The beginning of the end

I wonder if the MS3 will ever be complete! I have 30 rows left. I really want to finish by the end of the week. I am tempted just to bind the thing off without finishing the wing. It is a gift for my dearest of friends, though, and I want it to be complete (even if it is riddled with mistakes).

But, here's some happy, non-knitting stuff:



Goofy ZEN




Sleepy Daisy




Sweet Tailless Jo




Odd(stoned?) Sunny

Secret of the Stole and other updates

It looks like lots of people are signing up for Secret of the Stole http://www.islandzephyr.com/blogs/nauticalknitter/2007/08/23/secret-of-the-stole/. I had a lot of fun with Mystery Stole 3 (OK, I admit it, I'm still having fun, but the thing will be finished in a week or two, I swear! I'm on row 131 of the wing!). I have joined the Secret of the Stole KAL. I think I'm going to use Fearless Fibers laceweight yarn (pictured).

In other news, are you all listening to the Stash and Burn podcast http://www.stashandburn.com/? They had a one skein challenge a couple weeks back. I sort of figured that I wouldn't participate, because I have too many other things on the needles, and I'm really trying to focus! Well, I finished a project that I think qualifies (it took 1 1/2 skeins, but it will count in my heart, if nothing else). And of course, there's a story that goes along with its creation...

My non-knitter sister came to visit for Labor Day. She arrived on a Friday, and planned to stay through Monday. On Saturday evening, she mentioned that she was going to a wedding the next weekend, and she needed a wrap for her dress. Where, she asked, could we go buy one? Well, I was working on MS3 at the time, and I put the needles down and said, I suspect you could have asked your knitting sister to make one for you. She sort of turned her nose up and said "I don't want a knitted wrap. I want something pretty." Hello, is that a challenge?!?

My husband was sitting across the room from us, and upon hearing her remark, put down the newspaper he was reading so he could fully take in my response (them's fightin' words in my house!). I kept my furor in check, and instead pulled a few books off the shelves, Victorian Lace Today, Lace Style, and the Vogue Accessorize book. I made her thumb through them, and tell me about all of the pretty things she saw. Well, of course, she saw bunches. The problem was that she was leaving in 36 hours, and I needed to use stash yarn. I ended up using a pattern stitch from 200 ripple stitches, and knitting it with Fiesta La Boheme and size 15 needles. The picture shows it blocking. If I had more time, I would have made it a little longer, and possibly added width. She'll be wearing it tomorrow, and I hope she'll get a picture. I told her if she meets a guy at the wedding, and they get married, she has to let me knit her a wedding stole. She agreed.
I am editing this to add that my sister just called to tell me she was at Nordstrom, and saw a shawl (I was prepared for her to say that she decided to buy one and not wear mine!). Anyway, she was all excited, because it looked similar to the one I had made her, and it was $72, so she felt like she got quite the deal with my little gift!

I have a little more than 1/2 a skein of the La Boheme left. I think I am going to combine it with another skein of La Boheme in a cranberry color, and experiment with the Chevron scarf everyone raves about. I'm hoping my library has the book. We shall see...

Oops! I nearly forgot the obligatory ZEN photo... She's thinking about eating her ruby slippers. Admit it - if you had ruby slippers, you'd eat them, too!

Yarn Soup

I realized last week that indie dyers are worth every penny we pay them for their gorgeous creations. This realization (OK, not really so much of a realization, I always understood that a lot of effort, thought, patience and time went into dyeing, and I think that should be reflected in the price of goods that are sold) came as I tried my hand at overdyeing some Blue Sky Cotton.

The original yarn

My husband wandered into the kitchen and thought I had lost my mind and decided to feed my yarn habit, literally - "You're making yarn soup?!"

"Yarn Soup"


The top picture shows the Blue Sky Cotton I purchased with an eye toward knitting Tomato. I'm not sure what I was thinking. Let's just say that I would look absolutely awful in this color! I think it would look spectacular on someone with a deep olive skin tone, or an African American. But it would do nothing for my pasty face!

I figured that a good solution would be to overdye it. Everyone always talks about this mythical overdyeing process, so I figured it couldn't be too hard, right? I ordered some Cushing Direct dye from Earth Guild, with a hope that I could turn the above yarn into a pretty chocolate brown. The directions state that you need to the yarn to simmer on the stovetop in a glass, enamel or stainless steel vessel. I didn't have any of those, and I couldn't find one at the Goodwill, so I decided to improvise and use my crockpot. I needed to dye 7 skeins of yarn, and using the crockpot limited me to dyeing two skeins at a time. I knew it would take a little longer, but I was careful to write down exactly what I did, so that I could replicate it each time.

Drying in the sun

The final result

The results are not horrible, but it is not the gorgeous chocolate brown I had lovingly dreamed of. I have ordered additional dye, so I may see if I can borrow a larger appropriate vessel, and dye all seven skeins again.

Overall, I enjoyed the exercise, but ultimately decided that I will leave the dyeing to the experts. After all, they make the beautiful yarn in the final picture. That's far better than anything I could ever create. And this way I can focus more on knitting.

Ooohhhh! Yarn dyed by people with a knack for such things.

Christmas is coming

It's only August, and I'm already stressed about Christmas knitting. I'm trying to get these projects off the needles:
1. MS3 (goal to be done by the end of the Labor Day weekend)
2. Koigu Feather and Fan scarf (goal to be done by the middle of September for my mother-in-law's birthday)
3. Dad's socks (goal to be done by the middle of September for his birthday)
4. Clapotis (this is for me, but it would be nice to have done)
If I finish those things, I can focus on the following:
1. Husband's Christmas sweater
2. Mom's Christmas sweater
3. Another pair of socks for Dad
4. Hanami
5. Secret of the Stole KAL
6. Tulip sweater for ZEN christmas
7. Bee shawl
8. Tomato
9. Perhaps another Clapotis

This is looking to be more of a bah-humbug season than one filled with merriment and joy. And it's only August...

Finishing...and progressing...

ZEN's color block sweater from one skein is complete, even with buttons! I think I need to play around with blocking it again. It will be an outdoor sweater, because the wool isn't that soft, but I think it's cute. And if she ever has a brother, it will be easily adopted by a boy!

I continue to make slow progress on MS3 - just wanted to include proof! I'm jealous of everyone who has finished. I hope to be done by the end of next week, so I can give it to my dear friend, whose birthday was in JULY! I am also itching to cast on Hanami or the Bee shawl; I haven't decided which one, though. However, I am well aware that I can only handle one lace project at at time. I shortened the stole to suit my friend, who isn't quite 5-feet, but now I worry that it won't be long enough. I hope it stretches a lot with blocking!



And what's this? It looks like Shedir is growing, albeit slowly. I am enjoying the DK zephyr - we'll see how it matches up size wise. It seems OK so far.

It is really hot here, so luckily my friend's niece is probably OK for another few weeks while I finish it up. I would finish it faster, I hear, if I would teach myself to cable without a cable needle. However, I wonder if the time it would take to learn that would actually undermine my finishing pace?

Here's a picture of my progress on Clapotis. I love the yarn. I'm not sure if the colors are me, but I do think they're pretty. If they're not me, it will make a nice gift. It's such a trip dropping the stitches. I think that I might be a little too easily entertained! I plan to try to start another one with the Second Wave Clapotis KAL, which is starting late in September, I believe. That should be a fun group, too. First time Clapotis-ers and lots of veterans - it will be interesting to see all of the yarn choices! I have decided that I am a slow Clapotis knitter, so I may not be ready to start another one in time to play with the group. We shall see though.

ZEN was asleep and couldn't model her sweater (the fact that it's too big for her and that it's really hot here might also have had something to do with it), I'm putting in another cute baby picture, sans anything yarn-y. Awwww....

We are making a trip to Cincinnati this weekend. I plan to bring along my dad's birthday socks, my mother-in-laws birthday scarf, and clapotis. If I can make good progress on all three, I will be pleased. I will really need to focus on the two Christmas sweaters I am knitting, starting in October, so I'm trying to finish up lots of stuff now.

I love I love I love my little calendar girl...

Zen decided she wanted to take a shot at being a calendar model. My husband was horrified when I said that we needed to put her in her bikini because I was going to take a picture for a calendar contest. Had to calm him down and explain it wasn't a swimsuit calendar, just a knitty one!

Here are the pix. I know we don't have a shot at winning (the pix in past contests have been phenomenal!!!), but we had a good time. So here's my favorite calendar girl, modeling Jane of the Jungle from knitty summer 03. http://www.knitty.com/ISSUEsummer03/PATTjane.html
She's swimming in a baby pool full of blue yarns. And yes, her nose is a little yellow. She's been learning to eat veggies (carrots, squash and sweet potatoes can have this pigment effect, according to her doc).

I'm still struggling with picture placement, so sorry.

Lemmings and such

Can't sleep. I guess this is an opportunity to post another gratuitous cute baby shot. The other picture is of Daisy up a tree. Silly cat.



Helen "Of Troy" over at http://www.golden-apples.blogspot.com kindly offered some tips on photo placement and orientation. I'm still struggling, but hoping to have a prettier blog by 2008.

It's 11:16 p.m., which is past my bedtime. I need to be to work at 7, and my 32 year old body can no longer function on limited sleep. I suppose I could blame ZEN, but that's probably not entirely fair. She's a good little sleeper. I want to knit, but I don't want to go downstairs, because I worry I will fall asleep down there and not hear my alarm, and be late for work. There are solutions, simple solutions. I could knit the projects I have up here (a sock, but I'm too tired for size 2 dpns, or another special request by my husband from Naughty Needles, which I'm just kind of bored with for now). Downstairs I have Clapotis, MS3 and Shedir. Those are my happy projects on which I am focused. I am excited to knit on those. I guess I'm a bit of a lemming. I tend to pick projects that everyone else has done, or is doing. Is that my own insecurity? My own lack of creativity? My own laziness? Perhaps it's actually quite clever, tending toward the tried and true so as to avoid the pitfalls of unchartered territory? I'll be honest with myself; it's probably not the latter. My 32-year-old self has become aware that I am not particularly exceptional in any way, which is, I suppose OK. I am an OK mother, an OK wife, an OK knitter, an OK attorney. I suppose I am competent. When I was young, I had this bizarre belief that everyone had one thing that they were the best at - maybe it was styling hair, maybe it was neurosurgery, maybe it was hopscotch. I realize now that everyone doesn't have such a gift. Most people are competent, I think, at some things. I guess that has to be enough? I know that I will never be the best knitter; I will never be clever enough to design cool patterns (or any pattern!). I know that I will never be Mother of the Year, but my daughter seems to like me for the most part (of course, I kind of have her over a barrel with the breastfeeding; she may be less impressed with me after she's weaned). I would like to be a better wife. I am married to a man who is remarkable in many ways. He's not a Christian, but he embodies the qualities that so many devout people proclaim to be important. He has this amazing ability to not judge people. It's something that I cannot wrap my way too catty mind around. I know people (ok, fine, I'm related to them) who leave Mass, and complain about things the minute they're out the door - the sermon, the singers, the person in front of them who was snoring, the person who didn't put anything in the donation basket, etc.). I have asked these people what is the point of church if you leave angry like that. They have not provided satisfactory answers. I know many people who attend church (I am also related to these people), and truly believe and seem to strive to practice the tenets of their faith - it makes sens to me that they attend Mass. My husband is also an amazing father. He has stayed home with ZEN for her first 8 months of life. He has done this, and still kept his job, and done really well at both. I could never do that. I could never be a successful stay-at-home mom. It has to be so much harder than going to work every day. My job has some pressures, when we're litigating or negotiating, but at the end of the day, it's a job. I'm not a doctor, lives are not in my hands. ZEN's life is in his hands every day, and he makes it work. They have this amazing bond. I am sad that she has to start daycare part-time next week, because I know it's going to kill him. My husband is amazing, and yet I still manage to get so annoyed with him. How can this be? Why do I not just focus on his wonderful qualities, of which there are so many, and ignore whatever trivial thing bothers me? I don't know. I am trying to become more and more aware of it, and correct the problem.

I shouldn't blog at 11:16 p.m. I blather on and on until 11:33 p.m. I suppose that's ok - the anonymity of this blogging world makes it so.

Want some cool stitch markers? Go to http://www,weeones.etsy.com/. I don't have any myself yet, but a friend had them the other day, and they are ridiculously cute. What a talented person she is! She's remarkable. She is not a lemming!