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May 30, 2006
What'd I miss?
Well, I'm officially back among the living. I still have a bit of a cough but nowhere near the hell I was experiencing last week. I feel like I've missed the entire month of May with this damn cold! So. Frustrating.
The only knitting I've done in the past week has been a few rows of my Hourglass sweater. That's all. But now that I'm feeling better, my knitting mojo is coming back!
So to distract you from the fact that I don't have any knitting to show, I am going to draw your attention to my sidebar. I've done a little housekeeping. You may have noticed that I've updated my knit blogs list and have added a bunch of new ones that I'm currently addicted to. Take a look around and you'll probably become addicted to them as well. Consider yourself warned.
You'll also notice that I've added a link to the Stitch 'n Bitch Columbia group. I started the group a while ago as I met more and more knitters in the area. So join us if you live in or around Columbia, SC! We meet every other Saturday at House Coffee on State Street.
And if you haven't already, add yourself to my Frappr map! I'd love to know where everyone is!
I hope to have some knitting to show next time! Until then, have a great week! It's good to be back.
Posted by allison at 11:06 PM | Comments (0)
May 22, 2006
Plenty of knitting time...
Why have I had so much knitting time? Because I'm still sick! Or sick again. I really don't know. I had a bad bad cold-like thingy two weeks ago, remember? Well since then I've had this lingering (and annoying) cough. I thought it was no big deal. The cough is always the last thing to go, right? Well, Thursday night it all moved into my chest and has wreaked havoc on me since. So I've spent a lot of time on the couch. Which sucks because Geoff and I were planning lots of yard work this past weekend that we weren't able to do and I didn't feel like weaving in the ends and blocking the Fiery Bolero like I had planned.
Instead I started knitting the Aran Tree Skirt from Handknit Holidays
Unfortunately, this progress did not come without a price...
My 19" Denise cord went snap-o. Thank goodness for the lifetime guarantee. I'll be dropping that baby in the mail tomorrow for a replacement. I just hope it doesn't happen again. Some of the cabling in this pattern can be hazardous to your hands (and obviously needles, too). The double-stranded Lopi is like knitting with rope (with bits of hay here and there). Scratchy scratchy scratchy. But the beauty of it makes it all worth it.
I hope to have a finished blocked Fiery Bolero soon. In the meantime, please send all of the anti-phlegm thoughts you can my way!
Posted by allison at 10:33 PM | Comments (4)
May 18, 2006
Looky-Loo!
Look at all of that Lopi! I want to cast on for that Christmas tree skirt right now! I always get so excited at the thought of casting on for a new project. Looking at my "works in progress" list could tell you that. But I can't concentrate on just one project at a time. And I think that if I tried to knit just one thing from start to finish without working on other things along the way, I would probably not knit as much as I do. I need that variety or else I would probably honestly not enjoy knitting!
But I do envy those "monogamous" knitters who can start a sweater on the 1st of the month and have it finished by the end of the month (if not before). They seem to get to experience the joys of finished projects more often than I do. My finished projects come in fits and spurts as things on my list get finished in close proximity to each other. Of course, this means that some projects seem forgotten (ahem... Butterfly) because I don't post about them for months at a time. This doesn't always mean I'm not working on them (although sometimes that is the case).
Take for instance the Fiery Bolero. I started this project back in September. (Ack!) If you go back to my September archives you will see two progress pics. These are the only progress pics of it. I put it away in October to concentrate on knitting a birthday gift. Then there were the holidays and before I knew it, it was February before I picked it up again. It probably took three days of knitting in February to finish the entire body and get to the ribbing. Then without the right needles for the ribbing, back it went into the pile of unfinished things.
When I finally bought the necessary needles a couple of weeks ago, I sat down and cranked out the ribbing in two days and seamed it up! But I was disappointed with the fit and I threw it in an empty laundry basket. I guess I was punishing it for betraying me after being a part of my knitting life for so many months. But I put it on again the other day and was actually happier with the fit and I think that once I weave in the ends and block it, we will be good friends again. By the way, Veronique (and others who may be interested in the specs), I didn't use the Cathay it called for. I used some Cashmerino Aran that I had in my stash.
So here she is (with her unmentionables dangling for everyone to see):
So if I were a monogamous knitter, this bolero would have been finished by then end of September and I would have been wearing it last fall. But I'm not a monogamous knitter and I have to make peace with that. Sometimes I beat myself up for caving into my "startitis" because I think "no one is going to want to read post after post about new project after new project." But hopefully you don't mind too much. I rarely leave things completely unfinished so if you stick with me I promise you will see everything in my sidebar finished at some point.
Posted by allison at 06:11 PM | Comments (6)
May 17, 2006
In keeping with tradition...
I'm posting again on a Wednesday. Seems to be the pattern this month.
In knitting news, I am finished with the Fiery Bolero! Yay me! Well, I still have to weave in the ends and block it. Hopefully I can do that this weekend so I can take a pic. I also turned the heel of my Badcaul sock. That was interesting. Short row heels... I think I held my breath the entire time. Question - As I try the socks on, the foot part fits great but I think the leg part may be too small. What should I do? Find a way to increase the number of stitches? Go up a needle size? Keep knitting as is and hope for the best?
Wanna hear the best knitting news of all? The Lopi for my Aran Tree Skirt is coming tomorrow!! Wahooooooo!
Since I don't have pics of any knitting I will leave you with pics from last night when Geoff and I went to visit our friends Liz and Alex and check out their new house. We had a fantastic dinner on their back deck. See?
We had chipotle chili with corn cakes on top. Very very good! Dinner conversation ranged from the crazy old lady next door to a contest of sorts to see how many different terms we knew for male and female genitalia. Yup. We're classy folk.
For dessert I made these...
These are called Andes Mint Cookies and I have Caitlyn to thank for this yummy easy recipe! She posted the recipe on her blog and the cookies looked sooooooo good! So in my effort to pay it forward, I will pass the recipe on to you...
Andes Mint Cookies
1 box of any chocolate cake mix (I used Betty Crocker's Chocolate Cake Mix)
1 cup chocolate chips
1/2 cup oil
2 eggs
1 package of Andes Mints
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Combine cake mix, chocolate chips, oil, and eggs. Drop small spoonfuls of the batter onto an ungreased cookie sheet and bake for 8-10 minutes. While the cookies are in the oven, break the Andes Mints in half. When the cookies are done, drop half a mint on top of each cookie. Let them sit for 1-2 minutes, and then swirl the mints with your finger or a toothpick to create the icing.
I got 40 cookies out of the recipe and they're almost gone!
Of course an evening with Liz wouldn't be complete without something to do with knitting. I brought my swift and ball winder and we wound some Koigu that I gave her for her birthday so she can make some purrrty socks.
Pics of knitting projects next time! Promise! And I promise to post before next Wednesday!
Posted by allison at 11:02 PM | Comments (3)
May 10, 2006
Socks!
I gave into temptation and started my Badcaul socks. Can you blame me?! I'm using Koigu, people! Never underestimate the power of Koigu!
Anyway, like I mentioned before, this is my first pair of toe up socks and I am loving them! Of course, I haven't gotten to the short row heel yet so all of this may change. I used Judy Becker's magic cast-on for toe-up socks featured in the current Knitty and it rocks! The cast-on was the thing I was most afraid of but this cast-on made it a breeze. Now my fears have turned to the heel (no pun intended).
When I got a good start on the sock and it started actually looking like a sock (or a toe cozy to be exact) I turned to Geoff in my excitement and said "Look at my sock! I'm knitting it toe-up!" To which he, in his best hip-hop impression, responded "Grrrrl, that sock is to' up!" Silly man.
I've discovered that when knitting socks from the toe up, there comes a point just past where the ball of the foot would be and before you get to the heel when the sock looks, well, phallic. And strange looks from people make you wanna shout "It's a sock! For a foot!"
I've added the progress of the socks to my sidebar (project #5! Yikes!) but you will notice that the Fiery Bolero is 95% done! I finally bought some needles for the ribbing at The Peace of Yarn in Charlotte, NC last week (such nice people at that shop!). I only have the ribbing on one sleeve left to do and then seaming. A preliminary look at it says it may be too small but we'll see.
We've been a very sick household lately. Geoff was sick last week with snotty yucky stuff and I came down with something similar on Sunday. Blech! I stayed home on Monday hacking and coughing and being just plain miserable. But my mailman must have known I needed a pick-me-up because around noon he brought me the latest Interweave Knits! Perfect timing! Daytime TV sucks and I had been knitting k2p2 ribbing on the bolero until my eyes were crossed so this was a welcome sight to see. I made my 1,494th pot of tea for the day and settled in to soak up some IK goodness. Overall, I was very pleased (I'm rarely disappointed with IK). There were some very cute summery tops! One that particularly peaked my interest was this one. It's called the Brioche Bodice. Now, I've done the brioche stitch before when I made that scarf for Geoff but that didn't have any shaping in it so it was easy-peasy. Is shaping difficult with the brioche stitch? I may have to find out for myself. I think I'll have to add this to my "to knit" list.
Hopefully soon I'll have a finished Fiery Bolero to show and a turned heel on the socks! Wahoo!
Posted by allison at 03:45 PM | Comments (1)
May 03, 2006
A Quickie!
I forgot to show you that I have indeed finished something recently. I made this in April for my nephew-to-be who is due in July. I had just bought Simple Knits for Cherished Babies
Pattern: Baby’s Beanie Hat from Simple Knits for Cherished Babies
Started: April 8, 2006
Finished: April 8, 2006
Yarn: Rowan All Seasons Cotton in color Jersey
Needles: US 6
Size: 0-3 months
And look what came in the mail for me today...
It's a Noni Bag pattern! I'd been eyeing that bag for a while now and the pattern finally became available. I ordered it from Yarnzilla and was very pleased with the service and fast shipping! Wahoo! Looks like it will be a fun knit!
And an update on my Lopi order (that will make the holidays so special): since I had to order like a million balls of it, WEBS didn't have them all in the same dye lot so it's on backorder. That means an extra 2-3 weeks before I get it but that's ok. It's not like I don't have other things to work on in the meantime...
Posted by allison at 09:18 PM | Comments (1)
