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March 28, 2006
Like sands through the hourglass...
I started Hourglass on Tuesday and have been knitting nothing else since. It's a nice, mindless knit. Very good for TV knitting and a very welcome break from Butterfly. I'll try and get a decent pic of it soon. It was rainy and overcast today so no photoshoot.
Geoff and I are heading down to Charleston on Thursday for (remember this?) the Cooper River Bridge Run. Am I ready for the race? No. But I will do my best! Geoff said that he would stick with me during the race so that'll be nice. Hopefully there will be more running than walking but I never know these days. I'll leave it up to the legs to decide.
Have you been reading what others are saying about the latest Vogue Knitting? I don't think I've read anything good at all. I was hoping that maybe everyone didn't know what they were talking about and I would love every pattern in it but I'm afraid they were right. It kinda sucks. There wasn't one pattern in there that jumped out at me. Their big mistake? Choosing this issue to include a reader survey. You better believe I filled that thing out. I mean, 90% of their patterns would elicit the strangest looks from people if I dared to venture out in public wearing them. Who wears this stuff?! I urge all readers out there! Fill out the survey and send it in! It is our civic duty.
In other crappy knitting news, UConn squashed my dream of extra yarn money on Sunday. Bastards. Sure, it was a great Cinderella story but I lost YARN MONEY, people. Yarn money. Grrrrrrrr...
Lots to do tomorrow to get ready for Charleston so you probably won't hear from me until next week. Have a great weekend! And send me good running vibes (and good weather vibes!) on Saturday morning. Ack!
Posted by allison at 10:57 PM | Comments (5)
March 20, 2006
Happy Spring!
Yay! Spring is here! Ironically, here in SC we've been having beautiful spring-like weather until today. The first day of Spring was cloudy, rainy and COLD. My day at work kinda matched the weather... blah. It's faculty evaluation time around the med school and since I'm faculty I get to partake in the fun. I spent the day getting together everything I've done the past year and documenting the progress I'm making towards tenure. Ack. Tenure. Just the word gives me indigestion. But, save a few revisions I may need to make, I'm finished until next March!
Anyway, neither the weather or work could dampen my mood today. Geoff and I had a super productive weekend getting things done around the house AND having time to watch some basketball. I'm in two March Madness pools and am currently #1 in one and #2 in the other. Let's hope it stays that way 'cause momma needs some yarn money!
If I do win one of them (or both!) the money will go towards some Reynolds Lopi for that tree skirt! Thanks SO MUCH for all of the great suggestions for where to get it at a good price! I'm calculating my options!
Another reason to be happy? Martha Stewart has a new magazine coming out! I don't get MS Living anymore but I do get her Everyday Food and Body + Soul. This new magazine, Blueprint, looks awesome. I subscribed to it over the weekend! It hits newsstands May 1!
More things that make me smile? Finding this in my mailbox! It's always a good day when I find a knitting magazine in the mail! I hope I'm not let down. The knit skirt on the front is cute but I'm still not convinced that a knitted skirt is a good thing. Maybe I just haven't met the right pattern.
Last but not least, THIS makes me really smile!
I went to my not-so-local yarn shop today and bought this Cascade 220 for Hourglass. I just wound it into balls and can't wait to cast on!
No, I haven't given up on Butterfly but I need more projects to keep my sanity! I'm still in frill hell...
Posted by allison at 09:48 PM | Comments (5)
March 15, 2006
"Auntie Allison" Take 3
Good news! I will be an aunt again! My sister is pregnant with baby #3! And it's a boy! So I have to get crackin' on some knitted goodness for him. Must start rifling through baby patterns. Wahoo!
And THANKS to everyone for your input on the Butterfly frill quandary. I do hope that no one lost sleep over it. After much thought and your input I have decided to do the double frill and knit all four frills now before starting the body of the dress. I'm still in the wee beginnings of frill #2. It's a tough pattern to keep my attention. After about two pattern repeats I feel I need to put it down and work on something else. So for those of you keeping track, I should be finished with this dress by the spring of 2011. You can hold me to it!
I think I'm going to buy the yarn for the Hourglass Sweater from Last Minute Knitted Gifts
Hey, a question about the yarn for that tree skirt. The pattern calls for Reynolds Lopi doubled throughout. So that would be 17 balls for the main part and 4 balls for the border. 21 balls of Lopi! I would love to use the Lopi for the tree skirt but I'd have to save my pennies for a long while. Does anyone know where to get good cheap Lopi? Black market Lopi? Or do you know of a good (and cheaper) substitute for it? Someone was knitting it for the Handknit Holidays Knitalong and she was using Lion Brand's Wool-Ease Thick & Quick but that doesn't come in great colors and I really like the colors used in the pattern. I mean Lopi usually sells for around $6 a ball and that's an ok price for yarn but when you are having to buy 21 balls of it, yikes. So let me know if you know of a place that sells it for cheaper. Or if you know of someone who has an extra $125 or so layin' around let me know that, too. I got just the home for it.
Posted by allison at 05:50 PM | Comments (6)
March 13, 2006
Two frills or not two frills
That is the question.
So in my last post I said that I had finished one out of four frills for the bottom of Butterfly. And according to the directions this is correct. They have an inner frill and an outer frill on the dress version (just a single frill on the cami version). The only difference is that their inner frill is made of a different color of KSH. If you look at their pic of Butterfly here the frill doesn't really look like it's two layers. But if you look closely you can see that it is indeed doubled.
My question is that if I am going to knit a double frill on the bottom of the dress but in the same dark shade of blue will the design on the frill get lost?
I give you Exhibit A.
I give you Exhibit B.
Would blocking it make a big difference in being able to discern the design in the double frill? Actually, it just may...
I give you Exhibit C. Go here and see Eunny's Butterfly (scroll down the page). If you look closely at her blocking pictures (especially the close-up one of the frill area that was posted on Aug. 31, 2005) you will see that she did the double frill as the pattern indicated. The only way I could tell was that I could see the doubled waste yarn segments on the end. Looking at her final dress, I think it looks very good and the way she blocked the frills, you can hardly tell that they are doubled.
I give you Exhibit D. Go here and see Veronique's Butterfly. She did not do the double frill at the bottom and I think hers looks great as well! The frill design is very clear.
I have flip flopped so many times over this whole frill thing. On the one hand, just doing one frill means less frill knitting and more dress action! On the other hand, I think the double frill will add a bit of weight to the bottom of the dress and after seeing Eunny's Butterfly it seems that I could block the frills so that the design is still apparent.
Right now I'm leaning towards doing the double frill at the bottom like the pattern says (does that make me a masochist?).
Any thoughts?
Posted by allison at 09:44 PM | Comments (7)
March 11, 2006
Look! Progress!
Sorry for the lack of posts this week. Another busy week. But I have gotten some knitting in! I finished knitting the body of the Fiery Bolero but have to find a 24" size 3 circ to do the ribbing so that's on hold until I can procure one.
I've also finished one out of four frills for Butterfly! (click the pics to make them bigger)
Here's a close up:
I have to make two frills for each side of the dress. The frills are the hardest part and the most tedious. I think I'm going to forge ahead and try to knock out all four so that I will be done with them! Of course, I know that once I finish the second frill I'm going to have to fight the temptation to start on the dress pattern!
No progress to report on the Entrelac Scarf because I have been in Butterfly land as of late. Three projects going and I'm itching to add a fourth one to the mix. Maybe the Hourglass sweater from Last Minute Knitted Gifts
Anyway, must run. Geoff is cooking ribs on the grill! Yum! I'm in charge of veggies and a starch. Better get to it!
Posted by allison at 07:31 PM | Comments (4)
March 04, 2006
Sugar and Spice and Everything Nice
Well I just returned home from a baby shower for my friend Kelly. So much fun! And I was able to give her the gift knitting so it's no longer secret!
The specs:
Pattern: Dress with Eyelets from Debbie Bliss's Baby Knits for Beginners
Started: February 14, 2006
Finished: March 2, 2006
Yarn: Elsebeth Lavold Cotton Patiné
Needles: US 3
Size: 3-6 months
Remember in a previous post where I showed a little peek at the dress and I said that I was enjoying knitting with the Cotton Patiné? Remember that? Well, knitting with it was fine with not too much splitting but seaming with it?! Nightmare. By the time you get to the end of the seam, it has turned from one solid strand of yarn to eleven tiny threads that you have to try and keep together. Thank God it was a tiny dress and not a larger garment! But looking at the finished product makes all of it worth it. So cute! I love baby knits! Most importantly, mom-to-be loved it, too!
So now my attention has turned back to my languishing projects like, ahem, Butterfly. And my Fiery Bolero and, of course, the Silk Garden scarf will get some of my knitting time.
Posted by allison at 11:19 PM | Comments (6)
March 03, 2006
Still knitting!
I have been knitting a lot lately. Mostly on the gift knitting that I PROMISE to post a pic of either tomorrow or Sunday. Also, this has grown a bit...
I've been good though! I've been working exclusively on my gift knitting at home. But this scarf is a great portable project so I've been able to knit on it here and there. I'm in love with it. For real. It's like crack. I just love watching the colors change and see how the pattern works out with the colors. Beautiful!
I still have a teeny bit of work left to do on the gift knitting tonight but right now I think I'll just veg out a bit. Lately I've been getting headaches just about daily around the end of the day and I have one now. The pain seems to originate in my neck. Can you say STRESS headache? I need a vacation. It got so bad on Wednesday that I had to go to bed at 8:30. So the blog has been neglected. Any night this past week that I didn't have a headache was devoted to gift knitting. And those evenings that I did have a headache were devoted to whimpering.
But something quick before I sign off... have you guys seen those new Volkswagen GTI commercials where they "unpimp your auto"? They are HILARIOUS. I think there are only three out right now and you can see them here, here and here. "German engineering in da house, yah." I love the way he makes the V and W with his hands at the end. "V-Dub representing Deutschland." Cracks Geoff and I up every time!
More this weekend! I promise!
Posted by allison at 05:47 PM | Comments (1)
