Weekend Update

It was a surprisingly productive weekend. 3 things got finished (although one of them only need it's ends woven in), the kitchen ceiling finally got spackled and needs to now be sanded (gotta love the taste of spackle), had dinner with the folks, and went to watch a tae kwon do class. Something I'm going to start doing as I need to do SOMETHING active.

Anyhow, finished projects.



Pap's b-day scarf. Horizontal herringbone stitch pattern. 1 skein of Cascade 220 (yeah, i was surprised too). 6' long and ~5" wide (width varies...blocking wires on order from joanns)

Rockin' Sock Club January colorway and pattern. Dragon Dance and Serendipity, respectively. Pattern calls for a 60% short row heel, which means no gusseting for me :-)



And finally (and I really mean finally) the Bambuzzled scarf from Cookie A. for BMFA. I bought the yarn at Madrona last year and hassled Blue Moon until they had the pattern available...knit it up on the roadtrip to AZ, and then didn't weave in the ends. I think the lacy pattern confused me. Anyhow, it's done now. I can definitely tell there were things I hadn't learned yet when I knit this...like casting off loosely or remembering to cable all the stuff I was supposed to cable.



I really like the way it drapes (thank you bamboo). The yarn is Bambu from BMFA...which I can't find on their site, so maybe it was a limited time thing. We'll see if it gets worn.

I have the January Lucky Lurker yarn on the needles to make a simple pair of socks. Didn't need purple mittens, which is the pattern that came with the yarn. Bright, rich purple. Need to start a big project, like a vest or a sweater or something. My mom is under the impression that I shouldn't buy yarn until I finish a project...like I shouldn't have a stash or something. She doesn't understand :-)

Yarn Yarn Yarn

So I've discovered lately that I have not had much knit time...lots or projects (4 on the needles) yet less time to knit. I've also admitted that I do indeed have a stash, and it has (especially after Madrona) turned into a respectable stash. I'm gonna work on that. The problem, I feel, is that I only have 2 hands, and I have a job. Although if I had more than 2 hands I don't think I could make them do different knitting projects, given that one time I tried to play a drumset and whichever set of limbs I wasn't focused on seemed to hit the drums together, regardless of what they were doing when I was paying attention to them.

Anyhow, I have a stash. According to Ravelry (and i'm a little embarrassed to admit this), I have 10 miles of yarn. 10....MILES. And i want to knit it all now. Right now. All of it. Which of course is impossible. As promised, some photos.

The Geisha in Thraven (995 yds...didn't help the mileage).



I do love this colorway. In the baby boucle it's very very subtle, it looks mostly grey. The photos i took of that didn't come out well. The Ms LaRock turned out better, but still kind of looks like yarn vomit...vomit I won't mind cleaning up.



Given that I bought a total of 2000yds of this fiber, it's no wonder the mileage is so high. I need to knit a swatch to see what it looks like. I'm excited.

And the latest finished socks



I really like the twisted ribbing and I think I will be using it again. And the colorway is everything I had hoped for. I've currently got the January Rockin Sock Club socks on the needles and have a couple inches of leg. I need to finish up my grandfather's scarf (pictures to follow) before I play with other projects, as I need to block it by Friday and send it off by Sunday. I'm wishing I had put a border on it, but I'm 20" in and unwilling to rip back. Such is life.

Madrona Winter Festival

The Madrona Winter Fiber Arts Festival occurred over the weekend. I had made the decision not to take any classes as there weren't any that completely jumped out at me, and I wanted another year of knitting under my belt (I know, not rational, but it makes sense in my head), but next year, I will definitely be taking classes.

I did, however, attend both the talk by Lucy Neatby and the banquet saturday with Judith MacKenzie McCuin and of course the marketplace (curse the marketplace). I saw the Yarn Harlot and was mesmerized by her knitting technique. She's wicked fast. I suggested she hold a class next year to teach us slow-pokes how to knit quick. Her fingers were a bit of a blur.

Lucy's talk was interesting. She spoke about her design process, influences, what got her started. She lurves intarsia. Seriously loves it. Some of her work is, incredible...insane, but incredible. She has piles of patience that I know I don't have. Very impressive.

Judith spoke about the bison. I now know more that I ever thought I wanted to about buffaloes. Pretty cool animals...and their down spins up SUPER soft. Apparently babies are cuddly. It was a really interesting session.

Onto the marketplace. I walked through Friday morning with Jen (who i'm trying to convince to guest blog as she took classes EVERY DAY). I had a budget, and a goal...1 skein of heavyweight STR for a baby surprise sweater, size 4 circs for socks, and yarn for a scarf for my grandfather's b-day. I achieved those goals, and also picked up a ballwinder (hurrah) and 2 skeins of Raven STR in lightweight. The Raven series, is...gorgeous. I'm actually amazed that I didn't just grab all the colorways, but I was good. Came in $10 under my budget. Jen went off to class, I fondled some Casbah and Sea Wool but was a good kid and went home. Then when I came back to pick her up for dinner, she casually suggested another stroll through. The willpower broke, and I bought 4 skeins of baby boucle (2 sweaters) from Blue Moon, and a skein of Geisha, in one of the Raven colors (thraven to be exact). One of the baby boucle sweaters is Thraven as well (I told you it was gorgeous). Seriously blew out the budget though. And the funny part (funny to me) was that I felt I had to hide it from the BF when I got home...like I was an addict or something (totally not). I made him pet it all instead. He pretends to be interesting.

I'll be posting pictures of the new yarn...and the FOs from last week. The sweater is dry and got compliments from Tina at Blue Moon and others (I was called an over achiever...i'm ok with that). And the Sock-ra-tease are done as well, and I loves them. The colorway is everything I had hoped it would be.

And so we wait...

and wait...and wait...

What are we waiting for you ask? Well, on Friday I did something I had been putting off for a few days (why, i'm not entirely sure).



The sweater got blocked. It started off looking like this:



And then it got a nice bath in the sink, and placed on a large garbage bag on the bed in the guest room. And now it's Sunday, and it's still not completely dry. Granted, that room doesn't get super warm, but I did open the heat vent to let air blow a little. So I was waiting to post until i could try the thing on and show it off...but that appears to be a few days from now.

In other news, my mother has decided she wants to learn how to knit, and so I am teaching her. First thing she has to do is unlearn throwing, and practice picking. And then there shall be socks (her first project is a sock...thought I'd toss her into the deeper end, and she loves socks).

The sock-ra-tease socks are going ok. I'm at a point where i think i'm going to rip out the waste yarn and do the heel, just so i don't get all the way done with the leg and have to frog the darn thing again. The next project, I think, is going to be a scarf (Backyard Leaves from IK Holiday 2006, a picture of which i can't find anywhere). It will be knit from the Painted Skeins green sparkly yarn I have. It'll look smashing against my black coat.

Hopefully tomorrow I'll have more to report on the sweater...I want to wear it sometime soon.

As promised...

PICTURES!!

Sweater in progress...I ripped out the neck last night, as I decided I didn't like the turtleneck and it fit weird...so that'll hopefully get resolved tonight (the bf is at class and the house & TV are mine...ALL MINE).



Yes, that's Riley's nose...he wouldn't move. Ooh, sweater, he said.

And the sockies...it's hard to tell, but I'm doing a rotating rib...6 rows and then over one. I'm about an inch from the heel, which is an afterthought, which is my new skill with these socks.



And the pair...they look a little phallic to me, but I have a dirty mind.