little bit of crazy leaking out

This past weekend I did quite a bit of knitting, laughing, and eating.  All good things in my book. 

Friday night was Knit Night at VYT, hubby got home and I zoomed out the door and spent a hour or so knitting with friends.  Some have questioned why I go to Knit Night, I go to VYT almost every Saturday and it would seem going on Friday night would be too much of a good thing.  It’s not, Knit Night is only the first Friday of the month and I only get to go, maybe, half of the time because of Hubby’s work schedule, and I get to see people I wouldn’t get to see otherwise.  I walked out of VYT that night with four skeins of Peace Fleece in Moscow Magic Pink for a sweater for Bug.  (One skein is a just in case skein and will be returned if I don’t need it.)

Now, I have been trying to reduce the stash and purchasing yarn doesn’t seem like the best way to do this.  So I came up with a wonderful justification and I wound the skeins into balls after I got home from Knit Night and cast on while at knitting group on Saturday.  The yarn never entered the stash so it doesn’t count.  About half the gals agreed the other half rolled thier eyes, whatever.  This immediate casting on and knitting of The Peace Fleece Cardigan means that I have set aside the Bolero I was working on, but you gotta do what you gotta do. 

Actually the fact that I don’t have about 20 projects on the needles is a miracle right now.  I have a horrible case of, as Dave at Criminy Jickets call’s it, Seasonal Startitis Syndrome.  It’s been bad.  I look at yarn and want to knit it NOW, I see a pattern . . . NOW . . . NOW . . . NOW.  I have resisted, I really have.

Anyway, Saturday Hubby took me to VYT, since my car is in the shop, and then went away with the kids and didn’t come back for four hours.  Is he a good husband or what?!  That night after the kids went to bed I pulled out the knitting again and continued working on the cardigan while we watched The 4400 and BSG (gotta love netflix). 

Sunday morning my parent picked us up and we went upto my cousin’s for a birthday/anniversary party.  I knit the hour on the way up, part of the time there, and the hour on the way back.  I love going to my cousin’s, she is fun, laid back and always makes you feel welcome.  My aunt and four of my adult cousins were there, the kids had a blast with all the attention.  There were water balloons, trips to the garden, food, games of cribbage,  more food, and cake.  I came home with two bags of produce from the garden (beets, small zucchini, red onions and giant carrots), leftover carrot cake, and greek stuffed zucchini (yummy, have to get her recipe).  With all the fun we had there was one disapiontment: MY DEAR COUSIN IS NOT USING THE HANDKNITS!  Last time we were there I brought her a few knit dishcloths, they are sitting nicely on the counter as doileys, one with the butter dish on it and the other two were on top of the microwave.  I threatened to take them back, she says they are to pretty to use.  *sigh* Guess I need to make her some ugly dishcloths.

I kept chugging away on the cardigan yesterday evening, I even fell asleep sitting on the couch, while knitting, Hubby woke me up at 4am and told me to go to bed.  I was a little tired this morning, but the sweater is getting done.  I am enjoying knitting with the Peace Fleece, it has a bit of VM in it but less than Noro, I was worried it would be splitty since it is a loose 2ply, but I haven’t had any trouble so far.

The weather before we left on vacation was iffy, to say the least.  After a lovely June and early July, it turned wet and overcast.  I packed well for vacation, anticipating much rain and time spent indoors.  I packed three WIPs, yarn for another project and the spinning wheel with roving for two projects.

As it turns out, the weather cooperated and although the mornings tended to be overcast, the afternoons were clear and warm.  I did have 3-4 hours of knitting time in the van on the way down and on the way back, and here and there while sitting at the campfire or watching the kids at the playground.  Quite a bit of progress was made on the Rutabaga Bag and I was able to finish Bubba’s hoodie.

pattern:  Knitting Pure & Simple Children’s Tunic #232
yarn:  Plymouth Outback Wool colorway #965
needles:  Clover Bamboo
cast on:  July 2007   cast off:  August 24, 2007
notes:  I really enjoyed knitting this sweater.  The wool is quite soft, especially for the price, and KPS patterns are always fun for me.  Finish knitting, weave in a couple ends and . . . . voila, es fini.  There was a little more to this one, I grafted the top of the hood (with only 1 purl bump when all was said and done) and sewed down the casing on the hood.  I think if I were to do this patten again I wouldn’t do the casing, I would cast on fewer stitches and just continue the garter stitch from the placket up around the hood.  I still need to make a drawstring for the hood.

There is an error in my copy of the pattern, you cast on stitches on one side but no instructions for casting on the other side and if you continue as written you would be knitting the next row on the wrong side instead of purling.  I simply purled back, cast on the same number of stitches for the other side of the neck front and continued, no problems from then on.

I used a Shark Steamer to block the sweater.   With the split hem on the tunic, the hem flipped up quite badly, after steaming they lay flat as a pancake.  Luv the steamer.  It is now one of my favorite knitting tools.

I did make a yarn purchase while on vacation, but I was very good.  I stopped by Yarn n Darn Things in Greyland for a look around and walked out with enough Naturelle 10ply, in color 151, to make Bug the Aran cardigan she has been asking for.  My MIL has a lovely cardigan, purchased on one of their vacations to Scotland, Bub loves it and has asked me to make her one.  Sure, Honey, no problem, let me get right on that.  The yarn I used for the tunic was purchased at Yarn n Darn Things last year while we were on vacation.  I had purchased enough yarn for a sweater for each kid and had intended to finish both before we went back, well, the new wheel go in the way of that.

It’s been two weeks since the last chick update, and boy have they grown. Soon they will be ready to move out to the coop with Gimpy.

Reba

Dixie
(Sorry for the arm, hubby was trying to
keep them from jumping off the table.)

Wynona is starting to look more like a Wyatt,
we’ll have to just wait and see.

On the knitting front, I am still working on the top-down sweater for Bubba.  I should have finished this by now but I did take a break from it to knit a Magic 28 Sock and a few swatches for TKGA Master Knitting Level 1, Rebecca and I are working on it together. 

This weekend was the LYS Tour.  I had no plan on touring, and for the most part I followed through on that plan.  I popped into VYT on Friday morning and ended up walking out with the tour pattern and the yarn to knit it up, Fleece Artist Suri Blue.  It is a lovely lace weight Suri Alpaca/BFL blend, yummy.  I also picked up some Addi Turbo Lace needles and a set of Amy’s stitch markers.

On the way home I decided to stop by Let it Rain, actually it is the closest LYS to me, but my heart belongs to VYT.  Let it Rain had just moved to a larger space and I had a look around.  I picked up the shop pattern, a scarf, but not the yarn for it since I have several skeins of Silky Wool in my stash. 

The shop had some cute kids sweaters on display, free pattern with yarn purchase.  I bit, picked up 3 balls of Dark Horse Yarns Fantasy to make a cardigan for Bubba, I’ll have to upsize the pattern since it only goes upto a 4 and he wears a 5/6, no problem.  The Fantasy yarn is a nylon acrylic blend and very soft, I usually go for the natural fibers, but I just couldn’t resist.  I also picked up some sock yarn I had never seen before, Celestari, a 75% cotton/25% wool sock yarn. 

Let it Rain also handed out a coupon for 20% off on a purchase between June 15th and August 15th. I’ll be going back.

That night I cast on the Lace Wing Scarf and have been working on it off and on all weekend. 

On Saturday morning I met Rebecca at VYT out Master Knitting Support Group (ok, not really, but sort of).  When I got there they only had 4 skeins of the Suri Blue left!  I was so glad I stopped in on Friday, as I hadn’t really planned on it. They had had a huge pile of the Suri Blue in a bunch of colors, poof, gone. 

As Rebecca and worked on swatches more of the Saturday morning regulars arrived, along with the LYS Tourists.  We all chatted, knitted, drank tea.  Then after taking a lunch break . . . we knit some more.  So much for going to any other shops.

I should mention that while we were there on Saturday the shop received an order of ShiBui yarn.  I resisted the urge to purchase any of the beautiful sock yarn, or any of the yarns the shop had on clearance.  I was very good.  Until Sunday.  The ShiBui kept calling me, in chorus with the Silky Tweed.  I caved.

3 colors of Silky Tweed (40% off):
Blue for the Fiddle Sticks Lotus Blossom Shawl
Orangy-brown for stash
Black with red/pink flecks for the Victorian Shoulderette

Pink Opal for knee highs for Bug (35% off)
ShiBui Sock Yarn for socks for Hubby,
brown vari with burgandy heels, toes, and ribbing

Why, yes, it appears you did . . .

This last weekend was the Great Yarns! Spring Sale, I went on Friday and picked up a bit of yarn.

First was some gray Maggi’s Merino Aran.  It’s a light gray basic yarn, not very exciting, or photogenic, but will make a lovely sweater for one of the kids. Maybe, gasp, an aran.

Next was it gi-normous hank of red yarn.  I can’t find the tag but I know it’s wool, 540 yds, and a bulky weight yarn.  The colors go from a bright red to almost burgundy, and it called out to me for the Red Scarf Project 2008 (or Dulaan since RSP is limiting the # of scarves next year), maybe as My So Called Scarf or Yarn Harlot’s One Row Scarf.

Lastly, was this Tahki Yarns Shannon.  Love. This. Yarn.  While working on the sweater at Saturday knitting group, I may have mentioned wanting to marry this yarn, I love it so much.  Leaving my husband to marry this yarn was discouraged by my fellow knitters.  It’s for the best, I think. 

I cast on this sweater Friday night.  This may be the quickest yarn turn around, ever, usually yarn has to age quite a bit before I use it.  No strange pooling, swirling, or anything disagreeable of that sort.  The pattern is Knitting Pure & Simple #9730.

They always have a bin of free patterns and magazines, so picked up one of each.  Most are older patterns, think 70s and 80s or earlier, but once in a while you find a real gem.  There was also a table of 1/2 price books, from which I picked up Knitting for Babies & Kids.  The book has its’ share of . . . interesting . . . patterns, but has enough classic patterns to be worth the price.

A week or so ago Emma and I decided we would go the the Seattle Knitting Expo so we could buy more roving.  Crown Mountian Farms was going to be there, and I love how the pencil roving I have from them is spinning up.  Must buy more pencil roving.  Then last night Emma e-mails me about a warehouse sale on Craigslist.  A yarn warehouse sale who’s address Googles as the Cascade Yarns warehouse, just over the freeway from the Expo . . . bitch.

This morning I got up before the birds, as my husband, the morning person, pointed out.  I picked up Annie, who’s arm I twisted last night to come with us (right!), and then we cruised over to Emma’s so we could pile into her car to make the pilgrimage to the Seattle Knitting Expo.

We made great time and were there about ten minutes early, and had to stand outside the doors peering in at all the yarn and roving, and drool wait.

The first place we dumped a load of cash purchased a bit of roving was at Reflection Farm Wool Products.    We all had a difficult time choosing which lovely roving(s) to take home with us.  See how much Emma loves her roving.

We also left some money at Crown Mountian Farms and Williams Wools & Weaving (no website yet). We bought a bit of roving between the three of us.

 

We staggering out of Expo with our credit cards smoking.  Since the warehouse sale didn’t start for half an hour we stopped for a bit of refreshment.  Bolstered by hashbrowns and beverages, we made the trek to the Cascade Yarns warehouse . . . where we bought a bit of yarn . . .

The yarn was hard to resist, $20 for a 10 skein bag.  At those prices it’s lucky we walked out with as little as we did.

Ok, here is the final damage:

 
15.9oz of color #78 from Reflection Farms

 
8oz Superwash - Good Vibrations
8oz Pencil Roving - Promise of Spring
from Crown Mountian Farms

 
Gray Merino from Williams Wools & Weaving
(could be 2.5lbs, but I may have to deny it)

2 bags Revolution, green for shrug for Bug, pink/gray/black for felted bag for me; 1 bag of 128 Tweed, natural

The sock yarn fairy came to my house today.  A while ago I won a prize pack from Sock-a-Month 2 - enough yarn for SIX pairs of socks . . . woohoo!  ‘cuz y’all know I’m a sock yarn ho!

Bubba has claimed this for his “yarn socks”.

Bug has claimed this yarn. I’m thinking toe-up knee socks.

 

Sweet Socks from the Sweet Shop in the Lush colorway, semi-solid purple, and y’all know how much I love purple.  I’m thinking, maybe, Lupine Lace socks.

Koigu (p852), this is a colorway I would never have bought for myself, but the more I look at it them more excited I am to knit it up.  How great would socks made from this yarn be with pair of Berks.

Brooklyn Handspun Signature, Winter Sunrise.  Beautiful and so soft is all I can say.

Thanks Chrissy!

The weekend started on Friday with Knit Night at Village Yarn & Tea.  Not only was it Knit Night, but it was Pajama Party Knit Night with the Yarn Pirate.  She created a special colorway called Village using the shop’s colors and I got caught up in the hysteria (they were handing out numbers for selecting YP yarn, limit two skeins until everyone had a chance, no kidding) and purchased not only the Village colorway, but also Crocus.

I met up there with several knitting friends; Debi, Emma, Amy, and met a new friend, Sam.  I forgot my camera, so, no pics from that night, sorry.  

Emma was spinning silk hankies that she had hand dyed, it was so cool to watch her . . . poke a hole . . . pull . . . stretch . . . abuse the silk . . . then spin . . . amazing! 

Amy brought her whole polymer clay set up so people could make buttons for the wristbands for the Breast Cancer 3-day Walk, I didn’t get a chance to make one and I wish I had now.  Amy also brought in some pink ribbon stitch markers and all the money from the sale of the markers goes to the same project, I bought one and it has already been put to use on my current knitting project.

Saturday is the regular knitting group at noon-ish, Emma and I decided to bring our wheels and this is what I was able to get spun while there.

 

Kim brought in roving she had hand dyed for the shop, some of it ended up comming home with me.  The picture doesn’t do it justice.

 

That evening and Sunday I spent time working on the Saddle Shoulder Sweater for Bubba, but I took a break and made these for the kids for lunch.

 

No, I didn’t make Twinkies for lunch, they’re corndogs made in a Twinkie pan - Twinkiedogs!  The kids love them.  Make up a batch of your favorite cornbread batter, fill pan about 1/2 way and push 1/2 of a bun length hotdog (I use kosher hotdogs, I like to think they have fewer lips and tails in them) most of the way into the batter, the batter will rise up to cover the hotdog.