Grab your knitting needles and come relax with me.
Sunday, April 19, 2009
Completion and Aquistition
Lot's to post about today! It's funny how things work out...I have days where I have no knitting to blog about and then I have days that are so full of knitty bloggy goodness, that conceivably I could stretch it out into three blog posts. Much like the weather here in S. Texas: it either rains A LOT or not at ALL. (We just had a long, long period of Not At All and we've had a few days of beautiful GLORIOUS rain).
FIRST: I finished the Twirly Skirt yesterday!!! Woot!!!
It took me five days to hem the skirt...and I finished the skirt itself in under a month. NOT five months like my husband suggested; not even the month or two I estimated! Lorelei is a great motivator--she would not let me knit other projects. "Why aren't you knitting my skirt Mommy?!"
As you can see it twirls brilliantly. Lorelei had lot's of fun modeling her new skirt. And within an hour I had to take it off of her and wash the strawberry stains off of it--thank dia it's cotton! I am just glad I removed it before she got into the chocolate ice cream!!!
Notes: The pattern is sadly only available on Ravelry. Because I used a thicker, heavier yarn I knitted the size 2 with size 6 length (Lori wanted a longer skirt). Yarn: 5 balls of I Love This Cotton. Needles: I magic looped this with 60 inch circs in size 6
Friday, Jamey told me he had a surprise for me. Woot-I like surprises, but I hate guessing out loud (weird? me? Never!), so I sat silently in the car quiet pondering. We were headed east--centrally toward YARNIVORE!! Woot! My surprise was a trip the yarn shop (sometimes it's like pulling teeth to persuade Jamey to take my yarn shopping). So I get to the shop (run in more like it) and survey the shop--let the hunt BEGIN. Tammy changed the layout since I was in the shop last--so I hunt for my favourite yarns, the laceweight, the sock yarn and the silk...OH and I spy a giant HEAP of Dream in Colour Smooshy!! Freshly arrived! I was very good and did not roll around in it like I wanted to.
BUT.
THAT.WAS.NOT.THE.SURPRISE.
The surprise was this:
He stood in front of Tammy and her counter--gave her a wink and she pulled out the books!!!! Those two sneakers!!!
I had asked Tammy a week or two ago if she could order the first 2 Barbara Walker Treasuries for me--it was my reward to myself for being published in Knitty. Unbeknown to me: Jamey had emailed her TWO HOURS prior to ask her the very same thing with a caveat, Do Not Tell Birdy. So Tammy, dying, has to tell me that she already did her book order and can't order them for another few weeks. (I was totally cool with that...I am patient). So of course I was completely and utterly surprised and of course thrilled beyond words. I have the coolest LYS owner/friend and hubby!!
Now, none of that Smooshy came home with me because none of the colours really spoke to me and screamed to go home with me. But I did rescue two skeins of the softest, silkiest yarn.
It's Sugar Rush by Queensland Collection: 100% sugar cane! It is amazingly soft, with great stitch definition. This yarn has a scarf in it's future (using ma brand new books, I have three motifs picked out).
So that was Friday and Saturday! I did have a pot luck Saturday night, but I will save that for tomorrow. (Read: I still need to free the pics from my camera and edit and...don't wanna do that right now)
Sorry for the lack of knitting content. Toward the end of the twirly skirt, it's just miles and miles of stockinette (boring blog fodder). BUT, I am nearly done!!
I began casting off on Monday night. And finished sometime Tuesday evening, after I finished the pictures. It's a long slog. But it looks so great!
Here is what I am doing for the hem.
It's a k1, ssk, yo repeat, and once I finish the hem it'll be cute picot.
I am nearly half way around the seaming of the hem right now as I am typing this post up. While I am tempted to take a picture of the half finished hemming...it's also ridiculous. I am almost finished...if I spend more time hemming and less time snapping pictures: it'll be done just that much faster. Grin.
I do really hate the seaming: it's TAKING FOREVER!! I am excited for it to be done and one Lori, so I can start on some Knitting Bunny projects (which may be secret) and maybe work on those lace stockings I have been neglecting. I think this PURE stockinette skirt has sufficiently rested my knitty brain.
This post was written under the influence of Mika: Life in Cartoon Motion AND a massive sinus headache.
- - - - - -
Jamey surprised me on Tuesday by taking me to the Yarn Barn. We were going to buy a Barbara Walker Treasury (my plan was to support both my local yarn shops and purchase one book from each of them--BW has 4 stitch treasuries but I really only WANT/NEED the first two). But Yarn Barn didn't have it, would not consider ordering it. Oh well, Yarnivore will; so they will get the money. But Jamey did buy me a new hank of Handmaiden Sea Silk (for a brand new Super Secret Project--so this is the only form you will see of said Super Secret Project). I love him.
I love him lots and lots.
I also picked up this hank of cotton for a non secret special project (details to come when my head isn't pounding). But it will be a bird and it'll be for a special person.
Jamey also picked out the colour. Grin, it is his favourite colour. So I shouldn't be surprised by his choices. Jamey also threw this into the pot. He knows how much I love bees (and it smells REALLY good).
You can get this wonderful smelling and all natural lotion here at the Honey House.
I love my husband; I think I'll keep him. ;-)
Oh and knitting progress, Jamey is very surprised at my progress on Lorelei's Twirly Skirt (he did think it would take me the entire summer to finish this).
I am sure my progress is going to screech to a near halt since I am now knitting over 100 stitches every round now and I still have ONE more 20% increase row. But it is a fun knit and I do need a mindless knit right now. The Birdy brain is slightly fried. I am also nearly done with my commission for my friend (it is a quick knit--so no biggie).
I am anxious to start knitting a bit on my Bettie Lace Stockings. Just because I can hear them crying.
I am trying something new (tell me if you like it or could care less or hate it): when ever I am listening to my music whilst writing a blog, I thought I would share what I am writing to. Now, I almost ALWAYS have music playing (drowns out the screaming of my children), this should be a regular feature.
This post was written under the influence of Sting.
Twirly progress!!!! This skirt is turning viral, both A. and my mom are knitting one up. They are almost done while this slow poke lags behind.
I am really enjoying this bit of straight knitting (I am about 2 inches more into the blue as I type this). The Twirly Skirt is going well, I am not bored and I am EVEN contemplating another one (fantasizing about new colours). I finished up a horrid day of i-cord knitting (bleh!!) and "sewed" the casing for the i-cord to go through. I say "sew" because I merely knitted the cast on edge to the live row about 5 or 6 rounds after the i-cord holes. The white you are seeing is the kitchen cotton I used as a core in the i-cord. I am hoping by both using that core and knitting the cord on size 3s it'll make the cord less likely to go super stretchy.
Pretty, eh? Lori is a hard task master. If I am not knitting it she becomes irritated and demands, "Why are you not knitting my skirt!?" I am also knitting a small commission piece for a friend...so I am trying to sneak that in. So this week: I am surrounded by cotton. Cotton all day every day. Grin. The I Love Cotton is really soft and easy to work with (unlike the rough kitchen cotton).
Speaking of cotton, I am going to reconfigure the Aegis scarf pattern as a baby blanket (knit with a soft fingering weight cotton) for a friend of ours with a baby girl named Athena. Jamey thought it would be something really cool for her, since the name and the theme of the Aegis was inspired by the goddess Athena. I will be offering the blanket reconfiguration as well. It's to be a free addendum to the scarf pattern. I also wanted something easy to wash, but still blockable.
Further speaking of cotton (dude it IS all about the cotton isn't it??), I picked up some Blue Sky Cotton for a special project. (More to come tomorrow, when I can get pictures and all). It's really neat and I am hoping this will bring this project to more knitters. Anyway: preview, the cotton is a beautiful deep teal...and lusciously soft.
I was browsing my knitting blogs yesterday and I came across the cutest skirt from The Blue Blog. Alison is ALWAYS making the cutest things for her little daughter.
I was intrigued, so I go to Ravelry to check it out.
Ravelry screenshot
And WOW, the cuteness!!! Even though it's MILES of stockinette, I have to make this skirt for Lorelei. And she agreed.
We skipped out and Lorelei picked out the colours at our local Hobby Lobby.
Lori especially picked out the brown: she WANTED brown for the top of the skirt. And the rest of the colours felt into place. (The order from top to bottom is the order the colours will be in the skirt).
I immediately cast on. (Now the pattern is NOT in the barefoot knits book, and the magazine it was originally published in is now defunct, so Christine published it in this Ravelry forum.
I am taking copious notes on my printed out pattern and here on my Ravelry Project Page, because I am heavily modifying the construction--mostly based on the outcomes of the other knitters on Rav that have knit this before me.
I altered my numbers because the Hobby Lobby cotton is a leetle heavier than the recommended yarn, I am knitting it in the round (because DUDE if I can I get out of seaming and YES I am magic looping it), and I am doing a folded over picot hem. I may or may not make an i-cord tie, I am thinking elastic, but Jamey thinks the ties will make the skirt last longer as Lori grows. We shall see. I am also feeling the need to embroider.
Jamey is also doubtful on a my time line: he is thinking it'll take me 5 months or more to finish. Hmmm, I am hoping a month or two, but then I have ALWAYS been overconfident in my project time lines. With Lorelei's nagging, I am thinking it'll help speed things along.
This post was written under the influence of Sting.
