UNRAVELED I learned so much about how to sew up seams during the Sharon vest that I've gone back and unraveled my mitered squares. Thankfully, that amounts to four squares in all. Seems I was doing the seaming all wrong. I need to take some time from casting on new projects and pull this little baby blanket together soon. Fall is in the air and babies need to stay warm.
Like a moth to a flame I keep visiting yarn stores when I have a little free time. I scored four skeins of Kid Merino from Crystal Palace in the bargain bin along with two skeins of Rowan Ribbon yarn at $4.50 a skein instead of the more normal asking price of $13. We do love a bargain.
One of my knit night buddies, the delightful Gail, loaned me
Necter from Kim Hargreaves and I am in love. I broke down and bought my own copy. I'm not a floaty Rowan sort of girl but this book has some lovely patterns that I can see making for friends and for myself. I also ordered
Jamieson's Shetland Knitting Book 3 from
The Yarn and Fiber store. If
Ravelry is correct there is a sweater pattern, the Islander, that I think will make a great hubby sweater. I'm getting a little
overcommitted here. (Ya think?) I also preorderd the new Mason-Dixon book. Yea!
In the meantime I'm sewing up bags for the
Sebastopol Celtic Festival. Three to be exact. It's my turn to bring goodies and the bags are part of the
goodie bag(s) for myself and my two dear friends. We've been going to this festival for a long time now.
My sideboard is returning to it's usual state: Piled High With Knitting.
At knit night last Tuesday a local business woman came by and asked if we would be interested in doing some charity knitting for newborns in Uganda. I surfed
Ravelry and came up with patterns for a few things. I'm almost finished with this little top made from some
Knitpick yarn and another type who's ball band is not at hand. It's purple, from Australia, and nice. I do know that my
Secret Pal gifted me with them. We're continued to be
cyberfriends which is really nice.
EYE CANDY TODAY
Not a lot going on in the garden (which is in desperate need of some attention). There are still a few peaches and tomatoes. The raccoons ate all the pears. With three huge nets over the fig tree the birds are still managing to sneak in and peck at the fruit. Not too much though so I'm getting a few. I'm starting up my fall crops, sugar peas, beets, lettuce and other green types of things.
Coleus. Fern. Blanketflowers with morning glory. There's a bee in there too.
TRAGEDY AVERTED
Last week things got rather tough at Chez Earin's - our ice maker broke. Thankfully, the repairman came out the next day and set things straight. Whew.
The next edition of the modified Boogie Vest is almost done. I've since added ribbing to the armscyes and will be doing the neck this afternoon. Weave in a few ends and stick a fork in it. It's done! I made this up using Sheep Shop yarn, Sheep 2 on size 10's and a very fast knit it was using 4 and a teeny, tiny bit of a fifth skein for a size medium. This turns out to be far too large for the intended recipient, Linda, the owner of the coffee shop where we meet in Auburn. She's more of a small or even an extra small. I have so little experince with sizing munchkins I cannot realistically judge that small. Turns out that my friend Katrina LOVES vests and is a Perfect Size "M".
As much as I have enjoyed knitting this pattern overandoverandover I hungered for something new. This lead to my pouring through knitting magazines and various books looking for the perfect vest. Above is what our dining room table tends to look like on any given day we don't actually have company - the only time we really use the table for eating off of.
In the middle: Opie, Lover of All Things Woolen.
1 - Books/magazines holding somewhere within their depths the perfect vest.
2 - Manos Landslide jacket being finished off. So close. Claude is cheering him on (I'm proof that it
REALLY can happen!).
3 - The Boogie Vest also nearing completion
4 - Paraphernalia for my new camera. I really will read the manual. Honest.
5 - My laptop. What can I say? WiFi, the ability to print without moving off the couch or away from table. Hundreds of sites devoted to my favorite crafts.
6 - Otis in the shadows in his usual position, "Am I about to be Attacked?". He knows that we are just lulling him into thinking he's safe. Any year now we'll turn on him.
7 - One of the current books I'm reading, "The Gift of Therapy" by Irvin Yalom. Excellent book.
Out of sight but still taking up space.
Two sewing books, a name tag, a large knitting bag full of lots of bits and pieces, more printouts of knitting patterns...and more. It's a pretty big table.
I didn't find any vest patterns that thrilled me but while reading
MOONSTITCHES I saw this vest which she had knit up and lengthened a little. It's perfect for Linda and I will also lengthen it. I also thought that using something she could toss in the wash would be more suitable for a person whipping out Double Espresso Lattes all day long. Being that I am a wool/cotton person I dug into the remains of my mother's artificial fiber stash collection. I had retained a few of the more interesting items before foisting the rest off on friends. Most of them are "one off's", a skein or two of this and that but lo and behold, there were multiple skeins of this rather nice wool/acyclic blend. It's an English company, rather old, and I doubt that they are still in business. Must Google. Doubled it hits gauge dead on. Someone help me, I'm knitting From Stash.
(Post Google. They still exist and have a very nice
website.)
I managed to fight through the multitudes last month and score two skeins of Sundara sock yarn. Sundara's is where you learn Full Combat Yarn Shopping. It's worth it though.
I finished the cable headband that I am giving my friend Kona, (also amazingly talented Rolfer). And I had a run in with a Xacto knife as I cut templates out of mat board for sewing my three bags. I have been having bad luck with this particular finger having jammed the knuckle the week before. The slash and subsequent gushing of blood took my mind right off of it. I was able to continue knitting but doing cable work was very challenging. Much Better Now.
I hand stitched the new runner fabric and cleaned off the sideboard before I did any gushing. For one brief, shining moment...a tidy sideboard.
In the meantime I'm sewing up bags for the Sebastopol Celtic Festival. Three to be exact. It's my turn to bring goodies and the bags are part of the goodie bag(s) for myself and my two dear friends. We've been going to this festival for a long time now.
