Lessons Learned

I hope.

I am currently working on three, no, four projects at once.  And I have messed up two---so far.

I am making my third Umaro, this time with a lavender Cascade Lana Grande, and so far, so good. No mistakes.

And I am working on the Shelby Stole, with a lovely 100% silk yarn. So far so good on that too.

AND I am working on the Purple and Pink Extra Long Cowl

in the same colors shown in the designer's photo. Yum. However, after I finished the first 8 rows of the pattern, it was only an inch wide which meant that the whole thing (24 rows) would only be 4 inches wide. Turns out that is how wide it is supposed to be, but according to Kitterly, I could just go ahead and use all of the yarn in each of the four skeins provided.(There are no knitting police.) So that is what I am doing, and this is it now that I am into my third skein/colorway:

I think it will be about 8 inches wide, and that is fine.  However, and this is a BIG however, the 351 stitches on a circular needle are joined so that I am knitting in the round, and I thought that I had joined the cast on row so that there were no twists in it. But I just needed to count the stitches and in the process I noticed that it is twisted---three times! Yikes. I am not ripping out 351 stitches x 45 rows and starting over, so it will be a mobius, mobius, mobius cowl. Weird possibly, but I am hoping that the fact that it can be wound around my neck a couple of times, and the fact that it is very colorful, will be a distraction from the possible weirdness. It's a "design element" y'all, not a mistake.  

Now the fourth project. I am going on vacation and I want to take a small project with me: hence, socks. I pulled out the socks that I have been ignoring for a month or so because I hate knitting on size 1 needles. I want to put them on my Knit Picks wooden needles rather than keep them on my Signature Needles, which I treasure and adore above all other needles. They are metal and really pointy and I think they could do some damage to someone if that's what I intended to do, which I don't, but the authorities might not believe me on that.

See my beautiful, precious, pointy, potentially dangerous needles!

When I took a look at the sock in progress (Gale's Art Wonder Sock Yarn, graffiti and asphalt colorway), I noticed that because it's been rattling around in the project bag for a month, maybe longer, a lot of stitches had fallen off the needles. If there is anything less fun than retrieving dropped stitches, several rows down, on size one needles, I hope not to find out what it is. 

Anyway, I have rescued the stitches and now I will put them on the wooden needles. TSA or its equivalent in the UK can have my Signature Needles when they pry them from my cold, dead hands. Which they won't be able to do because I am leaving them behind. sniff...

It Ain't Braggin'

If it's true.

And it's true. I cast off the Simple Yet Effective Shawl and had just this much yarn left from the two skeins. (I do keep George busy, don't I?)

However, I shouldn't be braggin' when what I did was pure, dumb luck. And that's what it was. I had finished the variegated yarn and then had a bit of the solid blue left, and decided to cast off.

La, la, la, and then, yikes! Do I have enough? And I did. Whew...

Two skeins of Koigu do not make even a large scarf, let alone a shawl, with this pattern, but I'm happy with it anyway.

Stash: It's a Good Thing

I just need to remember to check mine more than once or twice a year.

I've been desperate, DESPERATE I tell you, to find two sock yarns that I can mix together to make the Simple Yet Effective Shawl, a pattern that older daughter (the one with the smooth forehead) recommended. I've forgotten where she got it, but it's easy and it's colorful with the right yarns. I've been going through the sock yarns I have in a wicker basket and haven't been able to put two different skeins together that would work.

So I looked in my stash and found this:

It's perfect! It's two different colorways of Koigu - and I do love Koigu -and a skein of Colinette that will work well with the Koigu.

And yes, I could have just gone to the LYS and gotten something for the pattern but

a. it's gray and rainy
b. it's cold
c. I feel crummy. I think I may have gotten Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever from a wood tick I provided a couple of days of room and board to while I was in Costa Rica. Bleah......
(Does anyone know the symptoms of Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever? I'm guessing they include an actual fever, which I don't have, so who knows what this is.)

Going through my stash seemed like a better idea than going out in the cold and rain, and not only did I find the yarn for the shawl, I found this:

Debby Bliss cashmerino aran

and this:

Blue Sky Worsted hand dyed. Ooooooh.....

I don't have much stash. In fact, except for sock yarn, this is pretty much all of my stash. Most knitters would scoff at my stash. But I have a problem with having things around that I don't use. My family complains about my habit of taking everything I can find to Goodwill or throwing things out, and tells me that there are drugs for my behavior, but I'm perfectly happy to be the way I am (well, until I run out of stash).

And---does anyone know how to get the date off of my photos? I somehow got it there, and I don't know how I got it there, so I don't know how to get rid of it. %^&*() camera elves.

And---really, I will post about Costa Rica, as soon as this tick-illness leaves me. It is a gorgeous country!

Note: The Simple Yet Effective Shawl pattern is a download from Ravelry for $3.50.

Well I Swan!

Really, I do!

I took my broken glasses to Pearle Vision today, expecting:

a. A long, long wait for service. (I had knitting with me.) I have never not had a long wait.

b. Crummy customer service when they discovered that I was there to complain about my broken glasses.

I walked in and was immediately greeted and seated at a desk. The staff member listened to my problems with the glasses. This was about the fifth time I had been back with them; they are supposed to have a magnet in the bridge to hold sunglasses on, but that magnet had fallen out countless times, been glued back in, and fallen out, and then the original frames had been replaced twice. Not having the magnet in the bridge meant there was only the thinnest plastic holding the frames together, and I suppose that's why they broke where they did.

I did not expect to have any happy resolution, but I was wrong. The technician immediately offered me:

a. Replacement frames exactly like the ones that had broken. They would just pop my lenses in.

b. Different frames at a sale price, with new lenses made, for a price of $100, considerably less than they had cost me last time.

I picked b. and my new glasses will be ready in two weeks.

I had really expected to have to find a new source of glasses but because my problem was quickly taken care of today, my dislike/hate relationship with Pearle goes on for another year.

And I was in and out of the place in twenty minutes, so in a weird, knitter way, rats! No knitting time at Pearle Vision!


But I did run several other errands and ended up with knitting time at the car wash. I am working on this scarf:

It's made from Koigu yarn, which I have never used before. It's 100% merino wool, and it's not as soft to work with as I would have expected, but the scarf itself is soft. I LOVE the colors! The pattern is from the Yarn Paradise shop in Asheville, and I don't know if it is copyrighted or not. It was handwritten by someone at the shop and was given out free with the yarn. It uses two different stitch patterns, two different needle sizes, and two different stitch counts. That's all I dare say since I don't know the legality of posting the pattern itself. It's easy, though, and a great carry-along project.

It's a good thing that I don't need my glasses in order to knit!

Oh D*MN!!! There's a bird in the house!!!!!

Update: Two hours later - I left the front and back doors open and the bird now appears to be gone. I shut myself in my "knitting room" and when I came out, I could not find the bird.
Yay!

SAFF, year two

Three Thursday knit-night friends and I went to beautiful Asheville, North Carolina this past weekend for our second trip to the Southeastern Animal Fiber Fair and had a blast. I have a sore throat today, and I don't think that I can blame it on a cold or H1N1....it's from talking and laughing so much!

On Friday we went to SAFF itself, held in a cattle auction arena at the agricultural center. We saw yarn; we bought yarn:

Laceweight yarn-

Natural mohair/wool boucle-

And I bought a gift for older daughter, the knitter-

On Day 2 we decided that because we had met sheep, goats, alpaca, llamas, and rabbits last year, we would go into Biltmore Village instead. There was a yarn shop there-who'd a thunk?

We saw yarn; we bought yarn:

Beautiful Koigu yarn for a very complicated scarf.

On Day 3 we decided that because we had been to SAFF already, and because we had been into Asheville already, we would go check out the gorgeous Grove Park Inn -----but first we stopped at the yarn shop in Biltmore Village again, because we wanted needed more yarn.

We saw more Koigu; we bought more Koigu, for another, easier scarf.

I also bought, for a friend's cat, this cute felted mouse, stuffed with catnip. I forgot about it, and filled the bag with yarns and other things for the trip home.

My cat has NEVER played with catnip, but last night I noticed Cat sticking his head in a bag of yarn. That was odd, because he rarely pays any attention to yarn either. I dumped out the bag's contents, and there was the forgotten mouse. Cat played and played and played with it. It may not end up as a gift for Miss Emily...

Anna, one of our favorite knitters, is from the Ukraine, and she brought some traditional Ukrainian food for us to try. It was all delicious and we really enjoyed it; however, she did say that it was meant to be eaten accompanied by shots of frozen vodka. Only one of us joined her in drinking the vodka, and it wasn't knittergran, but these ARE my glasses. Alcohol consumption played no part in the destruction of these glasses; we don't know what did. I looked down at the coffee table, and there they were, snapped in half. It's a mystery, but until I replace them, I have a curfew: sunset. I only have prescription sunglasses left in one piece.

It was a wonderful four days, with nothing to do but relax, enjoy great company, delicious food, beautiful fall scenery, and knit. What more could we ask for? [view of Asheville from the Grove Park Inn]

Five days??? Six days????