Jofrog is Knitfrog!
December 31 2004
I guess that I was being a bit overly optimistic thinking that my yarn could get from California to Boston in two days. :-( This means that I'm without my Jamieson's Spindrift for the weekend.
Enter "Plan B". A friend asked me to make a chenille hoody baby blanket for her so it's full force ahead trying to start and finish it before my yarn does come. I got this far last night.
I don't know how people don't get bored out of their minds doing garder stitch scarves. That's basically all that this is, increasing with a yo at the begining of every row until it's big enough and then decreasing on every row until it's small enough again. Blah but it keeps my hands busy and my friend happy.
Enjoy your weekend knitting.Plan B
December 30 2004
Waiting for yarn=Time for knitting socks
Since I've been waiting for the Jamieson's Spindrift to come in (maybe today!) I've been projectless... What to do? How about finish up the socks that I started months and months and months ago?
I've been knitting on the "Amber Socks" and I'm almost ready for toe decreases. Of course, if my yarn comes in today these will be set aside again. Maybe I'll be strong enough to force me to finish them finally, but that's not what knitting is really about is it?
I've been thinking about getting back into sock knitting for a while now. I love sock yarn, I continue to buy it, (my LYS got in a huge shipment of Koigu last week, I've been waiting but I might pick up some when the Spindrift comes in), but have stopped knitting the socks to use it. Alison's sock swap sounds like the perfect motivator. I really wanted to do it, but with the new yarn coming I just can't see myself getting motivated enough to finish a pair in time. I might still change my mind, it's such a great concept and I do love getting presents in the mail, (and of course giving them too). If you are a sock knitter, especially if you never keep them for yourself, you should go check it out.Waiting for Yarn
December 28 2004
So Alison, you asked when I'll be starting one of those new sweaters, how about tomorrow?
I walked into my LYS yesterday to find the owner ordering some Jamieson's Spindrift! I told her that I was thinking of making two sweaters out of it, but of course I didn't have the patterns with me. They not only had Jamieson's Book #1 for the grey sweater but also had the Winter 01/02 Interweave Knits! After looking at them one more time, and having one more person tell me that the grey was the way to go, I decided to go with the red one! It's the one I kept going back to, it's the one I wanted everyone to pick, and hey, I need some more red in my wardrobe.
Usually yarn takes a while to come in, some colors are always backordered, but the distributer called to say that all of the colors were in stock and they will be sent out today! What luck. I guess I won't have to wait to start on this sweater after all.
The only down side of this story is that Jamieson's is now selling all of their yarn in pull skeins. Down side you say? Why? It means that they are almost one third smaller, but still cost the same so rather than needing 18 skeins or so I'll need 25! Big difference in cost but it will be here Thursday!
I can't wait to cast on. I won't even need to swatch because the hat will double as a huge swatch. Some people swatch with sleeves, I swatch with hats. Now's Good
There are two sweaters that I have been consitering doing for a while. Both are in Jamieson's Spindrift with all over patterns. The first one I saw as part of a Jamieson's trunk show at my LYS and the second is from the Winter 01/02 IK.
I had two friends over a while ago and asked which one they liked more, knowing that I'd loved the one that I saw at the trunk show a lot more than I do now looking at the picture again and also knowing that I'm really leaning towards the second. I was very surprised that they were both for the Jamieson's sweater! Humph. Well, that's what I get when I ask opinions. I always forget that good piece of wisdom... don't ask someone's opinion when there is only one right answer!
That said, here are the sweaters, I may end up doing both, I may end up doing neither, it will probably take a long time for the Spindrift to be ordered and come into my LYS anyways so who knows what will happen. All I know is that I have yarn money waiting to be spent and I loved working on the
Cross Country Chullo
pattern (which was very well recieved by the way).Why Do I Ask?
December 27 2004
Today is the kind of day that you'd like to spend inside in your bathrobe all day. Well, I'm not in my bathrobe, but I did finish seaming the baby bathrobe this morning.
It's an incredibly quick knit (2spi on size 11 needles). The pattern is from the Filitura di Crosa 2004 baby book in their yarn Bambi. It's cute, it's fun, and it's totally impractical!
Now it's time to plan the new years' projects. I have some Christmas money that has been especially earmarked for yarn. What could be more fun?
Comfy Cosy Day
December 23 2004
The gifts are wrapped and under the tree. Tomorrow afternoon we will start our Christmas traveling and see scores of relatives before we return to Boston on Monday. Have a wonderful holiday however you spend the day.
We're On Our Way
December 22 2004
This is what I want for Christmas. Complete contentment.
Content
December 21 2004
Don't get me wrong, I loved working on the Cross Country Chullo Hat from Knitty, but it's all that I've been working on for the last week. (For anyone that cares, I forgot to mention yesterday that I used the Jamieson's Spindrift in colors Crimson(525) and Aubretia(1300). Although the author of the pattern said that she used every scrap doing the tassles I never needed to use my second skein of my contrasting color (the red). Of course I already wound it so I can't exchange it for more yarn. Grr. Does anyone have a need for an already would ball of Jamieson's Spindrift in Crimson?)
Remember the beads that I showed you yesterday afternoon, well here they are now in bracelet form.
I used Naturspun Fingering weight yarn on size 1 needles. I graphed out the pattern yesterday morning and strung accordingly and no mistakes! Woo hoo! I was going for a bit more chic than some of the other bracelets I've made, did I succeed?Much Beaded Relief
December 20 2004
The hat is done, it was a delight, and applied I-cord couldn't be neater, (both in the fun and tidy senses).
Next on the agenda, maybe completed today, is a bracelet made from these beads that I strung this morning.
Let's Hit The Slopes!
In this month of doing things for others I thought I'd share a little treat that I made for myself this morning. Cream of Wheat made with Egg Nog!
We threw a wonderful holiday party Saturday night and still have a little bit of egg nog in the fridge. There was enough time for a good breakfast before I went to scrape the snow off of my car, and this breakfast was born.
The Cross Country Chullo hat is done and blocking! Pictures will come this afternoon or evening. More holiday knitting is planned for today, but for now go and do something little for you. You deserve it!A Treat For Me
December 17 2004
Not only is A Good Yarn my LYS, and a LYS in a current fiction book, The Shop on Blossom St, it is also the title of an article in the most recent (Jan 05) Martha Stewart Living magazine.
I was at a friends last night and I flipped through it. There was an article about the reintroduction of chullo sheep and their near extinction in the early 20th century which was very interesting, and then one about how to throw a knitting dinner party, where the conversation can be as energetic as the knitting needles. Does that sound familiar to any of my knitting friends and our ladies dinner and knitting nights?
So, why am I writing all of this? The picture that accompanies the article is of four women, sitting on a couch knitting garter stitch scarves! Why? Yes, many new knitters knit garter stitch scarves, but many new knitters knit more interesting scarves, or dare I say, sweaters! In addition to that, not all young knitters are new knitters! Look at the Knitsmiths. We are a mostly young group that produces incredible items. I think that Martha short changed the young knitters of America. If you are walking by a news stand, stop to check out this ridiculous picture. One of the girls is even showing another how incredible her garter stitch scarf is. At least they aren't using eyelash yarns!A Good Yarn
December 16 2004
I'm right on schedule with the Cross Country Chullo hat. I did ear flap number one last night, and number two will be done tonight!
How is your holiday knitting going?This Girl is Unflappable!
December 15 2004
Tomorrow morning, some time between 7AM and 9AM Willard Scott will be wishing my great-grandmother, Mary Nikles, a happy 100th birthday!
The Today Show recieves over 500 requests a week, and only five are chosen for each of the two days a week that birthdays are celebrated. No surprise that Grosmutter was special enough to be picked. You can be sure that my VCR is set. If you are around, tune in to see what I'll look like at 100!Special Alert!
Phew, time is getting short around here. Lots of places to be all this week, and then we are throwing our annual holiday party on Saturday!
Today I don't have to go into work until noon so we spent the morning at the grocery store and getting our tree! It's helpful to have a husband that makes split second decisions. "Nope, nope, yup that's the tree, put it in the car." "Should we look at a few more first?" "No, this is the tree." In and out of the Christmas tree lot in ten minutes and now we have a beautiful tree relaxing in our living room. We'll decorate it tonight. Only one problem. I never got molds to starch my angel on so all of the pieces have been finished for weeks but she's still not put together! I'll have to try to find time to do that before Saturday's party too. What am I doing here at my computer!Chanukah is Over, Time to Get the Tree!
December 14 2004
my true love gave to me, eight fiddlers fiddling,
seven rabbis dancing, six grandmas cooking, five kosher dills, four pounds of corned beef, three golden latkes, two matzoh balls, and a warm bagel topped with cream cheese.
This ends the eight nights of Chanukah celebration. Thanks for attending! I hope that all of your personal celebrations were filled with light.
Busy day yesterday so not much knitting, I feel that the rest of this week is going to be like that. I'm working a lot, office holiday party on Friday and then we are hosting one on Saturday! I feel like it's the weekend and it's only Tuesday! On The Eigth Night of Chanukah
December 12 2004
my true love gave to me seven rabbis dancing,
six grandmas cooking, five kosher dills, four pounds of corned beef, three golden latkes, two matzoh balls, and a warm bagel topped with cream cheese.
I've been working at the pace of one pattern section per day on the hat and it will definitely be done for Christmas. It's been five days and I've done five repeats. The last skier will be done today, then a little row of stars and two ear flaps (one a day). I love doing stranded color projects! I love following charts. I'm really enjoying this. I have two sweaters that I really want to do in the Spindrift and now I'm even more stoked up to do them. ...we'll see when though!
Savannahchik, here's the answer to your question of what colors I'm doing!
On The Seventh Night of Chanukah
A repeat a day keeps the Christmas worries away
December 11 2004
my true love gave to me, six grandmas cooking,
five kosher dills, four pounds of corned beef, three golden latkes, two matzoh balls, and a warm bagel topped with cream cheese.
As a special bonus on for this sixth night of Chanukah here is a little song for you.On The Sixth Night of Chanukah
December 10 2004
my true love gave to me, five kosher dills,
four pounds of corned beef, three golden latkes, two matzoh balls, and a warm bagel topped with cream cheese.On The Fifth Night of Chanukah
my true love gave to me, four pounds of corned beef,
three golden latkes, two matzoh balls, and a warm bagel topped with cream cheese.
In between starting my other projects last night I succumbed to the cries of my needles and finished the button band on my baby sweater. It's not often that the finished piece comes out better than my vision, but this one definitely did. I'm very happy with it!
I used Ann Norling pattern #53 and some unwanted, many times gifted, cotton yarn that somehow ended up in my home. The yarn was not easy to work with; (it had a nylon thread going through it holding the cotton strands together that would break if pulled too tightly, but it was hard to keep even tension on this cotton yarn without pulling relatively tightly). Despite this, it created a nicely textured sweater that some baby will wear, (and hopefully love), in the future.
Have a Happy Knitting Weekend!On The Fourth Night of Chanukah
Insert Baby Here
December 8 2004
my true love gave to me, three golden latkes,
two matzoh balls, and a warm bagel topped with cream cheese.
Baby bathrobe on hold for the evening in favor of Cross Country Chullo from the new Knitty. This hat starts at the top! Huh, well what do you think about that? Part of what I love about hats is how quickly they are done after the decreases start. After every pattern set in this hat you increase! As Stephanie from Full House would have said, "How rude". (You can't tell me that you didn't watch that show too.!) Still, I do really enjoy the stranded color work so I'll be putting some quality time into it. Maybe even enough quality time that it will be picture worthy some time soon. Ooh, aren't you waiting on the edge of your chair?On The Third Night of Chanukah
December 7 2004
my true love gave to me, two matzoh balls,
and a warm bagel topped with cream cheese.
What do you do when you are so close to finishing a project that your needles are trying to bind off the stitches themselves? ...start a new project of course!
Introducing the baby bathrobe! This is as far as I could get with the yarn on hand last night. It knits up so quickly, (at 2st/inch on US 11s). I could have been almost done with this if I'd had the rest of the yarn with me.
It's from the new Filatura di Crosa baby book in their yarn Bambi.
**Update** Hopefully this will be the last RSS fiddling I have to do. If you have subscribed to my blog, via bloglines or another service, please subscribe again and use the http://feeds.blogstreet.com/pub/1006.rss feed option. Fingers are crossed that this will be the last I need to mess with it. Thanks everyone for your patience.On The Second Night of Chanukah
my true love gave to me, a warm bagel topped with cream cheese.
Every year, when I was younger, we would have large Chanukah parties at my cousins' house. After eating and lighting candles, but before opening presents, we would always sing the eight nights of Chanukah. I thought I'd share that with you! Happy first night of Chanukah to one and all.On The First Night of Chanukah...
December 6 2004
One of these days the RSS feed will start working properly, is today the day? One Day
Little things with big yarn go so fast. Top down sweaters go so fast. Sweaters that incorporate both, wicked fast. (Do I count as a Bostonian now that I've used wicked out loud?)
I worked on this at special Saturday night Knitsmiths and came close to finishing both sleeves. There is only a little more body to do until I bind off! Then what? Then I look at the new Knitty and decide what I need the most! There are a few definite possiblities.Insert Arms Here
December 3 2004
By popular demand, okay so it was just Alison, but I'm sure that others of you out there have thought it, I finally took the time to add an RSS feed to my blog. I had been resisting the idea of reading blogs through Bloglines, but I really don't have too much time, not that any of us do, and it is frustrating to check a site every day that only publishes once a week or less frequently.
I know, you are all saying, "See, this is why we've loved it for so long, about time that you caught on". Well, I've caught on. So sign me up and sign up for me!
Have a great weekend.Feed Me Seymour
December 2 2004
It's funny how yarn can languish in one person's stash with no plans or expectations, and then be introduced to another knitter and suddenly have vision.
This is what happened with some yarn that fellow knitsmith Lisa B. brought to knitsmiths a month or so ago. No one wanted this yarn, she had gotten it from a yarn swap to begin with, and at the end of our three hours of knitting, it was still sitting there.
Good yarn should never go to waste, and so I took it, knowing that it had to be a little, minimally stripey, top down cardigan for a little girl. Well look at this Lisa, the yarn is finally on it's way to a finished object.
Don't those top downs look spectacular when you first start on them! ;-)Check it Out Lisa
December 1 2004
Of course, we have no pictures. Le sigh. What is a blog without pictures afterall. I echo what Sandy said in her post today (congrats on getting the computer back up so quickly). As soon as I get into a real flow, projects are going well, pictures are looking nice, computer is working well, a snag comes up. Who knows what it is. Some pictures work fine, others don't. I posted an online ad to sell our futon last night. The pictures linked fine to there. Maybe if tech support would ever answer my email...
Anyways, I have a pile full of angel parts that need to be starched, molded, and seamed together. I can't wait to put her on our tree.
In other knitting news, I swatched for my Phildar Jacket and it didn't come out right. I'm not sure if going up a needle size will make it too open. Of course the way to find out is to swatch again, but for now it's on hold, waiting for inspiration to strike again! I am a bit worried about the yarn though. As I was binding off my first swatch my yarn broke! I can see all sorts of weak looking points in the yarn and I can't imagine how tough it's going to be to seam with. Has anyone else had problems like this with Rowanspun Aran?First Day of December, and We've Got an Angel!
