Weekend Wrap-up

It was another busy weekend chez J/SJ, but at least this weekend had some knitting-related content to it. To start off with, when I got home from work on Saturday afternoon, I found a box on the front stoop that was finally what I was expecting:

Well, at least half of what I was expecting. This is the yarn for my Sizzle, which I'll be able to get started on once my e-check clears and I get the pattern (PayPal tells me that will be Wednesday). Unfortunately my package didn't contain my blocking wires. The Knit Picks site says that the wires were shipped separately, but on the same day as the yarn, and now they're inexplicably stopped in Leetsdale. I guess someone there had a shawl ready for blocking. No real emergency, since I'm still four body repeats, the edging chart, and a bind off away from blocking on Adamas.

Last night J's parents came over for dinner and to see the place with all the furniture in, and I was finally able to give J's mom her Mother's Day gift. As you can see, she was very excited to get them, so much so that she put them on right away.

How perfectly do these fit? And I was right about the cast on not being too tight on her skinny little legs.

As long as they were here, I took the opportunity to measure J's stepfather's feet for Socks to Be Named Later. He amused all of us when, upon being asked his color preferences for socks, he announced he really likes a nice heathered blue. (I might add that the man is a big Land's End fan, so I assume that's where he's learning his shades and hues.)

Finally last night, during Entourage, I finished Mata Hari #1:

Okay, I'm stretching the truth a little. This isn't officially done. I still need to weave in ends and sew up a poorly placed yarn over on the side of the heel. I cast on for the second sock during my lunch today, but tonight's knitting is all Adamas.

What's that they say about Fridays?

I am so glad that today is Friday; it's been a ridiculously busy week. I actually woke up yesterday convinced that it was Friday, only to be rudely awakened to the fact that it was only Thursday when I hit the shower and really woke up. I have to wake up moderately early tomorrow morning to go to work, but I am putting a ban on the alarm clock on Sunday morning. I need to sleep in.

As tired as I am, I found a reward for getting out of bed in my e-mail inbox this morning: my MimKnits patterns! I am simply itching to start one of the shawls, but I'm forcing myself to finish Adamas first (I'm through 10 repeats of the body chart -- four more to go! -- and the rows are starting to get really long). I also placed my order this morning for Knit and Tonic Wendy's Sizzle, for which I've already order yarn I hope will work from Knit Picks.

Last night I got home from work and saw a package on the front stoop. I got all excited, thinking that my Knit Picks shipment had arrived in record time. Unfortunately, it was not my yarn, but it was a very nice surprise: a professional series blender! J's uncle works for Waring, and this was what we'd requested as an engagement present. I'll have to get to the market this weekend to get smoothie ingredients to try it out.

Well, folks, I did it. I caved and signed up for Sock Wars. I have no doubt that I'll be "assassinated" very early on, which is just fine with me. I'll get just enough of a challenge to be exciting without having to knit socks for people all over the world (as the ultimate champion of the competition will have to). As I'm in a joining mood, I'm also contemplating joining Knit the Classics, which is basically a book club with a knitting element (all the members read the same book each month and complete a knitting project that goes along with the book at the same time). I'm especially tempted because the August selection is Lolita, which I've always wanted to read but never gotten around to. I'm a tad bit concerned I might be over-extending myself. Your thoughts?

I'm off to spend the rest of my lunch hour working on Mata Hari #1 (it's nearing completion). Have a great weekend, all!

In a galaxy far, far away ...

Have you heard about Sock Wars? I'm so there. (I'll probably be eliminated right away, but at least I'll get a pair of socks out of the deal!)

All back to normal

Tonight J and I had our first "official" dinner at home (we were out at a charity event last night), so I decided to finally break out my big, heavy Le Creuset pot that I got from my aunt and uncle in December to make a home-cooked meal.

I call this Country French Chicken, my own concoction with Coq au Vin as an inspiration. Very simple "recipe": I browned boneless, skinless chicken breasts in a little bit of olive oil with a couple cloves of garlic, then added two coarsely chopped Spanish onions, a small can of tomato paste, some red wine, chopped carrots and celery, two cans of diced tomatoes, and some haricots verts (known in this country as green beans). Just let it simmer for about 25-30 minutes, then served over some plain couscous. I thought it was a little lacking in flavor/seasoning, but J really liked it and practically cleaned his plate -- something he never, ever does. The best compliment, if you ask me!

Although there was not too much done over the weekend, for obvious reasons, there has been some knitting progress here at our house. My first Mata Hari has rounded the heel and is into the leg portion. Here's the obligatory progess shot:

The color's not quite right here; it looks more purple than the pale pink it actually is. The colorway of the yarn is called Strawberry Milkshake, and that's pretty much what it looks like.

At home, I've been making steady progress on my Adamas shawl; I'm now well into my ninth repeat of the body chart. I'm hoping to be able to put in some good blocks of time on it this week, and I put in a Knit Picks order yesterday for some lace blocking wires for when it's done.

Speaking of Adamas, I think that the Yarn Harlot may be copying me. Did you see today's post? Did you happen to notice what she's knitting? (second picture) She's not only knitting the same shawl, she's using the same yarn, Knit Picks Shadow! Don't you just hate it when famous knitters are always doing the same thing as you?

Of course, the Yarn Harlot isn't copying me, she's just as taken with Miriam's patterns as I am. Mim happens to be having a little sale on her patterns over on her blog. Today I purchased the patterns for her Seraphim and Mountain Peaks shawls and her Eleanora socks, and I can hardly wait to start them. If you haven't seen any of her patterns before, Mim is a really talented designer, and she's super friendly and helpful if you have problems or questions.

Finally, did you see those pretty new thumbnails, over there in the sidebar? J did those for me Sunday night. It had been a while -- the last time he updated them was sometime in March, I think. I appreciated it so much that I decided to buy him a ticket to Stitch 'n Pitch (we'll be there at PNC Park on 8/13).

Home Sweet Home!

Well, I am officially moved in to our house. The movers showed up promptly yesterday morning, started moving at 7:30 a.m., and were done by around 10 a.m. (which means I officially made it under the four hour minimum, hooray!). I was pretty much unpacked and settled by about 4:30 or so, in plenty of time to take a shower and go out to dinner with my parents and brother. J and I did a quick trip to the market on the way home and then passed out before 10:30. It was a long day, but highly successful, and truly much less stressful than I had thought it would be (especially after being woken up at 5:30 by a thunderstorm!).

Today we went back to my apartment to do a final cleaning, and now all that's left to be done is drop off the keys.

Now that the stash is settled, I'll probably be starting up some additional projects soon. I think my first priority is probably the mate to my original Pomatomus; I think I'll hold off on starting Forecast until it cools down a bit, since the stash lives on the third floor of the house and it gets really hot up there most days.

Is it Friday yet?

Nope, still Thursday. Oh well.

Last night I met up with Jen and Jenn at the Waterworks Barnes & Noble for our monthly knitting night. It was just the three of us for the second month in a row and although we were a tad disappointed that no other knitters showed up, we had a fantabulous time. I'll direct you over to Jen's blog for more details on the fun.

Believe it or not, I still have only two (yes, TWO) WIPs right now. My Mata Haris are coming along very slowly, since I've only been working on them a few rows at a time during lunch a few days at work (unfortunately, although I like driving to work, I am missing out on the bus knitting time I used to have). At home I've been making better progress on my Adamas shawl. Take a look:

I've included my freshly pedicured foot for scale here, but keep in mind it's all scrunched up. Want a detail shot of the lace? Sure you do!

Yep, looks a lot better than the last time I tried to knit this shawl. It's amazing what a proper yarn over can do.

This weekend is the final stage of the move: the furniture comes! The movers are supposed to be at the apartment between 7 and 8 on Saturday morning, so I'm hoping everything will be in and done by early afternoon. Then it's just a matter of putting everything away (but if you ask me, that's a heck of a lot easier than packing it up!) Perhaps if we're really productive, I'll finally break down and start a third project.

In the meantime, off to work on the shawl...

Stash Relocation and Other Adventures in Moving

Well, I am officially moved into J's place -- only now I can call it our place. Need proof? Here's the stash, resting comfortably in its new home:

This may not be exactly its final resting place, since the furniture has yet to be moved in (that's coming this weekend), but you get the general idea. I think that J has gotten used to having the stash around; notice he's made his own addition of golf balls (or perhaps that's just a not-so-subtle hint that he'd like some hand-knit golf club covers?)

Very little knitting was accomplished this weekend, what with all moving and sweating and showering four times in two days. I completed about a repeat and a half on my lace shawl, and I did manage to finish this little item up earlier this evening:

I think blue was the right choice. Can't wait to see little Finn in it!

I'll end this post with a short public service announcement/reminder: this Wednesday is knitting night at the Waterworks Barnes & Noble. I'll find some interesting project to show and tell. Hope to see some new faces there (and of course some familiar faces as well)!

Block(ing) Party

Last night we had a little blocking party chez Knit/Wit, amid a flurry of packing, throwing stuff out, and watching Capote. (Pardon all the crap in the background. I'm moving, you know what it's like. This is one of the tidier spots in the apartment, believe it or not.) Here are my future MIL's socks and the baby sweater for Finn, after finally getting themselves a good bath and a good spot to lie out.

(See, I told you there'd be FO pictures!)
















Granted, the sweater isn't officially finished, but rest assured the buttons will be sewn on and it will be nicely wrapped up this weekend. We may actually hand deliver it to baby Finn in the next week, so I'll see if I can manage an action shot of him wearing it (weather permitting, of course. I'm not going to force a baby into a sweater in 90 degree heat with no air conditioning present.)

Now for the run-down on the socks (I know it's just what you've all been waiting for).
Pattern: Madder Ribbed Socks from Knitting Vintage Socks (Nancy Bush)
Yarn: Lorna's Laces Shepherd Sock, in colorway Cool
Needles: US 1 Addi Turbo circs (with the assistance of a dpn for the heels) and dpns for the toes
Mods: none

These were a quick and enjoyable knit, and I really didn't have an issue with Second Sock Syndrome with this pair. The simple rib went really quickly on my two circs and was essentially mindless (we're ignoring, of course, the incident during the screening of Superman Returns, during which the purl stitches kept messing me up). I would definitely knit this pattern again, although I'd also like the try the other ribs in the book.

These socks are a little snug on me (don't worry, I did wash them after I tried them on!) but should fit my future MIL just fine, as she is an itty-bitty thing and doesn't have the largish mid-legs/calves that I do.

To update the other WIPs, my Mata Haris are coming along nicely, and I've completed two repeats of the main chart on my Adamas shawl. It occurred to me that I should probably also cast on for my second Pomatomus (i.e., the second one of the original pair, the one I said I'd do when I signed up for the Pomatomus KAL way back when) so that I can finally have that pair completed. Plus, I'd really like to get back to Forecast, but I may let that wait until the weather cools off a bit -- nothing like a lapful of wool on a hot, humid day in Western Pennsylvania, eh?

This weekend I am working and also hopefully moving in the rest of my stuff (at least the stuff I'm moving on my own) to J's. The "official" move -- of furniture and heavy stuff -- is next Saturday, but the plan is for me to be in and relatively settled by Sunday. It'll be interesting to see if we're able to fit all of our stuff in J's townhouse. (Lord help us when the wedding gifts start coming in!)

Anyone else interested in going to Stitch & Pitch? I think I can manage to convince J to come, for those who want to meet him, although he'll be sans stitching.

The votes are in

And the winner is (drumroll, please) .... BLUE! Seems most of you liked the monochromatic look. To be perfectly honest, I was torn between the blue and the gray, so I've let you make the tough decision for me. Thanks for voicing your opinions!

Unfortunately, last night I realized that I'd already moved my sewing basket to J's place, so I will have to wait until this weekend to sew on the button and take a final shot for all of you to see.

Last night, after registering for wedding gifts at William-Sonoma with J (who was such a good sport), I managed to finish up my future MIL's socks. (Yes, I will have to take a picture of those tonight and post them tomorrow.) Suddenly I found myself with only two WIPs! Shocking, I know. So now my cotton/lycra Mata Haris are my travel sock project and my Adamas shawl will be my home/couch project. Or at least until the entire stash is moved to J's and is at my fingertips ...

FO pictures tomorrow, I promise.

ALMOST Done

Pattern: Seamless Yoked Baby Sweater by Carole Barenys
Yarn: Lion Brand Baby Soft (sport weight)
Needles: Addi Turbo US 7 circs
Mods: I omitted the decorative stitches around the bottom of the sweater and the wrist of the sleeves. I also did paired decreases down the arm to create a more tapered sleeve.

This is almost done. It just needs to be blocked and (here's where you come in) it needs buttons. Here are the options (turns out I had more than I remembered):

Apologies for the fact that this photo is upside down; for some reason I can't get it to flip. So here are the choices, top to bottom: dark gray, dark blue, pearly white, pearly white with hole in back. Which one gets your vote?

Sweater Update

By now I should really know better than to predict when I'll finish a project, because inevitably I wind up making little or no progress at all after making such a prediction. Here is Finn's baby sweater, and as you can see, it's not finished. In fact, this is the sweater after only about a half-hour's worth of knitting time since I finished the first sleeve. I only managed to pick it up at about 10 p.m. last night, after I spent all weekend working, moving stuff to J's place, and visiting with my parents. I am hoping to spend some sustained time on it this evening, once my bathroom is clean and laundry is done (don't I have just the most exciting Monday night planned?!).

Now here is where I need your advice, dear Readers. I am unsure what buttons to use once this is done (if ever it is). I have two options that I've narrowed it down to (and my apologies for not having taken pictures; if there's enough demand for it I'll take a shot of both with the sweater this evening): one is a pearlized white button, the other is a somewhat pearly dark blue. Both are very plain, round, four-hole buttons, very similar to each other, in fact. Because of the stitch pattern on the yoke of the sweater, I wanted to keep the buttons relatively simple so that the sweater as a whole doesn't get too fussy. Your thoughts? White or blue -- or something else entirely?

Oh, and by the way, I'm doing the sleeves using the magic loop method, my first time using it, and I can't say I absolutely love it. Maybe it has to do with the cord of my Addis, which I normally love for being so sturdy, but here seems to fight with me when I try to "bend" it to work the loop.

New Knitty

It's up and, okay, so maybe it's not that exciting. But you know me, I'm nuts for the socks. And oh drool, must immediately knit up Cookie's latest design!

Just one question, though: what exactly does one do with knitted angel wings?

I took the day off of work yesterday and did a lot of knitting on Finn's baby sweater. The body and one sleeve are done. I should be able to finish the rest of the knitting by the end of the weekend, and then I'll need your opinion on buttons. Pictures to come!

More Pomatomi

Here' s another set:

Now before you go and start thinking, "Man, that SJ is one fast knitter, she already finished another pair of Pomatomi!" let me stop you right there. These two socks may appear to be a pair, but except for the fact that they're the same yarn, they're really not. These two were my prototype socks for my pattern reversal work. The one on the left was the original; the one on the right was knit using the mods I published in my last post. For some unknown reason, the sock on the left is also significantly longer and taller (well, the leg is longer) than the one on the right. Like my artistic posing to hide this fact? I never really intended this to be a functional pair, and with one sock visibly shorter than the other I'm not sure that it will ever be one.

Since I finished these up a few days ago I've been working pretty much exclusively on a pair of socks for my future mother-in-law. I'm doing the Madder Ribbed Sock from Knitting Vintage Socks, in a really pretty Lorna's Laces colorway with shades of blue (she specifically requested something that would look good with jeans). I thought I had finished one of the socks:

But, alas, this picture is also misleading. Shortly after I finished weaving in the ends I realized that I had completely screwed up the toe (due to my apparent inability to correctly read directions!), so this morning I snipped off the end of the toe and frogged back to the beginning of the toe decreases. Now I think I've read the directions correctly, so we are a go for socks that will be long enough!

Still on the needles: baby sweater for baby Finn, Adamas shawl, and toe-up Mata Haris

Currently reading: The Knot Complete Guide to Weddings in the Real World (are you surprised?)

Oh, and by the way, according to Jenn, I am now officially Queen of the Popos. Thanks, Jenn, I've always dreamed of being Sock Royalty!

SUMOTAMOP (That's Pomatomus Reversed)

Drumroll, please! Here is the long-awaited Pomatomus Reversal!


Before you begin, you will need to:
1) Print out a copy of the pattern.
2) Get some graph paper.
3) Reverse the two charts for the pattern. The order of the rows will be the same, but you will essentially be knitting from the last stitch to the first stitch in each row. (If you have trouble keeping track of the stitches, an easy way to do this is to print out an extra copy of the two charts, hold the chart up to a window with the printed side facing away from you, and trace the chart as it shows through the paper.)

The following are the modifications I made to the pattern to reverse it. So as not to reproduce the entire pattern (and thereby probably infringe on its copyright!), I am only outlining the parts of the pattern that need to be changed from the original. You will want to keep a copy of the pattern with you so you will know when to plug in the modifications.

Every effort has been made to make sure that these mods are correct (I've test knit the reversed sock twice), but if you do find an error, please let me know so I can correct it. Also, please feel free to e-mail me or leave a comment if you have questions!

Note: All the symbols in the charts are the same as for the original EXCEPT for the symbol that stands for K2tog tbl. In the reversed pattern, this symbol will stand for K2tog (as normal; not through back loop).

DIRECTIONS
Cuff
CO 72 sts and divide as directed.
Round 1: [K1 tbl, P1] to end.
Repeat this round 9 times more.

Leg
Set-up Round: [(K1 tbl, P1) five times, K2tog, YO] to end of round
Work Rounds 2-22 of Chart A.

After each chart has been worked, rearrange stitches as follows:
Move last stitch from each needle to the beginning of the next needle.

You will begin Row 1 of Chart A at the second stitch, since you have already knit the new first stitch you just transferred from needle 3.

Work Chart A a total of 3 times, rearranging stitches after Row 22 each time.

Heel Flap
Transfer 12 stitches from needle 2 to needle 1. You will have 36 stitches on needle 1, which will be worked back and forth for the heel flap. Hold the remaining 36 stitches on one or two other needles.
Row 1: (K1 tbl, P1) across to end
Row 2: Sl 1, (P1 tbl, K1) across to last stitch, P1 tbl
Row 3: Sl 1, P1, (K1 tbl, P1) across to end (*you may need to reorient the K sts for them to twist correctly)
Row 4: Sl 1, (P1 tbl, K1) across to last stitch, P1 tbl
Repeat rows 3 and 4 twelve times more.

Turn Heel
Follow directions as given in pattern.

Gussets
Follow directions as given, except for patterning on instep stitches. Instead, work Row 1 of reversed Chart B. Note that on this first repeat of the chart, you will K2 tog at the end of the row; on subsequent repeats of this chart, you will K3 tog.

Foot/Toe
Follow directions as given in pattern.

Photographic Evidence

Here, as promised, pictures!

First things first:

Pattern: Pomatomus (winter '05 Knitty) by Cookie A.
Yarn: Lorna's Laces Shepherd Sock in colorway Jay Pond
Needles: US 2 (really more like 1.5) Inox dpns
Recipient: my mom
Mods: My own reversal of the pattern for one sock, to create a mirror-image pair.

These were my mom's Mother's Day present, which I hope she won't mind getting so late! (At least she's in a better situation than my future MIL, whose feet I have yet to even measure for her socks.) I am still not 100 percent pleased with the pattern reversal, but I am working on another prototype sock with an additional modification that looks like it's coming out more the way I wanted it to. I'll know in about another pattern repeat if it's working, and if I does I'll be posting the mods on this here blog shortly.

Here's a closeup shot of the socks so you can see how the pattern has been reversed:

Next up -- sing along with me, now! -- Na na na na, na na na na, hey hey hey, good-bye!

Say adios to Trellis! Yes, that is my trash can. Frankly I didn't even think it was worth it to throw this sweater in the frog pond. The yarn is acrylic baby yarn I got on sale at JoAnn's; maybe if it was wool I'd feel differently. Somehow I managed to build up an incredible resentment of this sweater, and throwing it away -- really throwing it away -- just felt so good. This sweater might look really cute once it's knit up, but the actual process of knitting it was a big pain in the you-know-what. If you ask me, a knit item for a baby or little kid shouldn't be so complicated. I'm using the rest of this yarn for a baby sweater I like much better.

Done. And done.

I finished two things last night, both of which were long in coming. The first was my mother's Pomatomuses (whenever I say "Pomatomus" to J, he responds with "Polamalu"), which I actually finished knitting at lunch but, finding myself without a tapestry needle, had to wait until I got home to kitchener the toes and weave in the ends. I didn't take a picture this morning because they were still blocking on a towel that, coincidentally, is nearly the same color as the main color of the yarn. So I'll wait until they're dry and I can set them up in a pretty location for their photo shoot. This was the first pair with the semi-successful pattern reversal, which I'm semi-excited to show you. I cast on for another experimental sock last night, so I can try out my final tinkering of the pattern in my attempt to get the reversed pattern to pop in the same way as the original. Look for the pattern mods to be posted here some time next week.

Last night I also finished reading Marley & Me, and yes, I bawled like a baby. It's a good thing I was reading right before bed, and when J wasn't around, because let me tell you, I was seriously scary-looking with my bright red, puffy eyes. It was not pretty. But oh, what a good book! If you love dogs, you'll love it, just make sure you're alone and have plenty of tissues on hand (and no place to go for at least a couple hours afterward) when you finish it.

Remember my plan to finish up that baby sweater by the end of the weekend? Yeah, so not happening. I got to the placing of the markers for the fronts, sleeves, and back, and I haven't picked it up since. Let's revise that completion date to at least the end of next weekend, shall we?

Finally, I stopped by Pittsburgh Knit and Bead after work on Wednesday, just to see if there was anything at all left. I think this may be their last week in business, and the discount was up to 55% off. There was pathetically little selection left in the way of yarn (unless you're into eyelash, ribbon, or other novelty yarn, which I'm not particularly) and the needle selection had been decimated. I did score two more pairs of Addi 12" circs (US 1's -- for socks), plus five balls of Karabella Aurora 8 in a lovely color called Kangaroo Taupe (or something like that), two balls of chunky 100% wool for felting in black and bubblegum pink, and a massive skein (1,300+ yards!) of bright red laceweight merino. All of this for about $46! I just couldn't pass it up. I don't have specific projects for any of the yarn yet, but I know I'll use it for something. Any suggestions?

Pictures in the next post, I promise! I have to clear out the camera from all the silly pictures J and I took at the bar last weekend when we were out celebrating the engagement.

Happy weekend knitting, all!

Winning the Lace Race

Pattern: Leaf Lace Shawl by Evelyn Clark for Fiber Trends
Yarn: Misti Alpaca Lace, approximately 1.25 skeins
Needles: US 5 Addi Turbo circs
Dimensions: approximately 60" wide and 32" deep
Mods: None

I finished in time! (Boo hiss to all of you who thought I wouldn't make it!) I finished the knitting Friday afternoon, blocked it (what a PITA that was!) before J and I went out to celebrate Friday night, and finished snipping all the ends and wrapped it Saturday afternoon, just in time to present it to my mom at dinner on Saturday night. It turned out to be a big hit; she just LOVED it, and kept telling me how impressed she was with it.

In spite of the blocking (most definitely my least favorite part of this project), I now find myself completely addicted to knitting lace. I am all set to rip and restart my Adamas Shawl, which I started and set aside months ago.

Before I can pick up the shawl again, however, I have a baby sweater to finish! Remember how I was knitting Trellis for the baby due in July? Well, since then there have been two developments. The first (and most important) is that little Finn made his appearance about a month early last week! The second is that I have decided that I will not be finishing Trellis. Frankly, I think the pattern might be a little too fussy/girly for baby Finn, not to mention the fact that the idea of having to seam that little sweater just horrifies me. So last night I started to make another Seamless Yoked Baby Sweater (Carole Barenys), which I know will be a fast knit (and no seaming, hooray!). Assuming I can find myself some decent knitting time this week, my goal is to have it finished by the end of next weekend so I can send it on to Finn. Yes, I know he won't be wearing it any time soon, but I'm just that anxious to get it out of my WIP pile!

A reminder to all the Pittsburgh-area knitters: this Wednesday is knitting at the Waterworks Barnes & Noble. I'll be bringing my Pomatomus reversal, for anyone who may be interested in seeing it.

...but enough about the ring

Thank you all for your congratulations and your compliments on the ring. (Apologizes for the fuzziness of the picture, by the way. I was holding my hand up against J's chest--because he was wearing a black shirt, the only dark background we could find at the time--and I had to have my father actually take the picture, on account of my still being too shaky to take it on my own. I guess in the end both J and I were still too excited to really hold still.)

There is still a lot of excitement about The Engagement, and it still hasn't fully sunk in, but I know that soon enough the planning will start for the wedding and I'll miss this initial stage of shock/disbelief/joy/excitement/etc. Just trying to enjoy it while it lasts.

(And now, we return to our regular knitting content, already in progress.)

All this week I have been knitting furiously on that lace item you got a peek at last week. I think I mentioned that it's a shawl, but I don't think I did a good enough job of explaining beyond that, so here's full disclosure. This is the pattern (Leaf Lace Shawl by Evelyn Clark for Fibertrends) and yarn (Misti Alpaca Lace) that I purchased at Rosie's Yarn Cellar on our trip to Philadelphia a few weeks ago. After a few false starts, this has turned into my first successful piece of lace knitting, and I've decided that it will be a birthday gift for my mother, who turns 29 again (okay, maybe she's 39 now that she's got an engaged daughter) this weekend. I feel pretty confident in posting this because I'm just about 100 percent sure she won't be reading my blog. (Remember my mom? "What exactly is a blog?") As of this afternoon, I have just a little more than 10.5 repeats done of the body lace chart. I am doing the small version of the shawl (13 pattern repeats), so that means that I have until Sunday to complete just under 2.5 body pattern repeats, do all the edging rows, bind off, and block. Think it'll happen? I know she really won't mind if I need an extra day or two to finish it, but I'd really like to have it done. Then I'd be able to get back to her Mother's Day Pomotomuses. Not to mention that I haven't even measured my future MIL's feet for her Mother's Day socks. Yeah, I'm a bit behind.

Here's a little peek at the progress so far, with my best attempt to spread out the lace one-handed so you can see the design:

I am just loving this pattern, and I plan to knit up one for myself. I may do mine in fingering weight yarn instead of lace weight, if I can find a nice colorway that won't interfere with the lace pattern. The Misti Alpaca is delightful, and you can't beat the price. I just wish it didn't shed so much!

Remember how a while ago I mentioned that I was reversing the Pomatomus pattern? Well do you think I've forgotten about that. I did reverse it, but I'm still tinkering with the stitches a bit to try to get a better mirror image. Once I'm satisfied, Cookie (the designer) has given me permission to post the modifications needed for the reversal to this here blog. So keep an eye out for it. I'm hoping it'll be up in the next couple of weeks.

I'm off to my shawl knitting. Must. Finish. By. Sunday.

If a picture says a thousand words....

...then I probably don't need to say much. :-)

Curses! Foiled again!

Last night I was all set to post when I happened to look out the window -- just in time to see a huge bolt of lightening. Eesh. So, instead of risking frying my hard drive, I decided to do this:

This used to be an Old Navy sweater that I'd bought a couple years ago and then wore maybe twice. It was totally an impulse buy--it was a cheery color (it's actually more of a soft pink than it appears in the photo) and really soft--but unfortately it was a tad big and was rather unflattering. I think I only wore it as a cardigan when I was really desperate and just wanted something to keep me warm. While I was cleaning out my closet in preparation for warm weather, I decided that this yarn was too cozy to just throw away, so it went in the To Be Recycled pile. It's not the nicest fiber (90% acrylic, 10% wool), but, as I said, it's soft and it'll do well for baby garments, I think. The yarn above is from the back, collar and two sleeves. I think the front sections are unless because of the button bands. By the way, here's what the sweater looked like originially:

See what I mean? This thing isn't even flattering on the couch. I don't know what I was thinking.

Once I finished winding the sweater yarn, I decided to make the evening Fun With the Ball Winder Night and tackled my sock yarn. The result of a good hour of winding? Every single skein of sock yarn in my stash is now in a center-pull yarn cake. The proof:

This would be the "affordable" sock yarn drawer (Knit Picks Essential, Regia, and a ball of some German sock yarn whose name I can't read). The "luxury" sock yarn drawer is below this one; it contains the Lorna's and the Koigu.

Knitting on my mom's Pomatomuses (I think I'll call 'em Popos from now on) is going slowly. Why, you ask? Well, I guess this is the point where I have to make a confession: I am addicted to knitting lace. After ripping out my shawl twice, and becoming fully convinced that I would never master lace, I remembered that there was an article on lace knitting in the latest Interweave Knits. I whipped it out, looked up the article, and discovered the one ridiculously simple thing I was doing that was messing me up over and over again: I was yarning over wrong. Hello? Did anyone else know that there's a specific way to yarn over for lace? (And if you did, why didn't you tell me?!) I restarted the pattern, and after only a few rows it became very apparent that the YOs--the correct YOs--made the lace. Ever since, I've been hooked, and I've been spending most of my knitting time this week on the shawl. Here's the obligatory progress shot (and the obligatory statement that lace looks like crap until it's blocked):

Right now I'm almost through six repeats of either 13 (small) or 18 (large). I am thinking the small size will be sufficient, although I specifically bought more than enough yarn for the large. Once it's blocked, the small size should be big enough to throw over my shoulders. Besides, the rows are already taking me about 10 minutes each, and I can't imagine how long they'd take once I got up to 18 repeats.