the big switch

I can't take it anymore. Those fancy pants bamboo needles are driving me crazy.



Look at that gap where the wood joins the metal. It's a ravine! I tried to sandpaper it down a bit, but that did nothing except scratch the metal. Also, this wool doesn't slide very well on the wood, and is quite annoying. It's much better on the turbos. I do like the naturas for my lacy scarf, despite the gap. I don't know how I would make a huge shawl on those bamboo needles. Maybe more sandpaper would help.

I have spent a lot of money on knitting needles. My favorites are the turbos, like most people, but I can't stand them for lace. I would like to try some lantern moon circulars. They are so expensive, but I'm sure it would be worth it. I love the double points that I have.

Tonight I organized my yarn. I'm happy to say that it all fits in an Ann Taylor shopping bag. I don't want to have a closet full of wool. I hate the idea of having more yarn than I can use in my lifetime.

There was a sock that I had started right after Christmas. I bought two balls of yarn for the pair, and used up the first ball by the time I got to the heel of the first sock. Since I bought the yarn in England, I decided I should just scrap the socks and use it for something else. So, I had some more fun with the ball winder!

lax

Tonight I have been thinking about how much slacking I have really been doing lately. This has been on my mind for the last few weeks.

Here comes the list:

I have one Pomatomus sock done, the other one hasn't been started (though I did wind the yarn for it to break in the ball winder and swift). I have about six or something inches of the lead or follow scarf done, though I started it over a month ago. I have this sweater that I am more interested in joining all the yarn together and making a huge yarn cake out of, than actually knitting it. I have a REALLY old scarf that is nearly finished (it's not that old, even though it was supposed to be a Christmas present, but it's all relative). I have a bunch of felted tweed for Salina, though I haven't gotten past swatching for it. I have some pretty green cotton for a baby sweater (the shower is in three weeks, so she'll probably just get the blue cardigan for now), that hasn't been started and I have no real ideas of what kind of pattern to make with it.

I would call this slacking. I don't really have a "stash", at least nothing to speak of, but I somehow ended up with a bunch of unfinished/not started projects.

What is it with the slackness?

I have read on some other people's blogs about being slack and maybe it's the summer, etc. I don't think it's the summer, really. I guess for me it always has to do with inspiration and the excitement of a new project or really nice yarn. I felt like this with backyard leaves. I absolutely loved the yarn and the pattern, and I couldn't put it down until it was finished. I still want to find something else to make with Aurora 8 - I love it!

Yeah, but I'm not using Aurora 8 right now. I actually really like the fabric the elann baby cashmere is making. The yarn isn't the nicest to knit with, but the resulting fabric is gorgeous. I guess the best thing is just to keep going and maybe it will become more exciting.

Hey - at least this post was about knitting. That's an improvement lately.

p.s. Happy Birthday to my brother (who definitely does not read this and doesn't even know it exists) who is 21 today!

one of my friends is a ball winder

Since I apparently have the attention span of a 5 year old, I decided to make a really big yarn cake tonight, instead of knitting the sweater that the yarn is for.



I russian joined 4 (maybe 5, I can't remember) balls of the baby cashmere, and then used my new friend the ball winder to make a really big ball. Those little balls are only 25g, so they don't go very far. I wanted to get ready for my trip, so I made enough of a ball to last the whole weekend. (I'm sure I won't have very much time to sit around at home and knit, so it should be plenty.)

I managed to knit about 4 rows of the sweater, and 2 or 3 rows of the lead or follow scarf tonight. I don't know why, but I can't seem to be really bothered with either of these. Maybe I just don't like them enough, but I don't think that's it. I'll get there one day.

blue skies in the FLA

This is for Eunny:



I read her post about the rainstorms; she said she misses the blue sky, so here is some from about five minutes ago.

I miss the Virginia thunderstorms. I wish I was up there getting wet right now. The forecast here is for isolated thunderstorms. That means about 5 minutes of lots of rain about 3 times in a day, maybe. I think we got two times today.

I'll be up in VA for the 4th of July weekend, and my brother's 21st birthday! He and his friend Brian turn 21 tomorrow - it's really scary.

Somehow this blog has become not about knitting. That's probably because I have been slacking off lately.

happy birthday to me

Well, I am officially 23 as of 3 minutes ago. Already I can't remember how old I am and when people ask me I have to think about it for a minute. The scary thing is that 23 isn't old at all. Most of my friends are in their 30s & 50s (yes, I do have some in their 20's, but strangely, none in their 40s). Can you tell that most of my friends are people I work with? It's great though, because I love them all and would do anything for any one of them. They're my family. (I do have a real family, and I love them, too.)

I got to have Marble Slab tonight. Vanilla with oreos..yummmmmmmmmm. It's been so long since I've had ice cream, though, I almost fell asleep from it on the way home. Most people my age go drinking for their birthdays, but I go out for sugar. :-) I was so excited about my mocha valencia from starbucks this afternoon; I haven't had one for ages. I couldn't drink it though, it was too sweet. Such sadness.

A big part of my life has changed this past year, so this next year will be quite different. I've definitely realized that life is what you make of it and I really believe that now (when I was younger I was pretty sure there was nothing I could do about it and things just happened however they happened). I always try to make other people happy, but if I wasn't happy then I wouldn't do anything about it, but then it always just got worse. So, this life is mine, too, so I'm going to live it.

Since hardly anyone reads this I figured I would just write whatever I felt like. It's my birthday!

fun times

Yay! Today I got my new swift and ball winder. The swift is so pretty. I like how it sits more on the base, instead of going up when it spreads out, it goes down. It feels less wobbly than the ones that go up. Here are some pictures.









On a non-knitting note, something came over me and I had to make a trip to Best Buy and buy some CDs. For some reason I felt like getting classical music. I bought some silly stuff, Debussy, Tchaikovsky, and Liszt. I don't know.. BUT, I also got the Beasties Anthology, Frank Sinatra and this weird cd of Radiohead music by other people (some of the songs are sort of funky, really). It's called exit music and I don't really know why I bought it, except for I was in the mood for something interesting. It's interesting for sure, but I'm still not sure about it. I haven't listened to all of it yet, but there are definitely some good ones and some not so good ones. There's really nothing like the original.

so slow

Not much progress on the sweater. After last weekend's marathon finishing demi, it's been hard to get back into it. This is all I got out of the first 25g ball.





Then there's the Russian Join. I have never done this before, but it seems like it worked pretty well. There are a few sticky out pieces, but it's been knit and you can't see it at all. I'm going to use this as much as possible, because i'd much rather do that than have to sew in ends. I also like the idea of my sweater being made from a single unbroken strand of yarn (even though in reality it will be about 22 balls).

I have decided what I want for my birthday and just bought it! The Ashford Umbrella Swift and the standard ball winder. When I get it, I'm going to join a bunch of the baby cashmere balls together and make a bigger ball so I don't have to stop so often. I still like winding balls by hand, but I don't know if I ever will after I get these presents. :-D

ribby lace

I started the Ribbed Lace Pullover tonight. The pattern sizes are all really big, so I'm making the smallest size. I have to figure out some waist shaping, because the pattern is just straight on the sides, and that never looks good.

I also made a swatch! I never make a real swatch, I always just knit 10 stitches and half an inch worth of rows and then measure. This time I made a real swatch of the cable part of the pattern, and then actually washed it! I'm proud of myself.

Swatch before washing.



The swatch after washing. It definitely flattened out a bit. I also didn't cross the cables right on the left side. I'm glad I did that, it will make me pay more attention to the actual sweater.

I like this yarn, it's really soft. I think it will be a lovely sweater.

demi is complete!

This is Demi from Rowan Vintage Style, size medium. It fits really well.
The yarn is Rowan Yorkshire Tweed Aran, the yarn called for in the pattern, and I used Addi Turbos.
Started March 4, 2006, Finished June 5, 2006.
The only modification I made was to make the sleeves shorter.

This is the second sweater I've ever made. I used to not have enough patience for larger pieces, but I think that's getting better. It's worth it!

This sweater is very thick and warm, and heavy. I'll probably never get to wear it in Florida, but it will be good for the fall and winter in Virginia.

I think it would be really nice in a finer gauge yarn, too. Something soft and drapey would be really pretty and nice to wear to the office.





I didn't block it, but I think it could probably use a good blocking. I know you're supposed to do it before seaming, but I didn't want to.



I found some neat buttons at JoAnn's. They sort of go with the colours of the sweater.



This is the tubular bind off around the neckband. It looks alright, not as good as I thought it would. I think that with a smoother yarn it would be easier to see. I definitely like it better than a regular bind off.



Knitting the neckband! I could only find the short size 6 circular in my house, so I used some double points. It was pretty awkward, but it worked out okay.

amazing lace challenge #1

This is my team for the Amazing Lace. There are three projects so far, and they are all brand new. I like to see lots of pictures on blogs, so there are lots of pictures here!



The first one is the official project - Lead or Follow Scarf by Heartstrings Fiber Arts. This is a present for my mom. Ever since she saw my Print o' the Waves stole, she's wanted something lacey from me.

I am using Zephyr 50% wool 50% silk in the color admiral. It's a very rich blue, deeper than the picture shows. And Addi Naturas because that's what Eunny uses for her lace (and they're way better than turbos!). I hope one day some Latern Moon circulars will be part of the team, because those are my favourite.

I bought the Zephyr a few weeks ago, the needles a few weeks ago and started a few weeks ago. This scarf is just a baby.



Project number 2 is the Pomatomus socks from Knitty that so many people are making. I think they can qualify as lace because there are a few holes, and I think that in the description on Knitty they call them lace socks. Those are Latern Moons and they're lovely.

Most of the first sock was made in the sunshine by the pool at my boss' house, so they have some nice fresh salt air in between some of those stitches.



Number 3 is the Ribbed Lace Pullover from A Gathering of Lace. I have been trying to find some good yarn for this pattern, and finally found it thanks to brooklyn tweed. He is using the baby silk from elann, which I considered using, until I saw the baby cashmere. It is the same yardage/weight as the yarn for the pattern, so I'm pretty sure it will work out okay. The color isn't as bright as I thought it would be, but it will do. See?



And this is the captain of the team, nat. I have been knitting since I was 9 when my Grandma Dot and my Great Aunt Katherine taught me how. They used to knit and crochet blankets for us and the first thing they taught me to knit were some washcloths out of sugar 'n cream cotton. I made quite a few of those before I started making hats from Bartlett wool for my friends. I have probably knit 20-30 hats, and a few pairs of socks, but not much of anything else. Lace is so fun to make, so I am looking forward to the next few months of the race!



I tried to get a picture in front of the water view, but was unsuccessful. So, here is a nice one of the sunset outside of the old people's condo that I live in. It's nice here.