Saturday, June 23, 2007

Shapely Tank

The Shapely Tank is all finished. It still needs a little blocking, but it is done and fits like it was made for me. Great pattern. So great that I have cast on another one, in a cotton blend.






When it comes to contests and/or knit-alongs, I am a day late and a dollar short. Usually miss them by a mile (or am not at all interested in the item-along). But I stumbled on the Yarn Miracle website and saw a button for Dish Rag Tag. Perfect for me. I love dishrags. I knit them all the time. Limited to 200 participants, this group is now closed, but it should be a blast.





Finally, a touch of summer in the persons of DH and DD2.






Tuesday, June 19, 2007

Overheard in a yarn shop recently

(not by me, but related to me by a trustworthy source):

There was a woman at a table knitting a blanket. For her daughter. She mentioned that the blanket required 30 balls of X---- yarn. Cost per ball: $17.00.

That's a $510 blanket. I am weak at the knees.

Another woman sitting near her asked whether she ever knit with cashmere. Apparently not, as she said that cashmere was much too expensive.

... And the Livin' Is Easy

The past two weeks have just flown by. Saturday before last I spent a lovely afternoon with Ceallach Knits and the former Chocolate and Raspberries. We had a royal lunch of Shrimp & Crab Quesadillas and Watermelon Margaritas before embarking on a mini yarn crawl. We only hit two places. First was Big Sky Knitting in Lafayette. This is the nose bleed of yarn shops, but OMG what gorgeous stuff they have. Didn't buy anything there but looked and drooled for over an hour.

Then back to reality for a stop at Michael's, which is more my line (price-wise). I broke my yarn fast to take advantage of a couple of sale items: Lion Brand Microspun in Lime and Royal Quick Crochet Thread in Cranberry, both destined for the Shapely Tank (free pattern on the White Lies Designs website). I need some more tank tops for summer, and this is a great design. The Lime one is 2/3's finished. Yeah, yeah, I know -- but the Knit from your Stash rules DO let you fall off the wagon ONE TIME. (What? I bought 2 yarns? Hello! Ahem! By the time the first tank is finished, the cranberry will have been in storage long enough to be classed as stash, so there).

This last week was also the last week of school, and DS#3 was promoted from 8th grade to high school (and a close thing that was, too). Naturally the ceremony was held outside, and naturally it was the hottest day we have had so far this year, and it goes without saying that there was almost no seating provided, there was no shade, and the thing went on way, way too long.

I am thinking of donating to the school one of those gong things on a timer -- you get 15 seconds to make your speech, give out your award, whatever. Then the bell sounds and the next person goes on. The whole shebang would be over in record time. If you absolutely have to have the long speeches, throw a private party afterwards.

Another option would be to hand each parent an ice-cold pitcher of Watermelon Margaritas and a folding chair upon arrival. The ceremony can poke along as usual, but who would care? I guarantee that the applause would be extremely enthusiastic. And everyone would join in singing the School Song.

Thursday, June 07, 2007

Running Wild

I am by nature a conservative dresser. Grey and black, well-loved and well-worn, figure large in my wardrobe. Make-up? A little mascara, dab of blush, lip gloss, I'm done in 30 seconds or less. I hate polish on my fingernails.

My otherwise supressed wild streak comes out at my toes -- toenails that is. New color every week. Here is the current line-up. As a rule they sit in a prominent place on my dresser, where I can see them from my bed. Just looking at them makes me happy.




A closer look at the blues, greens, and coppers



The red, purple, pink and white selection



This week's toes are purple.

Tuesday, June 05, 2007

I'm a Felting Fool

Finished the bag! I knitted a gusset using the navy yarn and attaching it to both sides as I knitted (no sewing up for me). Then I took the rest of the colored scraps, knotted them together at random, and knitted two long pieces of i-cord, threaded them through, and tied knots to make 2 handles. Next came the felting/fulling part. I have never felted anything (on purpose). I tried the careful way (washing machine with old bath towels, checking every couple of minutes), but some colors did well, some did not. Since I did not have a particular size in mind, I threw caution to the winds. Luckily, I have a teenage son who only wears jeans. Four pairs of jeans, lowest possible water setting, hot wash with longest possible cycle, cold rinse, spin cycle and --

One side



The other side


It's beach-bag size and should hold a lot.

I had a skein of Colinette Skye, Aran weight, which I scored at a sale years ago. Knitting Daily had a really cute felted bag, Amanda's Squatty Sidekick. Pretty good fit, except that the pattern called for 200 yards of yarn and I had 150. This is an easy pattern to size down, and it knitted up really quickly. Pulled DS's jeans out of the dryer for an instant re-play of the above. Stuffed a handtowel inside to help it shape while drying. When dry I will find a really nice button for the closure.


DS probably has the cleanest jeans in this part of the county.

I continue stash busting with another circular dishcloth.