I Couldn't Resist...

I bought yarn.... and I don't even feel bad about it! This is Linea Baby, Baby Star yarn. It's 100% Merino and a lovely sport weight.

It is evident that I cannot resist a "good deal" on yarn. Some good deals are so good you simply cannot pass them up! That's what happened here. While on a routine "walk by", I walked into Pudding Yarns and stumbled on their Stampede sale. A quick peak into the 75% off bin and I discovered this perfectly cute merino yarn and the store practically paid me to buy it. This entire collection of stash cost me $9. An AMAZING deal given that regularly priced this stuff was $8.95 a ball! I practically stole it at that price! I bought enough to make a baby sweater I have in mind. That price is so good I'm tempted to go back and buy the remaining 3 skeins of it and make ME something. But, well, I don't want to be ridiculous!

This brings me to my next dilema, the big ole Make 1 Summer sale that coming up next Saturday. If you recall, at Christmas the MiL and I went on a yarn binge, if you will, at their sale and well, I know the prices are good enough to make me consider a good old binge session again. It seems I'm pretty good at yarn binging, but the purging takes a little longer. (It DOES happen though... just at a slightly slower rate...)

And this is just proof that I DO eventually purge the yarn. The Plain Jane socks are moving slower than expected, but I suspect that all the Stampeding we've been doing has been effecting the progress. This is yarn that I bought at the Make 1 Christmas sale, so there you go- I DO eventually get to it!

More Socks for Summer

You know, it feels a little weird knitting warm woolen socks in the summer- but I can't help it! They're such an addicting project!! In record time, Sock #2 of the summer of socks are off the needles and completely done. (From June 27 - July 4!)


Pattern: Spring Forward by Linda Welch
Yarn: Koigu KPPM (*slobber*)
Needles: US size 1
Thoughts: Quick and addicting little knit. I would definately knit this pattern again. I love how all the wiggles look like waves on the socks!


With those off the needles I decided to move on to a major challenge, sock #2 in my quest to knit a pattern by all the designers at the retreat, Cookie A's Marilinda socks. Holy! Intimidating! Batman! I bought the pattern, pulled the yarn out of the stash and cast them on and got ready to go.


Once I got into the pattern though- it was obvious that I was going to hit a snag in my plans. The yarn pools. (I doubt you can see it well enough in the picture above.) The varigation in the yarn doesn't spread evenly and instead I somehow managed to have a "dark" side and a "light" side. This pattern is complicated and impressive enough that I don't want it to be lost in bad pooling in the color of the yarn. After much discussion with the husband, he gave me the go ahead to break the yarn diet and order up something that will be similar and serve the right purpose for the pattern. I remembered seeing a yarn on the much loved Loopy Ewe that mentioned that it was subtly varigated to avoid the color pooling that sometimes occurs with hand painted yarn. And so, in what can only be referred to as enormous restraint, (afterall I only ordered what I needed and not what I wanted {because let's face it what I wanted was about 12 other skeins also} ), I put my order for Dream in Color Smooshy's Midnight Derby.** (PS- if you ever feel so inclined to, I've attached a link to my Loopy Ewe wishlist on the sidebar there so you can see what I've been lusting so heavily after.)

Before the yarn pooling incident occured, a few rows into knitting Cookie's pattern my brain started to hurt. This woman designs the most stunning socks- but they're also not for the faint hearted knitter. (Although her patterns are incredibly thorough, organized and well written.) The chart is complicated and I was using techniques that I never had before. So, to have a little break from all that focused knitting I cast on the simplest, plainest of socks-


Ah brain break socks! They're even self striping yarn! I imagine there will be pictures of these up shortly too. Feels good to be stash busting!

** I kind of love Sheri over at the Loopy Ewe- she runs such a great company. I'd say about 28 minutes elapsed between the time of my order and the email I got to say it was shipped! That's the kind of "wow" service you rarely get these days!

Kicking Off the Summer of Socks

Yes! That is the long awaited Whisper Lace socks, off the needles and on the feet!

Pattern: Whisper Lace Socks

Needles Size: US 1

Yarn: Koigu KPPM (*slobber*)

Thoughts: Such a pretty, girly pattern. The minute my mom saw them, she squealed-which means she'll probably be the proud new owner. My one regret with these socks is that it was the wrong pattern for the yarn, and the prettiness of the pattern is lost in the variagation. (Click the Whisper Lace link to see the pattern without all the colors.) That's not to say anything negative about the koigu (blasphemy!), but the pattern is really cool to knit see. I'll probably knit these again some time, in a plain colorway.

As if finally having these socks off the needles isn't enough to celebrate over here, I cast on the newly popular Spring Forward socks for my road trip to Regina.

Before I left for my trip they looked like this:

Upon returning home they looked more like this. I knit these up fast!!

That's ONE completed sock and another leg finished! Talk about a quick knit! This pattern is great, although the cuff is a little tight and next time I'd probably knit it on slightly bigger needles. (Do they even make 1.5?) Much better pictures will show up on the blog upon the completion of sock #2.

Next in the shoot I need to figure out what sock I'm going to put on the needles next. I need to get another retreat designer finished up so I'm on schedule to making a sock by each designer on the retreat in November. It feels good to be shifting my focus back to projects I'm interested in instead of projects that make me less than excited. Looking forward to knitting up the sock yarn stash this summer!

Breathing Again...

Well... there's one sock! Think I had enough for #2?

I did! Thank God I did!!!!! Both socks are stunning and while I had a near heart attack knitting the last one, worrying with every stitch that I was going to run out of yarn, I didn't- even had a little teeny bit left over!! The pictures of the socks here pay homage to the pattern name- I'm standing on a map of Connecticut! This is one of those patterns you knit to impress the heck out of your friends-- it's a lot less complicated than it looks. (And it looks so pretty!!!)

Pattern: "New England Socks" by Nancy Bush from "Knitting on the Road"

Yarn: Cherry Tree Supersock in "Natural"

Needles: US 0

(Do socks ever look bad on Sock blockers?) With the New England socks off the needles and my heart returning to normal palpatations, I also squeezed out a few more projects this week - behold... HATS O PLENTY! (I'm almost caught back up to the goal again!)

With the socks done I can turn my focus on to more interesting pursuits- like the pretty pink Powder sweater that's been sitting in my Ravelry que for quite some time. I'm not loving the yarn so far- and it sadly won't knit to gauge so this sweater is going to require a little "gauge math" to ensure a pretty finished product. Cross your fingers for me that I'll be pleased with the results! Below is the waist band completed (and blocked!) as well as the gauge swatch.

And that, ladies and gentleman, was my very productive week! It's amazing what you can get done when you assume breathing normally again!

Anxiety Attack

I am at MAXIMUM anxiety levels right now. In fact if I inserted a fancy little graph to show you my anxiety out of 100- it would be off the charts.

I'm knitting the New England socks, sock#2. I've got a pattern and a half of the repeat as well as the toe to complete and I just don't know if I'll run out of yarn or not. There are moments when I think to myself that it will be fine and then there are moments where I'm nearly breathless in fear that I won't have enough and THEN WHAT? I could order another skein of the yarn from the infamous Loopy Ewe - but it kind of defeats the purpose of stash busting (and creating room in the stash to justify further Loopy purchases) as well as running the risk of a mismatched dyelot. (Alternatively all would not be lost as I do have other pattern ideas for the extra yarn.)

And so I knit on, trembling in fear of what might be. Running out of yarn would be bad.... very bad.

We shall have our verdict soon- cross your fingers!

Rain Can Be Good Too!

Many good people in Calgary are currently bemoaning all the rain we've had. While I agree that I am SO. OVER typhoon season here, (or so it feels), the rain has served one very useful purpose- time to knit. It's too miserable to go outside- and thus provides the perfect opportunity for prime knitting time.

Check out what I accomplished this weekend!

Uh yah, that would be a blanket, two socks and two hats. Holy productivity Batman!

First on the finished list was the Runk Baby Blanket.

Pattern: Leisure Arts "Baby Chevron" by Kay Meadors

Needles: US size 9

Yarn: Bernat Satin in White and three Blue variations

Notes: There's no doubt about it, the pattern knits up beautifully, and the finished product is pleasing. However with each color change comes endless ends to weave in- and well, the lazy knitter in me just groans at the mere thought of it. I also ran out of white yarn earlier than expected and only knit this approximately 34" vs. the regular 40" blanket size I knit. Personally I like the smaller size, (ends the pain earlier), but kind of felt like I was cheating to be done so much shorter than normal.

Here's another close of shot for your viewing pleasure:

As if that wasn't exciting enough to get that off the needles- I also made HUGE sock progress on the New England Socks - like sock 1. This is a stunning pattern and one I'm certainly going to be proud of upon completion...

... that is if it ever does see completion. (Sorry no full frontal sock shots until #2 is done up.) As usual, I'm having my traditional "OH MY GOD I AM GOING TO RUN OUT OF YARN BEFORE I FINISH THIS SOCK" panic attack.

Does this look like enough yarn to you? EEK. I'm motivated to knit this sock as quickly as possible only so that I can see if my fears are confirmed or not. I honestly don't know what I'm going to do if I'm right about freaking out. I suppose I can hunt it down on Ravely, (what did knitters ever do before Ravelry?), but let's all collectively cross our fingers and hope it doesn't come to that. The leg is a lot longer than a typical sock I make-- and it's got me in panic mode!

There's even more finished items to view! The whisper lace sock is finally cast off for one and cast on for the other. (Personal rule- always immediately cast on sock #2, or you never will.) I'm regretting the variagated yarn selection. The pattern is quite intricate and pretty, but completely lost in all the colors of the yarn. I had anticipated it to blend a little more subtley- but I suppose you learn something each time you knit.

And lastly- as if all of this wasn't already blowing your knitting minds- I added two more baby hats to the total. (OH LORD am I behind on this!)

They're cute, they're simple- they're baby hats.

It looks like the weather is promising to be gross right through to the weekend again- at this rate I'm going to RUN OUT OF STASH YARN. (But I don't mind, it just means I get to buy more sooner- and OH DEAR LORD do I want to buy yarn badly right now.

That's it for this week- feels good to have taken a big chunk off the "to finish" list!

New England Knitting Tragedy

On a list of things that knitters do NOT want to see before a four hour flight, this tragedy ranks highly:

For those who are trying to figure out the tragedy in this picture, that is a broken DPN, occuring mere moments before the beginning of my flight. I had no extra needles with me - words my mother will swear she never taught me may have been uttered.

Thankfully, despite this setback, I managed to continue knitting a decent pace on the plane, even if it meant knitting with a two small knitting needle and trying to make compromises where possible to accomodate such a small needle.

In fact great progress was made.... (look at that progress... so far!)

... except I don't like the heel... like at all. Love the pattern. HATE the heel. (pictured below)

I have turned into one of those knitters, where I decide, mostly when it's too late, that I simply cannot live with the imperfection that offends me, and I will rip hours of work back just to have a product that I will be able to accept. And so, with that in mind, I ripped back to the Heel flap and will knit the heel turn again- to hopefully much more acceptable standards. Goodbye five hours of diligent hard work for nothing- we hardly knew ye!

On top of knitting, blog readers will be happy to know that I did NOT fall off the yarn diet wagon and managed to resist the call. (Okay maybe not blog readers, maybe my husband is really more happy to note this than anyone!) Sadly there was no time to hit any of the awesome shops that New York had to offer- however I did still have to resist temptation. You know how I mentioned in my last post if anyone knew where the yarn shops were in Easton Maryland? I needn't have bothered asking - what was the first thing I noticed as we parked accross the street from our hotel?? WE PARKED RIGHT IN FRONT OF THE YARN STORE. I practically squealed with joy when I discovered this. (My apologies to the all male passengers in the car who did not comprehend such excitement over yarn.)

Of course I checked it out the very next day- how could I not?! I suppose it's good that the store didn't have much of what I tend to impulse buy, (*cough* hand dyed sock yarn *cough*), and so I left with nothing. (Although I did fondle a lot of interesting wools... I'm just not in a "big wool sweater" mood when the sun is shining and I'm in shorts and a tank top.) But all the same, I couldn't believe my luck - great hotel choice honey!!

Catching up with friends on my holiday I was excited, (okay and dismayed for obvious reasons in a minute), to find out that TWO of my good friends from New Haven are expecting babies, one in September and one in October. I don't suppose I have to tell you what this means.... YAY MORE WHINING ABOUT BABY BLANKETS!!! I'm thinking about changing the blog's tag line from "I knit. Therefore I Am" to "I knit baby blankets because I like pain". Seriously people- eat some chocolate or get a really stressful job or something, we need to slow down the pro-creating!

With that in mind, I'm off to knit the Runk Blanket because suddenly having it halfway done doesn't feel as timely as it once did!

On Vacation

Today is the start of my much needed vacation. It's only sort of a vacation given that tomorrow begins "wedding madness" that will take place for the next couple of days as we prepare to attend a buddy's wedding. (PS... anyone know a good yarn shop in or around Easton Maryland?)

That being said- knitting progress has been going swimmingly. Viola, I give you the Runk blanket half way finished.

Since the blanket requires a lot of yarn and it takes up a bunch of space, it's not a "holiday project", too much to drag around. And so- in the interest of keeping my sanity and enjoying a bit of my holiday, I cast on a new project. Nancy's Bush's New England socks!

It requires more attention than most socks, (hello big chart!), but I think it's the right thing to keep me interested and motivated. Plus- it's fun to cast on something new and exciting. It feels good to work on something I WANT to work on again.

And so with this little short note- I'm out for a while. Be back soon, hopefully with a sock to show for it!

Happy Mother's Day!

In true knitterly fashion, (meaning knitters are natural born procrastinators), this Mother's day gift is right down to the wire. Yes folks, it's time for the super top secret project reveal- mom's gift!

Happy Mother's Day Mom! I hope you like it!

Pattern: Debbie Bliss Capped Sleeve Top

Yarn: Debbie Bliss Pure Silk in colorway 27009

Needles: US 3 and US 4

I've been working on this top since the beginning of my much needed blanket break - unfortunately my little bout with the flu slowed my progress, but thankfully, just in time, I finished this top so I can present it to my mother fully.

Mom, this yarn is pure silk- and a color I know you'll love. It's unbelievably soft and I really, REALLY hope it fits you. (Thankfully silk has a lot of give and you can stretch it out a bit if need be.) I bought this yarn a looooooong time ago with the intention to knit something for you- but never seemed to have the time and couldn't find the right pattern to make you something you'd love. When it came time to take my blanket break, this project inspired me to do something a little different for Mother's day this year.

This garmet was created with love for you--- and I hope that when you receive it will reflect to you how much I do care. But on top of knitting this yarn- this project has a wonderful story that embodies your spirit. I didn't have enough yarn to make this up. I found a woman on Ravelry who has the exact same color and had labeled her yarn "for sale". I sent her an email asking if she'd be willing to ship to Canada and how much she'd like for her yarn. Not only was she willing- she was very kind and giving. (A lot like you.) She offerred to give me the yarn that I needed - at no charge. I'm not going to tell you how much an individual skein of this costs, but bare in mind it's silk and "up there" as skeins of yarn go. This kind soul sent me FOUR skeins of this yarn and all she asked in return was that I post a picture of what I made when I was all done. So this project was as much of a gift to me as it was to you. (I didn't ask permission to post her blog link here- but if you'd like I'll send it to you by email if you'd like.) Her yarn arrived on EXACTLY the day that I ran out- perfect timing!

Happy Mother's day mom! I hope you like it. I love you. Thanks for being my mom.

Crappers!

Firstly, I apologize for the craptastical, vague photography. I am a gifted knitter, clearly not gifted in the other area. Does this look right to you?

Look closely... it's not. Can you spot the boo boo?

CRAPPERS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I somehow messed up the cable!!!!! I suppose I should be thankful that I discovered this close enough that it's not too devestating to tink back. But still. CRAPPERS! CRAPPERS! CRAPPERS! I know that the Harlot has a genius tutorial about how to go back down and fix the cable without tinking back, but honestly, I don't think I could do it without vastly screwing up the knitting. (Something I am not interested in, this late in the game.)

And so- instead of nearing the finish line- tonight I rip back and correct the error. This craft couldn't frustrate me more sometimes!

In other news- I can feel my resolve not to buy yarn, (aside from blanket yarn) until September weakening dramatically. Is it wrong that I want the Loopy Ewe to crash majorly, for the next 4 months so I'm unable to look at the pretty, pretty yarns and not send hourly emails to my MiL, desperate to buy something? (She's no help by the way, since she sends me stuff to look at too.) That site is "knitter's crack"! But seriously- how can I resist this, or this, or this or even THIS (granted not that I can actually get any of that because it's always sold out... but minor detail)?? YOU'RE THE FRENCH FRIES TO MY YARN DIET SHERI - stop having such good damn taste!

I'm going to go and fix my boo boo and pretend that the Loopy Ewe will not accept my credit card.... hopefully that will prevent me from falling off the wagon.

**this post brought to you by the word CRAP.