Much Ado About Mittens

I had a plan when this winter began. I was going to knit mittens. I was intrigued with mittens. Selbuvotter had caught my eye, and I was fascinated with the intricate designs on the backs and palms of these mini canvases. These mittens really seemed to express personality - Poetry Mittens, Squirrels, abstract designs - and I saw myself making gift mittens, mittens that would be my personal Hallmark card. My messages through my mittens would be as clever as a fortune cookie, or perhaps as abstract as cave paintings, or modern day graffiti.























The text of Selbuvotter described the mating rituals that became attached to the making of these mittens - tokens of affections, signs of friendship, talents at domesticity; Value as a wife and life partner were attached to these mittens. Oy the pressure!

So, I freaked out . . . no mittens!

But, the freak out period passed, and I returned to my Anemoi Mittens. I started these mittens back in October, and returned to them partly out of affection, once again embracing the mitten as an artform, and partly out of necessity - I lost my third pair of gloves this winter, and my hands are cold!


















So, now they're done, so pretty I could put them in a picture frame. And, I've worn my mittens for a day now . . . and you know, they're just not that practical. I reevaluated the mitten.

Why talents as a wife, or a homemaker, or a lover, or a friend, or a sister or a daughter, were ever attached to the ability to make something so impractical is really quite astonishing. You can't do anything with a mitten on - can't juggle your coffee, the newspaper, your files and your keys. Can't change the song on your iPod. Can't drive, probably, although I wouldn't know about that. So, then I started thinking - it can't be the finished product that had value - but the process.




















And looking at my bemittened hand, I became more enamored with my mittens.
























There was a time, and a place, and a prevailing attitude that had such a respect for the process of knitting, and the act of creating, that courtships would rise and fall, marriages would be decided, and friendships would be sealed. A sonnett - where design, tension, color were valued as much as rhyme, meter, and metaphor.

Which brings it all back to me - my mittens will not be hallmark cards, or tokens of affection - only another knitter could read the love, affection, loyalty, commitment knit into every stitch in this day and age. And, since I'm not gifting mittens to all of my fellow knitters (sorry my dear Rosie's friends!), I'm just going to have to make them for myself, and my mitten art will decorate the world, but perhaps not speak to it in a way that asks for acceptance, or love, or appreciation, or conveys the same. Judge not my mittens! But, you can tell me they're pretty though!

The Last Cast

Mission accomplished - Kaffe is back on track! I guess . . . it kind of looks like poo to me, but I'm sure blocking will do wonders! Right? I can't even really tell you what's going on - there's a bit of Whiskey, Felted Tweed, Drops Alpaca, Rowan Scottish Tweed, and bits of other things in there - and as for the pattern, I'm just winging it. A little light here, a little dark there - throw some medium in - it's kind of the way I cook (which is probably why my Super Bowl chili, while absolutely delicious, did cause some digestive havoc). It's quite the hodge podge. I took it off the needles, and with a good blocking, it's going to fit - I think. If not, it will be a great gift for my skinny sister-in-law.

And, I finished my Elizabeth Zimmerman Yoke Sweater. Can I tell you how warm and yummy this sweater is? And how EASY PEASY this sweater was to make. Start with some Cocoon, throw in some colorful Polar and Cascade 128 and voila! Originally, I was inspired by Kate's Cold Hearts Warm Hands Cardigan. I loved the yarnny yarn - nothing fancy, just natural wool, with natural colors. So, my original color palette was all Cocoon - Tundra (the main color), Chocolate, White, Beige, Light Grey, and Dark Grey. I don't know what came over me, but I actually swatched the fair isle on one of the sleeves, and decided that the colors were too subtle, and while I was trying to be au naturel, it needed some color to make it pop. We had some Polar in the sale bin (the pinky purple color), and I threw in some Cascade 128 in a magenta - and here it is - and it was so EASY. There's nothing like going round and round on 9's. And, it's the exact fit I was going for - oversized, but not ridiculously gigantic. I've been practically sleeping in it for 3 days.

Anyway, that's Mr. Tall standing next to me - as you can kind of see, I come up to about, oh, his shoulder - it's like walking next to a wall sometimes, but I'm getting used to it.




















I was so pleased with my first Knitting Workshop excursion, that I've started another EZ extravaganza. As I started talking about below, this is going to be a saddle shoulder sweater, with fair isle sleeves, and a solid body. While the finished project looks fanastic in my head, I haven't quite visualized how I'm going to get there - as you can see, I'm going to have decisions to make when I get to joining the sleeves to the body. Am I going to do Intarsia in the round - I've been carrying an article from Interweave around in my bag all week, but I'm too scared to look at it. Or, will there be one long float across the sleeve, that I'll tack down as I go across the row. Or, will I knit flat, and sew the saddles in. I don't know - right now, I'm leaning towards the long floats that are woven in as I knit.






















The sewing - that's run far behind in third - dreaded seams!

And, this Saddle Shoulder creation, my friends, is going to be the last thing I cast on this winter. I mean it, truly. I went through all of my unfinished projects, and while I'm not nuts enough to believe that I can get them all done - I've made a queue, and I'm determined to clear some of them out - Monster Manos Blanket, the Tangled Yoke cardigan, stalled midway through the second sleeve, Martha, in a holding pattern 3/4's of the way through the back, a slipstitch cardigan from Vogue that I started years ago, that is only 2 inches away from being finished, the Anemoi mittens, and the Frankenmitts. Oh, there are more - but that's the finishing pile - by June. Of course, there's always that Maryland Sheep and Wool excursion that could throw me from my course - but that's still a good bit away. And, since I did the Auto Show with Mr. Tall this weekend, and I don't drive, I think he will be doing MSW with me in May - and that will, alas, probably curb my spending. Well, not so probably, probably definitely . . .

Updates

Ok, I just wrote a gigantic post of updates - restaurant week reviews, knitting updates, etc. and somehow, I deleted the whole thing!!! Its that new autosave function - uch!!!!

Anyway, I'm going to skip the restaurant reviews - I just can't bring myself to write them all over again. Let's just leave it as I'm really fat - I ate at Upstairs at Varalli's Monday (which was really downstairs at Sotto, which was abig disappointment because my whole plan was to have a great, romantic view of Broad Street), Amada Tuesday, Wednesday was a day of food coma, Thursday was Bliss (and Avenue Q - go see it!), and Friday was Xochitl. Saturday was Chinese New Year, and fried food galore, and Sunday I made super awesome chili and cornbread for the Superbowl - mmm mmm good!

Ok, so there you have it. Now to the knitting update, which I had just started typing, so it's not going to quite kill me to do it again.

For a few weeks, I felt like the biggest loser knitter. I just wasn't getting anything done. And, it wasn't the typical, I'm not finishing anything because I keep casting on - it was I'm not finishing anything because I keep messing up. And, because I came up with the bright idea to do a Kaffe Fassett workshop at Rosie's, and then found myself in the position of actually having to knit a Kaffe project - something that had never been on my radar.

But, first the mess ups - the lace. Ah, poor Spring Shawl Surprice. By the middle of clue 2 or was it 3? I realized that the fill pattern was this dreaded pattern, my nemesis from the red shawl. For some reason, even though I know this pattern kicks my ass, I decided to work on it while I was working at the shop - big mistake - no amount of unknitting the one row has been able to fix it - at least 3 rows are going to have to come out, so I've tossed it aside in frustration.













I also started Irtfa, in the recommended yarn, Laci, from Blue Moon, from the Raven colorway series. I forget what color this is, but it's in the blue family: Anyway, this is also on hold, in favor of the Kaffe project, and others - I finished the first chart, and have a bit done of the second, nothing tragic, other than it's just hibernating.

And the Kaffe project - you can read about the inception of my project, Little Circles, here. I cast on, and the knitting is laborious, to say the least. I'm not the best stranded knitter to begin with, and this pattern has three colors per row, and as Elizabeth Zimmerman says, any pattern with more than 2 colors per row should be viewed with suspicion - because there's just no need. Here here Elizabeth!














After four stripes of bubbles I put the work down, and thought about it - and I hated it. I hated working with different yarn - I didn't like the texture/weight changes. I didn't like how it looked. I didn't like that it appeared to be REALLY small, even though my gauge and my stitch no. should have been making it big enough. I really really wanted to just rip it out - or take a scissors to it and slash it into a million pieces. But, I didn't, I put it aside, and I started again. This time with Jamison spindrift, in the colors from Autumn Rose. I figured, I like Autumn rose, there's the same number of colors - it'll work.
Eh, not so much. The problem is that while there are many 2 color combinations that work well together, there aren't that many 3 color combinations that play well together in a way that you can actually see the bubble blobs.















What to do? I already returned the yarn for the first incarnation - well, the ones that I hadn't busted open the ball bands. But, that's not such a big deal - I had ended up with colors that I liked, plus colors Lisa, Courtney and Kate liked - too many hands in the pie, I think, because I ended up with some colors that I just don't like, or didn't work - specifically, the blue in the ribbing section. So, I think I'm going to set aside incarnation 2, and save the yarn to actually knit Autumn Rose. Then, I'm going to take No. 1 off the needles and block it, as Courtney warned me was really the only true solution. And, if it's going to work size wise, I'm going to rip out the ribbing, and leave a provisional cast-on there, and knit down after the thing is finished.

Or, I'm going to pick a different Kaffe project . . .

So, what better to solve my knitting frustrations but the maniacally large Manos blanket. Can you believe it - I messed that up too!













See that multi, large square that I'm working on now - at the bottom edge. Well, instead of picking up the first edge, and casting on the second edge, I picked up the first edge and the second edge, and I didn't notice until I had finished knitting that entire gigantic square. AAHHHH!!!! I couldn't even do that right. So, I tossed that aside too.

And, instead of resurrecting something, I opted for something foolproof - an Elizabeth Zimmerman yoke sweater. I had originally thought I would stick my own fair isle design on the yoke, but considering how woeful freestyle knitting was going, I opted to use the one she had in the book:












I knit this in Rowan's Cocoon. I had originally planned to do it all in Cocoon, with the fair isle pattern being subtle shades of browns, naturals and greys. But, it was too subtle, and I threw in some Polar (the purpley pink), and some Cascade 128 (the magenta). Since taking this picture on Friday, I finished the sweater over the weekend. The ends are woven in, and it just needs to be blocked. And, of course since it's warm and yummy and cozy, it's supposed to be in the 50's all week, so it's unlikely I'll get a wearing in immediately, as is needed, right? In any event, pictures sometime this week.

So, now that the EPS yoke is done, it's back to the Kaffe (whatever that may be), and, um, I bought yarn for another Elizabeth EPS sweater - this time the saddle shoulder sweater. I have this idea in my head to do the sleeves of this:, with the fair isle continuing on the saddle, with a solid body. This, of course, will require some intarsia when the sleeves are joined to the body, and some flat knitting, when the saddles are knit, but I think it'll be neato. We'll see. Between the two ends of the spectrum - Kaffe and Elizabeth - I'm in the Zimmerman camp at the moment.

So, that's the update. Still in project limbo are the Tangled Yoke Cardigan (body and sleeves knit, trepidation about starting the cable), Martha (back 3/4's done, just not enough time in the world, and it's not stirring my imagination), and a host of forgotten things -

Goal for this week? Get Kaffe back on track, whatever track that may be. Right now, it feels like a train to no where, and I'd be happy just to get to Hoboken.

Squeeze the Lamb

Remember those commercials - "Don't Squeeze the Charmin!" - I used to think, "why not?" What's wrong with squeezing the toilet paper? Is it going to compromise the integrity of the roll? I thought the commercial should have been - Go Ahead! Squeeze the Charmin!

And, I'm telling ya - go ahead, squeeze the Lacy Lamb! . Many a day at Rosie's, I walk around with a ball of the Lacy in my hand - it's squishy, it's soft, it's addictive! I've never bought it though, I don't know why. Perhaps because it's thinner than Zephyr by a tad, perhaps because I buy so much lace weight at yarn festivals. Maybe because I never really knit with solids, but mostly handpainted multis - whatever the reason, I've learned my lesson about ignoring the Lamb - you must knit with it! Period.

Here is the first clue from Spring Shawl Surpice. There's been a bit of chatter on the boards about the spelling of "Surprice". When I first saw this knit-a-long pop on on Ravelry, I thought, hm, what kind of pattern is that going to be if the designer can't spell? And then, I noticed that English is not the first language of the designer, and I felt horribly ashamed about my first thought. Not only could I not spell "surprise" in any other language, I would never have the guts to try to cross the language barrier, and design a universal pattern that could be knit by anyone in any language. So, while the official "button" for the KAL has the correct spelling of surprise, I'm going to go with the original spelling "surprice" - it's kind of charming, and inclusive when you think about it.

The first clue was released on New Year's Day, and originally, I had no intention of starting it until January 2. Mr. Tall and I had plans for fun and frivolity on New Year's Eve, and I had every intention of mumming with the Mummers on New Year's Day. But, alas, the first year in five years that I actually have a proper boyfriend on New Year's, he was felled by a dread stomach virus. No biggie - we stayed in - I'm not really a fan of New Year's anyway, except for the fireworks, of course. He fell asleep around 7, and I watched CSI reruns on t.v., knitting the Manos Monster Blanket. I knew there was a time difference, and I thought, around 9 I guess, after the 3d episode of CSI, huh, I wonder if the clue is out. And, there it was! I printed out two different versions of the chart (this designer is fantastic - there's a long version and a short version of the stole, depending on your gauge. Then, there's a long and short PDF version of the chart for each version of the stole). I stared at the chart, slightly distracted by Mr. Tall's snoring. How am I ever going to manage this chart? Of course, photocopying onto legal paper is the answer, but at the time, it seemed daunting. But, I was foiled anyway - I was at his apartment, no yarn, no needles, no tools - casting on would have to wait.

New Year's Day, Mr. Tall went to work, and I was supposed to meet up with friends for the parade. Alas, my friends didn't get to sleep until LATE, and no one was into the mummer's strut. Ah well, cast on!

No one will be surprised to know that I did not swatch for this knitalong. I kind of eyeballed my knitted up Zephyr, which I like to knit on a 4, and determined that a. Lacy Lamb is a little thinner, and b. it's a very different texture, and I bet it won't bloom like Zephyr. I knit Zephyr on a 4, I decided to drop down to a 3 and go for it - and here it is -

While I'm not that into the color (it is growing on me, and I liked it when I picked it - but there's something about Seafoam that's a little too bridesmaidy for me. But, I was thinking - not another brown, not another plum, not another olive green - and here we have Seafoam). I do like the pattern, and I like the fact that I'm learning new stitches - work 5 together (not as ugly as it sounds) and a loop stitch, which kind of makes a nice bundle of three stitches, like a bow, sort of. Anyway, after a day of jury duty yesterday, I finished clue 1, and I can sit back, put my feet up, and wait for Clue 2 - oh, and knit the Monster Manos Blanket.

Woe is Me, Not Enough Stash

As I mentioned below, I've totally lost my mind, and signed up for 2 lace knit-a-longs, Spring Shawl Surprise, which starts January 1, and Secret of the Stole ii, which starts, I think, January 16. Both projects require approximately 1500 yards of yarn, or .85 miles of yarn per project. I spent Saturday at the shop contemplating my choices, but the thought of winding 1500 yards of Zephyr off of the cone at 6:00 p.m., after a day of boyfriends, husbands, and nephews coming in and saying, "um, I need some yarn . . . uh, for a scarf maybe, I dunno . . .", wasn't appealing. I must have something in my stash, mustn't I?

So, after a hearty meal with the Tall Boyfriend at Five Guys Burgers and Fries, I decided to visit my stash, and spent some quality time with it. The doors of the closet flew open - and BOOM! It was an explosion, a tidal wave of yarn:
I didn't suffer any injuries, although I felt like I was visiting a stranger - is this all I have?
Ok, I know, I know, it LOOKS like a lot of yarn, but when your stash doesn't have what you're looking for at that particular moment in time, is it really a big enough stash at all?

Here is my laceweight - as you may be able to make out - there's great stuff in there. 880 yards of Black Bunny, 1400 yards of a lacey lamb like thing with some cashmere thrown in for good measure (the squishy red balls), 3200 yards of merino/tencel from Skaska (in red), 3200 yards of lovely brown cashmere from Hunt Valley Cashmere, Lisa Souza alpaca, 1500 yards but very variegated, 3200 yards of a purple/red merino from Cherry Tree Hill, 900 yards of Laci from Blue Moon in a gold colorway, 1200 yards of golden bamboo from Habu, 1200 yards of mohair from Habu, a variegated Shetland, 880 yards of alpaca in a cream color, some left over pink Misti Alpaca, another big hunk of Mohair, that I don't even remember what it is, and I don't have the label anymore, some Sea Silk, and 1500 yards of skinny skinny Yak/Silk.
And then there's my Anne - always suitable for a laceweight project, but only 1150 yards per 2, and I do have mostly twins in there.

See, my stash is too small - I don't have 1500 yards of anything. Ok, I could chop down those big hanks of 3200 yards - but I know there's going to be a gigantic project I'll need it for (i.e., I have the red merino/tencel saved for Frost Flowers and Leaves from Gathering of Lace, and I think the cashmere is for Forest Path Stole), and if that gigantic project doesn't happen, well, then I'd have to find something else to do with the rest of the hank - what? knit with the same yarn twice? Nah. And, I just think the variegated, Lisa Souza and Cherry Tree, is too big of a risk for a mystery project.

So, what did I learn from my long visit with my stash. Here are a few things:

a. I'm just going to have to break down, and darn, buy yarn for the 2 projects in January;
b. I have too much sock yarn, and I'm never going to knit it all:
Socks that Rock, Black Bunny, Mountain Colors, Opal, Online, miscellaneous Shetland from MSW, on and on - how many pairs of socks are there that are never going to be born - 19 or 20. I know that 19 to 20 skeins of sock yarn is miniscule to many stashes out there, but for someone who doesn't really knit socks . . . foolish, no more sock yarn for me.
c. Where's the sweater quantity? I stash very little sweater quantity yarn - and I think, the next time I'm on the fiber festival circuit, rather than picking up the random sock yarn, I'm going to shop for sweater quantity in those homespun yarns that I love, like the Alpaca I used for Wicked. Not pictured, but in the stash, is sweater quantity in Morehouse Merino Bulky, and 2 sweaters in progress - one in Koigu, and one in Karabella marble. The Koigu sweater my be ripped in favor of becoming Jeannie from the new Knitting, and the marble, well, it's such an easy knit, I'll get back to it someday.
d. I don't have as many unfinished projects as I thought I did - in my knitting bag downstairs, I have a half dozen, at least, unfinished socks, or unpaired socks. As far as sweaters - I have Martha, in progress and definitely to be finished, the Koigu and the Karabella. I have a Rowan shrug in its final lap, and a Blue Sky Alpaca Silk Shrug, also extremely straight, boring knitting - all will be finished in time, except . . . for the socks. So, sock yarn - I love looking at you - but I'm done with you. As you can see, I've done careful analysis, and you're voted out of the stash.
e. I have a lot of leftover yarn from finished projects, and I have Merrill's castoffs, many miscellaneous skeins of Silk Garden. I need to find a good mix and match project . . . something to think about.

All that stash - and, it's like walking into my closet full of clothes and saying, "I have absolutely nothing to wear." Feeling guilty about my gluttony, I lovingly returned the stash to its moth proof bags, organized by weight, and color: Don't feel too bad for it - I'm sure I'll find projects for that "meager" amount of yarn someday . . .

Not a Nut, But a Swan

It may be Nutcracker season, but here is the debut of my Swan Lake - ta da!
I had never really been interested in knitting stoles. It seemed really boring - in fact, it was really boring - Kimono Shawl, which was really a stole, was a snore. This, however, was a fantastic knit. The point at the beginning was a challenge - I really had to keep my eye on the chart, as there's really no repeat.
I love the wing - if you remember from my Icarus knit, I love shawls that make me feel winged, about to take flight, and pretty, like a butterfly.


So while the Manos blanket is growing, and Growing and GROWING, there's only so much garter stitch you can do without turning your brain to mushy mush, so I've signed up for 2 lace knit-a-longs starting in January, Spring Shawl Surpise and Secret of the Stole ii. Spring Shawl promises 10 different stitch patterns, 1500 yards of yarn, and patterning on both sides - definitely not a humdrum experience. Secret of the Stole II is a themed knit-a-long, with a "hint" each week as to the theme of the stole, again, another 1500 or so yards. Why 2 knit-a-longs? you ask - wasn't one enough? Actually, there was supposed to be three, but, alas, I have been black balled from Secret of Bad Nauheim.

I've never been black balled from anything - it's really a blow to my little ego, and a strange source of shame. I feel like someone took away my marbles, or picked me last for the kickball team. And how did I end up on this road to exile? A series of very unfortunate events. I missed signing up for Secret of Chrysopolis. I was sad, as I watched everyone's shawl grow, and bloom, and become more and more beautiful every day. So, when the pattern was released for purchase, I bought it, using my paypal account, on the first day. The website is in German, but I figured I knew my way around, because it's just a ZenCart template. My officemate, however, is convinced, that I somehow hit a button that said, "Release all of my information all over the web, please." The day after I received the pattern, I got an email from the proprietor of the website, "What is this? You get the pattern, and take back your money? What kind of shopping is this?" Huh? I thought, take back my money? I checked my paypal account - there were over 40 unauthorized transactions on my paypal account. Noticing that my account had been compromised, Paypal had reversed all of the transactions. I checked my bank account - overdrawn - and going very down down down the drain. And fees! Once all was said and done, I ended up with no money for over a week while Paypal and the bank investigated the fraudulent transactions, and I'm still in negotiations with my bank over the $600 in fees.

In the meantime, the proprietor of the website then banned me from Secret of Bad Nauheim, and sent out an email to the list serve, with all of my email addresses - I must be a trickster if I have multiple email addresses, and informing everyone that I had welched on the $7.20 transaction. Obviously, I resent the money, hopefully she got it. I received an email a few days later, completely in German, that left me befuddled, obviously, since I can't even spell aufertersein. I emailed it to a friend of mine who does speak some German, and she said that the email was sympathetic to my paypal misery, but wanted to know if my account was restored so that she could process the order for the wool. What wool? I wrote back, in English, that I hadn't ordered any wool, and again apologizing for any problems caused by the fraud on my account, the time delay in receiving her emails, and the language barrier. I hope we're all settled up, because I really truly would never steal a pattern.

In the end, the pattern ended up costing me $307.20 - the $300 in fees that my bank does not feel like it should reimburse me (it refunded half), and the original $7.20.

And now the real dilemna - do I knit it. I love it, but do I really knit it? It seems like its nothing but bad luck now. But it's so pretty - do I knit it?

While I struggle with this dilemna, I also really love Anne Hanson's new pattern,the Irtfaa Faroese Lace Shawl, like Ene, eene, une, ena, I don't know how to pronounce it, but I love it -

I think my chocolate brown cashmere would be lovely. But, again, a dilemna - I have to use my newly restored paypal account to buy it - argh!

Anyone Want to Commit Me Now?

Stop everything! Mad knitter at work. All ongoing projects must cease and desist - insane project underway!!!

So, I was happily knitting along on this (which in and of itself is a knitting crime - I am THISCLOSE to finishing Swan Lake):
Martha, from Rowan Studio 2, in my new favorite yarn - Manos Silk. Yes, you heard me - Manos SILK - a wool silk blend, that comes in around 4-6 stitches per inch. This single ply is smooth smooth smooth, and feels like budda. I couldn't have been happier knitting Martha.
Here's a closeup of the lovely cable:
This yarn is perfect - perfect for fair isle (see mittens below), perfect for cables (see that detail!), and perfect for sweaters - it's really the perfect weight. Could I say PERFECT one more time????

So once you've found perfect, why have I abandoned this project in favor of another. Because madness is at work I say! There is no other explanation other than a bit of the crazies have hit me. The tall boyfriend and I were watching t.v. the other night, snuggled under the blanket his grandma had crocheted for him years ago - a blanket built for one. Wouldn't it be nice, he said, if we had a blanket that was big enough for both of us? I sat up - the wheels began to turn. I can do that, I can knit that. I saw Rambling Rows, I saw the BIG VERSION, I had big visions - I have a big boyfriend after all.

So, while I was working at the shop on Saturday, before the mad rush that was the crazy holiday shopping day at Rosie's, I started pulling Manos off the shelf - Brick, Stellar, Gold, Navy, and Olive. The Stellar, Gold and Navy are for him - Chargers colors. The Brick and Olive appeal to my taste (hmmm - notice that it's the same olive as the Silk Manos above - oh Martha, I will not forsake you forever).


It's fabulous! It's gigantic! It's expensive!! It's totally insane!


The only thing more crazy than this blanket - that John C. Reilly was nominated for a best actor Golden Globe for Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story. Both make me speechless.

Being at Stitches for four days this year was crazy. We got there at 11:00 a.m. Thursday, and worked throughout the day getting the booth ready. While Blue Moon was just down the aisle, and Brooks Farm was right in my face, shopping was the last thing on my mind. Around 6:30, I went to get coffee, and noticed a long and winding line had formed outside the convention floor. Is Springsteen in town? I thought, and realized that everyone was in line - for yarn! It was crazy. We weren't even finished with our pricetags. There was a mad rush, a frenzy. And then, a calm. I calmly purchased my Brooks Farm yarn, knowing exactly what I was going to make (see Gertrude below). I eyed up the Blue Moon booth, but shrugged, eh, not this year. I don't need anything else, I thought. I'm done shopping.

Right. Every day something new caught my eye - Friday was Habu, Saturday I got sucked in to Blue Moon, Sunday, it was Lisa Souza. Skaska was in there somewhere too. And, of the Rosie's bunch, I seemed to be the only one accumulating purchases. Isn't anyone else going to buy something???? Am I the only yarn slut in town? And then it happened - it must have been just the right kick from Flippy, but Courtney finally got the bug - late Saturday - she had to have Shadyside Farm. Must Have Shadyside! Shadyside is a mom and pop kind of farm - the yarn is homespun and hand dyed. Kind of hidden by Webs, dwarfed a bit by the Yarn Barn of Kansas, mom and pop Shadyside had a lovely booth - and Courtney must have visited them ten times, trying to pick out her perfect fair isle combination. I admired the yarn - but frankly, I was broke - mohair and bamboo from Habu, laceweight from Blue Moon, Skaska and Lisa Souza, sweater quantity from Brooks Farm - I stepped away from the yarn - and was more than a bit jealous when Courtney made her final choices. Oh Shadyside, would we ever meet again?

Of course we would - at Rhinebeck - Pop Shadyside even remembered Kate and I - in the midst of conversation with Pop, I spied the sale bin - I swooped in - and grabbed the last five skeins of their homespun Alpaca - in a colorway called Pear. Five skeins, 220 yards a skein, 1100 yards. 1100 yards makes me nervous. I generally make a medium, and need at least 1200 yards. Anything else is cutting it close. But, rather than let my lovely Shadyside languish in my stash while I contemplated what to do with almost sweater quantity yarn, I hopped on Ravelry, and found Wicked from the very talented ladies at Zephyr Style
Wicked is a perfect pattern.
Knit from the top down, there's NO SEWING! And, like Ribbi Cardi from Chicknits, there are lots of options. Do you want long sleeves or short sleeves? Do you want to add extra shaping? Sure, throw it in! How about a pocket? Love it - love the options! And, of course, the ability to try as you go.
The collar is a faux cable, and the same detail is on the cuff. The cuff in the pattern is about 2 inches long, I decided to go for four. I intended for it to hit just below the elbow, but it turned out a little shorter than the picture in my head, but that's ok.
I debated the pocket. To pocket, or not to pocket? I pocketed, and I'm pleased that I did.
And the yarn, sigh. Isn't it pretty? And it's cozy cozy. For the most part, the twist is consistent, but there are a few flubs along the way - but I love them - it's like a homemade Valentine's card, or fresh baked cookies straight out of the oven. There's something very real about it - the flaws make it accessible. I once dated this sculptor - he made all of these crazy pieces in different mediums - wood, concrete, slab, etc. When he showed me his work, I had very little to say about the abstract constructs, um, it's nice? So, he pulled out a very small piece - a figure lounging on a rock. Smugly, he said, maybe this is more accessible for you. Obviously, this guy didn't last long - but that's kind of the way I feel about this yarn - nothing fancy, nothing pretentious - just pretty, homemade yarn. And yes, I'd take the little figure on the rock over the towering pile of rocks anyday.

So, I've been quietly working away at MS3/Swan Lake. I say quietly, I guess, not because I'm oompahing or banging on the drum while I'm knitting other projects, it's just that this project is completely stationary - the chart is practically attached to the arm of my couch, there are beads all over my living room floor, in the crevices, as my dog as turned over my bead cup several times, and the big ol' ball of yarn is not portable. So, while other things can be held up, and I can sqeal, "looky looky!" this is a solitary project, that I plug away every night.
I was never really intrigued with the idea of knitting a stole - the idea of repeating a pattern over and over for what would seem like miles and miles - and I was therefore really surprised at what a challenge this has been (at least in the beginning), and how it's strangely different from other lace knitting that I've done. First, at least in the beginning, I was completely wedded to the chart. There's no pattern repeat, no markers. Each row is a different. And . . .

WE STOP THIS BLOG POST FOR AN EMERGENCY MESSAGE FROM OUR BROADCAST SYSTEM.

I could go on about my stole, and the differences between the stole v. the shawl - but I got completely distracted this weekend, and I have to show you what I made!!!!
Working at the store on Saturday is so distracting . . . a new yarn comes in, and I MUST HAVE IT. And, what is this yummy, soft, jeweltoned beauty? I'll let you guess.
I was so in love with the multi, that I did the popover part with it - I don't love that, and I'm going to rip it back and knit it in the solid. Hopefully, I won't have second mitt syndrome, and I'll finish the other over the holiday weekend.




Speaking of the holiday weekend, I'm going home to my parent's for four days, and in my head, I'm bringing every unfinished project in my house, and I'm going to finish them ALL!!! I'm going to finish Tangled Yoke, MS3, Wicked (which I haven't shown you), four pairs of socks, the Bird's Nest Shawl, and my Koigu sweater. I guess when I go to pack, and I could fill 2 suitcases with unfinished projects, I'll have a large dose of reality, and settle on what I'm really going to finish. Or not . . . and start something totally new . . .