckily, I had just finished Project Stole , as I don't think I would have had the fortitude to resist the 20 skeins of forest green Jo Sharp Silkroad Aran they had on sale for $120 (that's $6 bucks a skein!) otherwise. I was a good girl, I lived vicariously through Chris, ogling in safety as she purchased a couple of sweater kits. On Sunday, though, I succumbed. The Woolpack was a great shop. They have a huge book section, as well as an expansive yarn selection. There were oodles of new to me yarns, and a goodly number of novelty yarns which were easy for me to resist. It wasn...

A Lesson in Knitter's Denial I finished up the Malabrigo Foliage Hat from the Knitty pattern this weekend. It's ready to fit a pumpkin, but me? not so much. That is a full size towel wadded up inside the hat. So, yeah, a little big, and a total bust. My problem started when I printed out the pattern on portrait instead of landscape mode and the right side of the instructions were cropped. I thought I knew what I was doing and winged it. By the time I had gotten my hands on the full instructions I was deep in denial, and therefore, on a one way road to completion. So it'll be froggsville as soon as I figure what kind of hat I am going to knit with this yarn. It is treacherously obvious that the variegation and the lace are a poor fit. I was considering EZ's Snail Hat, but the variegation will still get in the way. Ugh! What do to, what to do?!?! (Thanks for all the generously wonderful comments on my chevron scarf!)

Ahem. Good day. I was in the area, so I felt it my duty to introduce myself. I think in this kingdom I am known as The Queen's Forest . (What a pretentious mouthful! I assure you this is not of my own doing. ) A little about myself, you say? Well only a short while ago I was a respectable 81 inches long. And before I knew it a steam iron was put to me (I must not be considered good enough for a Eucalan soak! What impudence!) and now I am a vertiginous 90 inches. What was that foul person thinking?!? I come from a long line of ancient peoples, known as Last Minute Knitted Gifts Chevron Scarves . I am a distinctly new variety. Rather than superwash merino, I am made of a unique mixture of 80% alpaca and 20% merino wool. I am in no way concerned that my brethren prefer to be made of BMFA STR . No, I am not. I am a unique flower and damn proud of it. Oh, I am so soft to the touch and visually distinctive, I dare say my benefactress had it right in naming me. Yes, I t...

I really appreciate all the support on my scarf slogalong, you guys. I feel really guilty to have to report that I barely looked at it this week. I've been grudging on it. I just read the comments and I feel bolstered enough to face it this weekend. We'll have my nephews up and an easy knit will come in handy. In my defense, I have a few elephants in the room these days. As time passes the intensity of feelings they engender fade, but they are still there all the same. And my knitting? It's a bit all over the place and that makes for poor posting fodder. Tack on to this afternoons too cloudy for picture taking and my blogging inspiration evaporates. In all the muck though, I've been making headway on my next pair of gift socks, which I cast on last Sunday night. It was slow going at first because it lacks the one thing that motivates me in knitting - visual stimulation. On the one hand, this yarn is fabulous to work with. It has a great feel and crisp stitch ...

I'm glad you guys like my stitch holder idea. It definitely helps keep the well of motivation filled. Friday evening I had to actually muster the energy to measure my chevron scarf, The Queens Forest . And wouldn't you know it, the scarf grew a bit; it was now at 66 inches. By this point I was blaming the scarf for all manner of irritants. Yeah, I'm mature like that. Every stitch I knit over the weekend, I begruged. Non-sensical as that is, I have to own up to it. Instead of wrapping up this project, I was only able to add another four inches to it. She now stands at 70 inches and I keep telling myself that if I can just knit an inch or two a night, it'll be an FO in no time. Instead, I found myself drawn to my Christmas Ball Socks. This gets the balance due on my sock gifting down to two. I love this lightweight Socks that Rock yarn. I love to watch the shifting colors as I knit, I love the gusset pooling. I love it so much I feel compelled to knit stockine...

Before launching into my knitting slogalongs, let me just say that the Malabrigo sock yarn isn't on the market yet. I heard about it in the Ravelry "malabrigo junkies" forum. It seems that they are looking to put out an initial 12 colors, but the colorways haven't been decided on. Neither has a launch date been set, at least as of yesterday when I read parts of the New Superwash Sock Weight thread. (Those able to get to the Stitches West exposition may at least be able to fondle some, or so I think based on what I read in that thread.) -------------------------- Once again I succumbed to the blahs this week, finding no comfort even in reading my favorite blogs. Although, there is an upside to falling behind on blog reading in that when I finally rejoin the world, I'll have plenty of posts to catch up on. I count myself lucky that knitting always makes the blahs bearable, and so I am making headway on at least two projects. The Queen's Forest is coming...

Malabrigo Superwash Originally uploaded by tobiasfeder Malabrigo sock yarn. 'Nuff said.

I shoulda started Cornucopia's companion gift socks, but I didn't; I started Christmas Balls socks , instead. In my defense, these will be gifts, too. And I shoulda waited until I finished The Queens Forest (48 inches!) before starting another scarf, but I didn't. My defense, your honors? Malabrigo . Understandable, no? Ever since picking up some awesome variegated Manos del Uruguay at Rhinebeck, I've been mulling over a hat, scarf and glove winter set. The Manos winter set is meant for my work coat, a camel hair car coat. The rest of my coats, which I wear far more often, are almost all exclusively blue. Light blue, dark blue, navy blue, teal blue. The wish for a new winter set for my non work coats grew stronger as my indecision on what to do with the Manos grew. And then Hobbygasa knit her My So-Called Scarf in a very similar colorway. How could I improve on that? Then after day in and out of looking at the fabulous colorway of Ripley's latest s...

My EZ baby surprise jacket is done! done! done! But I don't have a half decent photo to show for it because of lack of light and lack of time. Here's the best I have. Half the battle for me with projects like this is facing the finishing touches. First, I couldn't decide on the buttons. I found these cute little mice at an LYS. Then I found some more buttons at Joann Fabrics and decided, afterall, to forgo the mice and forgo making the harder decision of which of the Joann Fabrics buttons to use. Alternating these latter two seemed like the way to go. Then I struggled with seaming up the shoulders. This sounded easy to me unitl I realized I would be seaming a garter stitch edge to my cast-on edge. Yikes! I've never seamed garter stitch bumps. Though, once I got over the thinking on it, and actually focused on the doing of it, I muddled my way through quite well. But I have no pictures to show my prowess. :-( And there was a window between the stressing and ...

Last night was a scramble to finish the BSJ and make some cookies for the baby shower tomorrow. And with the exception of maybe a wash and dry for the sweater, I'm all set. So, I thought I'd take this opportunity to finally catch up. Oh yes, I still have one more story from the yarn and me weekend. Itsy bitsy, and here it is. What the heck is that, you ask? Well, it's a thing for animals to sleep on. Exciting. Thing. Yeah. This project started out as a fly-by-my pants knit and felted knitting basket. The only problem was when I felted it, the sides bowed out like a concave lens. I later learned that lighter colors felt at a slower rate than dark colors. I also learned I didn't know what I was doing when I designed the project. Good times. As far as the felting, I understand now, I should have used a much tighter gauge on the yellow Lopi. When the yellow failed to felt at the same rate as the dark green, the bowl became a concave mess. And this mess lay ignored in the la...