I loves the green

I was kitchnering up (is that a word) my Spring Forwards in Smooshy in the Happy Forest colorway and realized I have an awful lot of green sock yarn.





And yet somehow, when I shop, I seem to forget that I have all this green sock yarn at home and immediately pick up the green again. Really, who has this many green socks? Anyone else have a strange fascination with a colorway that you'd never wear in a store-bought sock?

I forgot to say

I have a drive-by posting on Go Get Your Jacket on "political crochet."

I can haz Ravelry bag?

It's official. I am a knitting bag whore. I've been waiting for months to be at the right place at the right time to score a Ravelry Knitting bag (to the point where Lisabee and I were stalking Very Important Founders of Ravelry last May at Md Sheep and Wool to find out how to get them) and mine finally arrived this morning.

This makes

• one prized Jordana Paige bag
• one floral bag purchased at Handmade Arcade last year
• one huge Md Sheep and Wool bag
• one bag from the old Pittsburgh Knit and Bead
• one sock monkey bag from the Chewy Spaghetti Blue Plate Special Club
  
• one plain old tote from Target that was supposed to be The Toddler's beach bag

And despite those seven bags, I still coveted and desired a customer's beautiful Namaste bag at the store last week. I need help.

Mama's work? Yarn? Buy it?

In other words, The Toddler is explaining that he went to Natural Stitches to choose the yarn for his Tomten jacket. The Toddler is still a fan of The Opinionated Knitter, and keeps leafing through it, chanting "red sweater? red sweater?" So I had my husband bring him in at the end of my shift yesterday so he could see all the reds for himself.

I told him he could choose his red yarn, and he replied "Hmmm," putting his finger to his lips and looking carefully at the yarn. He pointed out various cottons, saying "This is coot [cute]. This is a red one. This is a purple one." I don't know where he got the cute remark; I'm thinking he's been shopping with my sister. But for those of you looking for educational opportunities for your small children, a yarn store is a great place to talk about colors.

His choice, after a consultation with the staff of Natural Stitches and one black bunny visiting for the afternoon, is Cascade 220 Superwash Handpaints in the "cherry pie" colorway, a vibrant mix of reds. I think it will be a lot of fun to knit up as I tackle another Elizabeth Zimmermann pattern.

Top-Down Tuesday

I put the finishing touches on three children's gifts last week, all knit from the top-down. I am loving making garments this way, and I think it will be rare if I ever make a sweater from the bottom up with seams ever again, with so many great alternative construction methods out there.

Girlfriend's Swing Coat Sweater, made for a new (well, not so new now) big sister in Cascade Sierra, a cotton/wool blend. Cute, cute, cute. I want a grown-up version for me.

This Super-Natural Stripes was knit for her baby brother in three shades of Blue Sky Alpaca Organic Cotton, which is my absolute new favorite cotton to knit with.


And finally, this Mossy Jacket for Miss Corinne, made with Malabrigo Merino Worsted.


The last two patterns come from f.pea's free pattern fridays, and while I don't want to diss the patterns because they are so cute and I am thrilled with the final result, I do want to give a heads up to newer knitters. Remember: free blog patterns haven't always been test-knitted to the extent that patterns for sale are (or at least should be) and there might be typos in the stitch counts, or instructions may not be as clear as you'd like them to be. I ran across a few glitches in these two patterns, but because I understood top-down construction, they weren't a problem for me.

I had a pretty relaxing holiday weekend full of knitting. I worked Saturday and Monday at the store, and learned an important lesson: don't rearrange and fluff the pretty alpaca roving when you're wearing black pants! Sunday I got together with a few of my knitting peeps, where I learned another valuable lesson: don't drink too much coffee when casting on for a top down sweater or you might forget to mark for something important, oh say, a shoulder. Since The Toddler is not a World War I veteran, I had to frog the whole thing and start over so he'd have two good arms in his new sweater. Hope everyone else had a nice weekend!

Tomten?

Is anyone -- particularly the moms of The Toddler's real life toddler peeps -- interested in doing a Tomten Jacket KAL? Since The Toddler asked for a "wed one" [ahem, red] after perusing Elizabeth Zimmermann's The Opinionated Knitter, I've been studying the pattern and thinking of yarn possibilities. I don't have enough thick red worsted in my stash but at work today, I considered:

this Merino 5 Print



or this Cascade 220 Superwash Paint


My other idea is to wait until the new shipment of Dream in Color Classy comes in and hope for some Lipstick Lava (and hope that the batch we get doesn't look this pink).


Thoughts? Anyone else in?

I must be doing something right

I sat down last night to start a Baby Surprise Jacket for Levi, and to my great surprise and delight, The Toddler abandoned Go Dog, Go, and The Little Engine That Could and became enthralled with Elizabeth Zimmermann's The Opinionated Knitter. He loved it! He pointed out all the babies and the mamas and the dadas and the grandmas. He talked about all the colors of the sweaters in the pictures. He asked for a red sweater after seeing the Tomten jackets, so I guess I have to find some red yarn. I had to pry him away from the book so he could take a bath. I'm just tickled to death that he enjoyed it so much.

I'm whipping through some socks and finishing up some baby gifts this week. Just a reminder, if you have entered the Summer of Socks and Lace contests at Natural Stitches, the deadline to bring your projects to the store to be weighed and entered is this Monday, Labor Day. I'll be there Saturday and Monday, and I'm looking forward to seeing all the entries.

Picking myself back up

I'm not part of the Ravelry Olympics, but I cast on for these Spring Forward socks on Friday night as I watched the opening ceremonies of the 2008 games. The yarn is the July selection of the Rockin' Sock Club -- these are really not my colors, but I'm enjoying the yarn and making peace with the blue spiral pooling, which seems is what the yarn wants to do. It's a fast, fast knit and the lace is easy to memorize and read as you go.

As for my online silence, well, all I can say is that it was so much worse after all. We've been battling moths of all kinds for weeks, and I've lost a lot of finished objects and some stash. The upside is that it's really, really made me reconsider my yarn buying habits (yes, again) and I realized that I need to enjoy what I have. Yet I wouldn't wish this on my worst knitting nemesis, if I had a knitting nemesis, that is. Wish us luck in getting rid of this problem for good. I'm already on a first name basis with half the employees of Terminex already!

Bibs

Hey, more about Mason-Dixon Crack, I mean, baby bibs, in today's Go Get Your Jacket.

It could have been soooo much worse, I guess

We had a bug infestation in our rice recently (lesson learned: those big bags of rice Costco aren't such a good deal after all; better to buy small quantities and keep them stored in glass containers). So that made me a teensy bit paranoid about my stash, and I decided to take a look yesterday.

It's a good thing I did. No, my stash hasn't been eaten through entirely, but I was forced to confront The Shame of My Stash. See, long ago, before my wedding even, I bought a very expensive Colinette AbFab Throw kit at the height of their popularity. If you remember those, you remember how expensive they were. Anyway, I bought it and then abandoned the project about six inches into it. I know, I know. I never even entered it into my Ravelry Stash or Project page. I just stuffed it in its original plastic bag in the bottom of my cupboard and pretended it didn't exist. Guess which plastic bag had a hole in it? Guess which project had the tell-tale signs of, gulp, moths, on one of the skeins of yarn?

To my credit, I didn't freak out. I brushed off the visible moth....stuff outside, put the offending project in a new plastic bag, sealed it, and put it in Time Out in the deep freezer in the basement. The rest of my stash appears to be unharmed. I vacuumed the living daylights out of the stash cupboard, put in a ton of cedar blocks, and made sure everything was securely packaged in ziplocks. The sweater quantities are okay. The Precious Sock Yarns are tightly wrapped and then stored in plastic boxes with snap-on lids. I think it will all be all right. I hope.

A knitter's rite of passage

Was it Debbie Bliss who admonished that handknits can be absolutely ruined by a poor choice of button? Whoever it was, I totally took that to heart, and so projects that are otherwise finished languish in my knitting bag because I haven't found the best, 100% most perfect button for them. Thus, I've had this Baby Surprise Jacket all but done for weeks and weeks until finally, I sucked it up and picked out buttons at regular old Jo-Ann Fabrics.

It's not bad for a first attempt at an Elizabeth Zimmermann pattern (even though I totally used a spreadsheet to keep track of where I was on the pattern and sent several desperate, frantic e-mails to poor Michelle who had taken the Baby Surprise class at Natural Stitches). My biggest observation is that I understand why The Yarn Harlot only does the top three buttons, as I think the way the fabric pulls, at least on mine, wants the sweater to be open at the bottom. I didn't do any of the optional finishing work since the garter edges look crisp and tidy. I can definitely see myself doing more of these....spreadsheet in hand, of course.

The yarn, Brooks Farm Solo, was an absolute dream to work with, very soft and squishy and the hand-dyed colors blend beautifully. The DK weight means this is a newborn sized sweater, so I'm not sure if any of the summer babies will be getting this one. The yarn is also not superwash, so it's definitely for someone who knits and understands how to care for natural fibers.

And finally, the yarn is purple and brown. Is that gender neutral? Talk amongst yourselves. I'm going to be doing a blog post for Go Get Your Jacket about gender neutral knitting for children soon, so I'd love to hear your thoughts.

Okay, really, this is out of hand.

New Knitty came out this morning! Usually I see a lot of things I like that I'll queue for later. Now there must be something in the air because I love these socks and want to cast on for them RIGHT NOW. I think part of the appeal is an easily memorized lace pattern (I have three pairs of Boring Socks on the needles right now...come to think of it, the fact that I have three pairs on the needles at the same time is probably a clue I have no business looking at sock patterns just now); part of the appeal is that it's written specifically for Socks that Rock, so it takes the yarn's tendency to pool into account. All my lovely STR from Md Sheep and Wool is calling me...... Must, not. cast. on. Must. not. cast. on.

Work continues on my February Lady Sweater. I've lost count of how many times I've cast on for this, and I'll have to rip and cast on once more, since Version 2.0 came out yesterday. It's definitely worth it, though. I remarked on Ravelry that this is the perfect Liz Lemon sweater: smart, cute, hip without trying to be hip. I can't wait to wear it. And hey, we have a Ravelry Group KAL for the sweater, so come join us! And stop by the store if you're making this because a bunch of us are working on it there as well.

Everyone else is doing it

The February Lady Sweater was in 500-something queues when I saw and queued it this morning. When I got to work and showed it to Kelli, it was at 600-something. By the time Lisa showed up and cast on for it, the number had risen to 777. As of now, 6:00 PM, it's in 937 queues. Is this some kind of new record?

Natural Stitches had a run today of Dream In Color Classy because of this sweater. I bought some In Vino Veritas for my Lady Sweater; Lisa bought Dusky Aurora for hers. And then! We got to meet PAKnitWit from Ravelry, who brought in her socks to be measured for our Summer of Socks contest; she took one look at the pattern and bought some DIC for her own green Lady Sweater. We love to enable. It's a KAL after all!

As if the Startitis weren't bad enough

Jeez. I love to start projects, but I rarely see big projects, like sweaters, that make me shriek and exclaim "I must cast on for that RIGHT NOW." Usually I need to ruminate on them, look at the patterns for awhile, see how other people interpret them, think carefully about yarn choice, etc. etc. etc.

Until today.

I logged onto Ravelry and hit my "Friend Activity" tab, which is seriously greater than Facebook and Myspace and all those other things put together, and saw an adaptation of Elizabeth Zimmermann's February Baby Sweater on Two Needles for grownups in, like, five other people's queues. It's the February Lady Sweater!

I need yarn. It's a good thing I work at a LYS. It's a good thing I work in a LYS today, like in an hour. Anyone up for a KAL?

Srsly? My knitting has gotten away from me

Okay, srsly? How many WIPs are on that sidebar over there? I have to finish a lot of those for gifts in the next few weeks, plus I need to start another gift for a baby who should be here any day now. And I haven't even started any of my Rockin' Sock Club projects. And yet this morning I had a hankering to cast on ANOTHER project: The Everlasting Bagstopper from Knitty. I need more market bags. More importantly, I need to do something, anything with the humungous storage container of Sugar and Cream and Peaches and Creme from my days of the Mason-Dixon Bib and Warshrag Crackwhore Period, and wouldn't this be a great way to use some of it up?

I think, no, I know this is the worst case of Startitis I have ever had. Help.

Knitting for children

I've been "invited" to be a guest blogger for a new blog, Go Get Your Jacket, in which a bunch of us take a step back and scrutinize the clothes, gear, and stuff in general that we buy for our small children. I've done a few entries so far, but I thought readers of this blog would be interested in my first of a planned series of posts about knitting for children.

Speaking of color

WARNING: ROCKIN' SOCK CLUB SPOILER AHEAD




The latest shipment of Socks that Rock certainly didn't skimp on the color. The colorway studies continue, this time in purple.



Check out my Flickr photostream for better pictures. I love this and was saddened to read in the Dyer's Notes that this is probably the last color study for the club this year.

Better?

Thanks, all, for confirming what my gut was telling me. The Chewy Spaghetti yarn didn't want to be a lace ribbon scarf. Perhaps it wants to be a pair of Monkeys?

Take 2 is knit in Gloss, a wool/silk blend fingering weight from KnitPicks. The Lace Ribbon pattern is fun to knit. I haven't exactly memorized the pattern, but it's very easy to "read" the knitting and take a quick glance at the chart to remind myself where I am. I have a feeling there are a lot of these scarves in my future: it uses up sock yarn and makes a great gift.

And it's orange! Orange has never been one of "my colors" (too close to yellow, which has never been and I can say with certainty never will be one of my colors) but recently I've been drawn to it. Has that ever happened to you? I usually go on "color jags" and pick up certain colors like a magpie (see my haul of green sock yarn, for example). This fairly recent orange (extending to pinky-orange and red-orange) binge has really surprised me.






PS: I'm sure you all have heard this by now, but if you haven't, I was saddened and stunned to hear that the Malabrigo mill caught on fire earlier this week.

Your honest opinion, please

Yellow is not one of my colors, so I'm having a hard time seeing this project objectively. Is this working for you? The pattern is a narrow version the Lace Ribbon Scarf from the current issue of Knitty (sized down because the yarn was pooling really badly with the original number of repeats). The yarn is the Chewy Spaghetti Blue Plate Special for February 2008, seen in its original condition here:


The whole point of a club, at least for me, is to work with colors and fibers that you might not have chosen on your own. I'm already breaking my personal sock club rules by not knitting the pattern that came with the yarn. This yarn up close is stunning, a silk and wool blend with a beautiful sheen and a soft hand. I love it. But....yellow.

Noro Socks

The Noro socks have been slow-going, mainly because they've been my downtime project to work on at Natural Stitches. Yesterday, though, I decided to push through so I could wear them to work on Saturday.

Forgive the bad picture on this cloudy day, but it's enough to give you an idea of the vibrance of the colors. I've read conflicting information on various Ravelry boards about the color repeats, but mine was more than enough to do a matching pair. I used 2/3 of the skein to make socks for my size 9 feet and have enough to make a third matching sock, should the mood strike me (for the record, no I don't think the mood will strike me to make a third sock, but you never know).

Overall, what is lovely about Noro is what works against it as a sock yarn. However, working with the yarn was a pleasant surprise. Part of the beauty of Noro Kuryeon is the rustic texture, but that doesn't always equal a pleasing fabric that can be worn next to the skin and it certainly doesn't have the squooshy, springy, smooshy quality I've come to love in sock yarn. While the yarn itself was rough as it went through my fingers, it knitted up into a surprisingly soft fabric. I plan to soak the socks in Eucalan before I wear them, but I honestly don't think it's necessary to do so. They do, though, need a good blocking, but that's because my inexperience with the Magic Loop technique caused the creases you see in the picture.

The biggest problem I had with this yarn was the extremes of the thick and thin, to the point where the yarn verged on slubs. I had one unfortunately placed slub on the heel turn of my first sock; in retrospect, I should have just cut the yarn, but I was worried about disrupting the color repeats, and I hate weaving in extra ends, particularly on socks.

Really, though, these socks are stunning. I plan to make another pair for my mother, and I'm excited to see the Noro Silk Garden Sock when it comes out later this year. Martha has already ordered bags and bags of it, and I'm looking forward to getting my hands on it!

I finished the Christmas Knitting!

Christmas 2007, that is.

Actually, I didn't even make my Mother's Day goal. But it's done. The Clap is finished!

As for my other "goal," you may have noted that I wore nothing hand-knitted to Maryland Sheep and Wool. My Flair is languishing in my knitting basket. I'll finish it, really, I will.

Maryland Sheep and Wool Wrap-up

Happiness is an armload of Socks that Rock yarn.

Standing in line at The Fold was not how I planned to spend MDSW, but I finally understand what all that chatter about “yarn fumes” is about, because I was high on something when I got swept into that line. How could anyone resist the colors, the smooshiness of it all?

It’s a testament to the general good hearted nature of knitters that the line to pay for the STR at the fold went out of the barn and stretched outside down past the next barn and no one seemed to be just grabbing an armful of sock yarn and making a break for it. Instead, everyone got her yarn in an orderly fashion, took it outside, and stood patiently in line. Some people knit, other people had their arms too full of sock yarn to knit, but everybody was in good cheer and chatted pleasantly with their neighbors in line. It was a surprisingly lovely experience.

As for the rest of the haul:

From Brooks Farm, assorted colorways of Solo, their wonderful DK single ply

From Tess, well, a lot, two skeins of sock yarn, two skeins of laceweight merino (dude, I don’t even knit lace), and two absolutely divine skeins of Silk and Ivory, a gorgeous silk and merino blend.

From Just Our Yarns, some green cashmere laceweight (again, dude, I don’t know how to knit lace).

From Cloverhill, a bunch of indie dyer sock yarn

From Spirit Trail, two skeins of beautiful sock yarn

And from the Barefoot Spinner, a stunning skein of handspun, hand dyed sock yarn (and if anyone has a tag from her yarn, please weigh in on the comments, as I don’t know how much yardage I have).

It was a great time, if not a bit overwhelming. Ideally, I think the perfect day would have been to have Saturday’s selection with Sunday’s crowds, as Saturday was a mob scene, but things looked pretty picked over the next day. But in short, A++++ would attend festival again!!!

Random stuff

If you're as perplexed by some of The Drama on Ravelry lately as I am, check this out for a most excellent laugh.

And now, for a "book" part of this blog, I recently became an "advance reader" (actually, I'm not sure what my title is) for Random House. This means that every so often, I'll get some advance reader copies or uncorrected proofs of upcoming books in the mail, and in return, I am to blog about them. If you click on the Good Reads widget on the side of the blog, you'll see a link to the non-fiction selection, The Billionaire's Vinegar. At some point, I'll post an actual review.

Also at some point, I want to blog about my Noro sock experience thus far. If you've knit with this, I'd love to hear your comments.

Finally, it's primary day in Pennsylvania! Be sure to vote!

Mindless Garter Stitch....

...can be really beautiful and soothing. See?


(Lucy the Cat would like to point out that she is very beautiful and soothing as well.)

The first is the bodice of Juliet, knit in this gorgeous red colorway of Malabrigo I picked up at the Pittsburgh Knitting and Crochet Festival. The second is the beginning of my Knitting Rite of Passage, my first Elizabeth Zimmermann Baby Surprise Jacket, knit in Brooks Farm Solo, also purchased at the Knitting and Crochet Festival. (Please note that not only am I knitting from the stash, I am knitting with Precious Things from the stash.)

Both projects are really beautiful, but both have been a wee tad bit stressful in different ways. The Juliet is knit top down, and the beauty of that method is that you can try on as you go. So I tried on.....and realized that the bust measurement given by most designers must assume that the arms are toned. Um, mine are not, and so the underarms of the bodice are way too tight. At this point, I have to decide if I just rip back a few rows and continue with the increases. Or I can frog the whole thing and knit the large, but then possibly not be able to make the sweater as long as I'd like it. (And it turns out that the downside of knitting with Precious Things from the stash is that you can't just run down to the store and get more yarn if you run out.)

As for my Baby Surprise, well, I was surprised that getting started is a lot more complicated than it looks. I got confused by the third row. After a frantic email exchange and a phone call from a Concerned Michelle, I figured it out (the text of one email from me was, and I quote: "*$_)_)&$^#*#!!!!!") and am now rolling along with the help of a cheatsheet from Ravelry. Does it still count as a successful rite of passage if you use a cheatsheet?

I leave you with a delightful "perk" of my new job. I was the first to open the box of Noro Kureyon Sock when it arrived, and I bought the first one. Isn't it pretty? I'm Magic Looping for the first time, so wish me luck.

Love/Hate

I love the color and stitch definition of my Blue Sky Alpacas Dyed Cotton that I'm using for my Flair. I hate how hard it is on my hands as I'm using a size 6 needle to get 4.5 stitches to the inch; I can do only one or two rows at a time before I have to put it down and give my hands a break.

I love my KnitPicks Harmony Options set, for the most part, really, I do. But I hate that a wooden needle part pulled out of the metal join in the middle of a row. I was going to frog my Talia anyway because I'm not sure I'm doing the YOs properly in the purl rows, but having the needle fall off mid-row was the last straw.

I love Ravelry, but my goodness, people, the drama on the boards lately.

Cat's out of the bag

I can finally end my radio silence on all the Secret Knitting I've been working on. The last project was delivered yesterday.

Presto Chango, knit in Punta del Este Yarns South American Cotton for Peanut Sprague. Presto Chango is a really fun knit and the lace panel is surprisingly easy. The yarn is stunning with the depth provided by the space dying process, but I apologize to Bethie in advance for the hand-wash only care instructions!










Miss Dashwood, knit for Miss Sophia, who is finally home! Love, love, love this pattern and love it even more knit in Malabrigo. However, it took me three hours to cast on -- yes, that's right, three hours! -- because I'd never done a picot cast-on before. The K4TOGTBL (srsly, who thinks this up?) round nearly did me in so I skipped the bobbles in favor of a seed stitch band.




Seyi's hat, for Miss Seyi's first birthday. The pattern is the Children's Cotton Hats from Last Minute Knitting Gifts. It's become my go-to gift, and yet.....dudes, this pattern is all jacked up. I can't get gauge with the yarn it calls for and the eyelet holes are messed up. Why isn't this in the LMKG errata? Still, cute, cute, cute.










And I think that's it for the Secret Knitting for awhile. I have a baby gift coming up in June, but I feel pretty confident that the recipients don't read knitting blogs. I'm going to challenge myself with a Baby Surprise Jacket or the Pea Pod baby set. And other than the *$%_@+ Christmas 2007 knitting (yes, 2007) I have to finish, I have time to knit for me, which is a pleasant surprise.

For those of you who don't know, I just started work at Natural Stitches. I'm there Mondays in the daytime for now, so stop by and see me!

What Not to Wear: Md Sheep and Wool Edition

So, what does one wear to a knitting festival? Seriously, I’ve never been to a major one, just the Pittsburgh Knitting Festival. Poking around on Ravelry and talking to real life knitters yields two schools of thought on the upcoming Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival:

1. OMG, a knitting festival, I have to wear hand knits! How else will everyone know I’m a knitter? (Um, by the sack of yarn you just bought hanging off your arm?) Seriously, this fascinates me. Is it a desire to show off a little? (And I’m not saying this is a bad thing because knitting can be darn hard work and of course you should be proud to wear what you make.) Is it to establish some kind of street cred? I really want to know. I’m participating in this by casting on for Flair, hoping I can get it done in time to wear to the festival. But school #2 gives me pause….
2. Wear your precious handknits? Are you insane? This school of thought implies to me that this is not a simple trip to see sheep and buy yarn. No, we are preparing for a great journey to the wilderness. We must pack a sherpa with water, wear good hiking shoes, dress in careful layers, and be prepared to get really, really dirty. In all seriousness, this seems like excellent advice because I don’t want to ruin my handknit socks in the mud, I don’t want to pay inflated prices for water, and I don’t want to get overheated in my handknits and pass out, therefore missing the booth with the Socks That Rock.

So is there a common ground for these two schools of thought? What do you wear to a knitting festival?

[Malabrigo] March Madness

For the record, I completed six (very small) projects and cast on for two more for Malabrigo March.

The Toddler says "I love Malabrigo!" Okay, really, he says "Yar!" and then throws it on the floor. He also uses yarn to practice counting ("eh, niiiiine, elelen," and NO, I did not buy eleven skeins of Malabrigo) and color identification ("BOO!").

Here, The Toddler is snuggling up to my latest Malabrigo score, the beautiful Brilliante colorway that I bought today at Natural Stitches "egg sale." Lisa "No, I Cannot Even Get to My Needles" Be and I were so excited about this, it wasn't even funny. We were supposed to leave my house at 10:45, but at 10:20, I looked out of my front door to see Lisa sitting there. Okay, I thought, we'll go a little early. Maybe there'll be a line and we can act like Mr. Smithers knocking Lisa Simpson down to be the first to get to Malibu Stacey. And if they let anyone in early, it would be Lisa.

But no, they didn't let us in early, and of course, I didn't expect them to. We went in and had the store to ourselves for just a few minutes, and then slowly but surely, the knitters flowed in. It was very pleasant with just the right amount of help. I scored a 25% discount in my egg and got the yarn for a MinnowKnits sweater for The Toddler, some sock yarn (duh), and some Malabrigo for Talia for myself.

What was it I said about not buying so much yarn this year?

Jumping up and down like a little girl

WARNING: ROCKIN' SOCK CLUB SPOILER AHEAD


Perhaps this is a sign that I need to get a life, but the feeling I got when I read that the March '08 Rockin' Sock Club shipment had gone out sent a little thrill through me. Because I received my January shipment a few days later than everyone else, I didn't get my hopes up too high that I'd get it this week. So when my husband brought in a package yesterday from the mailbox, I started jumping up and down and clapping like a drunken Paula Abdul on American Idol finale night.

If the package alone got me that excited, you can imagine how I felt when I actually opened it. This colorway is a gorgeous study of greens, and if each shipment is going to be a study of color (January was red/orange), I am beyond thrilled with my membership.

So happy.

In other knitting news, I decided last week that I wanted to set some completion goals for myself. At the risk of making my fun leisure activity too much like homework, I decided to try to finish a sweater vest for The Toddler by Easter. I finished last night and wove in the ends this morning; all I need to do is find suitable buttons.

I have two secret knitting projects I need to finish by the beginning of April, so those are up next. I want to have Flair completed so I can wear it to Maryland Sheep and Wool at the beginning of May. And I MUST finish that *$_#_&% Christmas knitting, so the Clapotis will be finished by Mother's Day. I swear.

Happy Easter to those of you who celebrate it!

I P-Touched my child

Somehow I made it through a whole lot of graduate school with people thinking I was super-organized and efficient. Those of you who have been to my house know what a big joke that is. I am a "cluttery" person who uses the "big piles and stacks of stuff" method of organization.

Yet when I saw this P-Touch was $10 off at Costco yesterday, I felt that was a sign from God and Martha Stewart herself that I was meant to have it. I rationalized it by telling myself I would use it to organize my knitting; and I did, I used it to label my growing stack of three-ring binders that house my patterns. I also plan to use it to organize my Christmas knitting (that's Christmas '08, even though, yes, I still have outstanding projects from Christmas '07) by wrapping the finished objects in tissue paper and labeling them.

But I couldn't help myself. A toddler cries out to be labeled with a P-Touch, don't you think?

May I be excused? My brain is full

That's how I felt after leaving my "Socks Every Which Way" class that I took with Carla at Natural Stitches on Friday. In a three hour period, I learned to cast on for

• one sock at a time on two circular needles
• two socks at a time on two circular needles, top down AND toe up
• one sock at a time using the Magic Loop method
• two socks at a time using the Magic Loop method, top down AND toe up

See why my brain is full?

I think using the DPNs (or, Sticks of Satan as Melissa calls them) is seriously a major cause of my slow, slow, slow sock knitting, so I'm willing to give these other methods a go. The downsides, as I see them are 1. a huge mess if I make a mistake and have to rip back on not just one but two socks, and 2. not as many size options. I have a lovely DPN sock set from KnitPicks and appreciate the variations in size, particularly as I knit with variegated yarns that might pool with the slightest gauge change.

Any recommendations for a simple toe-up pattern?

Good parenting for Malabrigo March

Yesterday The Toddler picked up the ball of Malabrigo I was working with and gave it a hug. This morning, he picked up another ball, petted it, said "soft" as well as a toddler can, and tried to carry it around with him like a stuffed animal. I hated to take it from him.

Obviously, he has excellent taste.

Happy Malabrigo March

The Malabrigo Junkies Group on Ravelry is sponsoring "Malabrigo March," as if anyone needed new excuses to knit things from my beloved Merino Worsted. To do my part, I've completed this Amanda Hat:*


And I started this Linen Stitch Scarflet:


The Amanda Hat proved to be surprisingly easy for a lace pattern (where easy = can work on it in the same room where The Toddler is playing), and I inadvertently taught myself how to knit on two circulars when I was unexpectedly out knitting without my DPNs.

I've been on radio silence for the past few weeks, due to catching not one but two colds, working on Secret Knitting that can't be posted on public blogs, and taking a much-needed trip to Florida, as The Toddler and I tagged along on the orchestra's recent tour. It's hard to be back in the cold, but a Malabrigo Fix on a cold, stormy day is not a bad way to get through a snowy weekend.

* A shout out to Lisa, who took this picture at Natural Stitches. Sadly, that's ME in that blog entry who keeps asking stupid questions about not being able to get at her stash in disbelief. What would you do if you suddenly were cut off from your stash? Would it be liberating? Panic-attack inducing? Talk amongst yourselves.

Lookit my new swift!

Isn't it nice? This is the special treat I picked up for myself at the Pittsburgh Knitting and Crochet Festival from the Knitting Notions booth.

I'd been using my mother's twenty+ year old wooden umbrella swift, and of course, I was used to using that kind of swift at the PKAB. This kind is new to me, and I found it very easy to set up and use.

On the swift and ballwinder is Knitting Notions superwash sock in the Thyme colorway. I don't know what I'm going to knit with it yet, but it was fun to wind.

It's cold and snowy out, the perfect day for winding and knitting. If you're in the Pittsburgh area, I hope you're enjoying your snow day and staying warm!

Abundance and Gratitude

The beginning of last week was, for a number of reasons, hectic and sad around here. My husband returned from his tour sick, we suffered a pretty big disappointment, and we had to take The Toddler to Children's Hospital for some medical tests. In the middle of all that, I turned the big 33.

In the end, the three of us will be fine, but I felt the urge to self-medicate with some yarn shopping.

I know, I know, I said I had rules for this and was cutting back, but please see the disclaimer I put in for myself under "special occasions," particularly the Pittsburgh Knitting and Crochet Festival.

First, while waiting for what seemed like twenty nurses to return my phone calls, I cruised Ravelry's Destash group and picked up some lovely sock yarns from people looking to unload in preparation for Stitches West. Then I saw that Sonny and Shear was having an anniversary sale and ordered some Smooshy and Shibuiknits sock yarn. The code "oneyear" is good for 25% off, in case anyone needs any enabling.

Then on Friday I ran into Natural Stitches to pick up an extra ball of Trekking Pro Natura for my husband's Gentleman's Fancy Socks just in case I ran out, and I ended up using my frequent shopper discount for some gorgeous Cascade 220 Heathers in the "Mallard" colorway for my husband's Cobblestone Pullover from last fall's Interweave Knits. It's gorgeous, just like the color of a beautiful blue mallard duck. I'm really looking forward to making it for him.

Then woohoo, on Saturday, my mother kindly volunteered to watch The Toddler all day, and, armed with birthday money from my very generous parents, I set off with Lisa and Beth for the 4th Annual Pittsburgh Knitting and Crochet Festival. This year is the first I got to go as just a plain civilian knitter: the first two years I was the one holding down the fort at PKAB and last year I manned Tania's booth for her in the morning. It was great to be able to just go and enjoy myself.

I got some really beautiful things. I wanted to stick to yarns that were handspun or dyed, not made by a big company, or that I couldn't get at Natural Stitches. I think I succeeded. I got a pattern for the Wonderful Wallaby, which I've been looking for for a long time. I got some sock yarn that NS doesn't carry, plus some crack, I mean, Malabrigo (worsted AND chunky) in new-to-me colors. I picked up some Brooks Farm Solo and Four Play that I'd been wanting to try for awhile.

And best of all, I got some lovely kettle-dyed semi-solid sock yarn and a NEW SWIFT from Knitting Notions, a family-owned business from Tennessee: she dyes the yarn and he makes the swifts and other wooden knitting supplies by hand.


But maybe even better than that was being able to donate a lot of my older yarn to the Three Rivers Crochet group. Check out their blog to see what they're all about and please consider going through your stash to see if you have anything for them. I'm thrilled that my yarn is going to a good place, for some great causes.

So in the end, at the risk of sounding trite, I am grateful. Grateful for the means to go a little overboard at a Knitting and Crochet Festival once a year. Grateful for good friends, who go yarn shopping with me, knit me beautiful things, and take me out to lunch; good friends who listen to good news and bad. Grateful for the overall good health of my family, particularly my beautiful son. Grateful to be one year older.

As I write this, the wind has started to howl and the snow is blowing. Hope everyone is either safe at the festival or snuggled up at home with some good knitting!

I'm making progress with the Christmas Knitting!

Gentleman's Fancy Sock from Nancy Bush's Knitting Vintage Socks.

I really wanted to finish these socks before my husband came home from his trip. He came home Wednesday night, and I finished the socks this morning, so close enough. I cut it super duper close with the yardage (Zitron Trekking Pro Natura) to the point where I picked up an extra ball at Natural Stitches just in case I ran out. Fortunately I didn't and I can exchange the extra ball.

It's a lovely pattern and I really liked the calf shaping. If I did it again, I would not do the wide toe called for in the original; while I appreciated having only twelve stitches to graft at the end of each sock, the toes looked rather like something Legolas would sport. I shortened the leg to seven pattern repeats and lengthened the foot to nine repeats to accommodate a size 10.5 foot.

Now if only I could finish The Toddler's Vest and my mom's Clapotis, the Christmas Knitting would be complete!

I love these mittens

Yesterday I unexpectedly got a few hours of free time, and I headed down to Starbucks to knit in peace. I couldn't find my dollar store gloves, so I threw on a pair of Dashings that I'd made last month in a fit of Malabrigo-itis. They were so warm....except, you know, for the part where my fingers hung out in the cold.

So continuing in the theme of "if at first you don't succeed," I decided to try again making mittens with a variegated skein of Malabrigo. Instead of the doomed Subway Mittens pattern, I cast on for Elizabeth Zimmermann's Mitered Mittens, the May pattern in her Knitters' Almanac.

Look, no pooling! I love them so much so far. The afterthought thumb, where EZ instructs you to just snip and unravel, scared me, so I'm using the modifications for a thumb gusset found in Kathryn Ivy's blog.

So pretty.



Now if I could only get them away from the cat.