Check It Out!

Ok, so I use a fair amount of copper in things for school. You know those scrubbies, round and made of copper? I got one, unrolled it, and...



...it's knitted! I think I'm going to unravel it. Hmmm, $0.99 for two, I see some unravelling and reknitting happening...

This Is Why I Don't Make Resolutions

I know I said that Oisie's socks would be my carry-around-with-me knitting, but we had a family event to go to today, and I couldn't really carry around that big ziplock with two sets of dpns poking out of it everywhere, could I?



This is some old and (badly) hand spun wool that I threw in the dyepot Tuesday when I saw there was plenty of dye left. I have two cabled headbands that I use all the time, one of commercial and one of hand spun. That one was dyed with cochineal, not Rit. I kind of feel like I cheated by using Rit, but indigo's hard!

Anyhow, it's a little ball of yarn that will fit in my pocket and this style headband stays in my hair well. I guess the socks will become my downstairs knitting.

The Washcloths are Done!

...and here they are:



I made up the square ones and the flower is from Weekend Knitting. This means that Oisie's socks will become my carry-around-with-me-knitting. I got some Shadow 100% Merino Wool from Knit Picks (color - Vineyard) and an Adamas Shawl pattern. I am itching to cast on for it, but am not letting myself until one of my major UFOs is a FO.

Off to visit with the in-laws and nephews!

Am I Blue?

The Rit won out. I would have had to LOOK for Kool-Aid. I'll do that later. It's not quite as dark as it is in the picture.

The dyebath was far from exhausted, so I threw in some roving. I think that there will still be plenty of dye left, but I don't have anything to dye. Hmm, maybe I can find a white t-shirt around here somewhere.

Stash and WIP Organization

Well, the scribble lace scarf/shawl became a scribble lace kerchief. I was weaving in the last end as we pulled into the parking lot Saturday night. I stretched it widthways and tied it on my head to hold my hair back. It works well for that, and it's long enough for some to hang in my hair and drop down in front of my shoulders. Oh, well.

I have decided upon the Hide-It-In-Plain-Sight method of stash management. Now, I am a broke college student, but that doesn't mean I don't have a stash. It just means I have a slightly crappy stash. Mostly Lion Brand, some things I have bought at SCA events, and novelty yarns originally intended for Christmas present scarves. I do have a little basket with my Tuesday purchases, the yarn a friend brought me from Paris, and a couple other odds and ends. Plus whatever my mother-in-law finds for me at a yard sale - thanks, Mona! Anyhow, I have been putting my better yarns and yarns I might use soon and yarns I want to think about or look at in baskets strategically placed around my house - instant decoration! And most (well, over half) of my WIPs are in only two baskets!

WIPs

In the basket between the living room chairs:
1. Oisie's Cable and Rib socks (from either Spin-Off or Interweave Knits - overdue Christmas present #1)
2. Mona's half-knit scarf (overdue Christmas present #2)
3. a scarf out of lovely red-violet and blue-violet wool that I spun and was designing the pattern for (but I forgot what I was doing)
4. a thick sock for Lorelei out of ugly yellow and blue yarn that I spun (the color mixing didn't go well)
5. my red scarf from my first post
6. the Celtic pattern hat
7. Terri's hat
8. Socks by my own pattern but I think I'm sick of the twisted ribbing and may frog it
9. Magic Stripes socks
10. A scarf out of Moda Dea Chichi - very soft

In the basket by the door:
11. Lorelei's sweater that I've been working on for a year and a half (I had the foresight to begin a size 4 when she was only one)
12. an ugly blue garter stitch scarf out of some Bernat boucle
13. the tie-one-on from Knitty

Tote-around-with-me-WIP:
14. cotton washcloths for my great-aunt, who is having a birthday party Saturday

I know I have several other WIP's, but I don't know where they are right now and I'm not going to hunt them.

Now, I'm off to dye some yarn! I have two skeins of wool that I mordanted a couple of years ago to do some natural dyeing, but never got around to it. I am out of natural dyes, so...Rit or Kool-Aid? Hmm...

All Knitting Content, All the Time!

The purchases Tuesday night:



Not the child, just the yarn. Lorelei took a break from playing with her beads to hold up my circ tags. I am hoping that the Crystal Palace is similar to whatever people have been using to do the Birch and Kiri shawls - I want to try one. I am FEARLESS!!! But I really want to try some lace - I don't think the Tie One On that I've been knitting counts, even if it is the piquant version.

The Lush is my luxury purchase (don't laugh, I'm a broke college student, remember?). After buying one skein a few weeks ago and agonizing over what I could make out of just one skein, I bought two more and now I'm agonizing over what I can make out of just three skeins. I have started a scarf, but the yarn is so thick that I couldn't get the number of repeats in the pattern that I wanted (only 3!) - so I frogged it and am waiting for inspiration - or the right pattern.

I also met my first Guy Who Knits last Tuesday night - JP! He blogs, too. I'm going to pester him for blog advice.

Panic Knitting of the day: The scribble lace shawl/scarf. I call it a shawl/scarf because when stretched long, as while I'm knitting it, it currently measures 8" wide and 24" long:



But when stretched as a shawl, it measures over 3 feet wide! And only 4" long!



But I hope to get enough done to wear it tonight, anyway. Wish me luck!

Links in Blogs

I'm on the Mason Dixon Knitting blog!

Reading other people's blogs can be time consuming. Not because of the reading, but because of the following of the links. Making Fiends ate a good bit of my time, Lorelei kept wanting to see "another one, Mommy!" I did manage to quit the games I've found before becoming addicted.

It can also get you in trouble - I joined Crafters' Choice so I can get a knitting books fix. I want to design some things over the summer!

Just to share in the linkfest: The Origami Boulder Company.

I have to stop reading blogs now, Joe said I can't go with him to the Bloomin' Festival on Sunday if my research paper and presentation (due Monday) aren't done. I'd better go figure out what I'm gonna write about. I know WHO, just not WHAT.

KC - I got three more rows done on my scribble lace scarf - I'd better get the paper done so I have knitting time before tomorrow night!

Tuesday Night & Knitting Books

We had a great time Tuesday night. I keep checking www.masondixonknitting.com to see if they have posted their account of the festivities, but not yet. Ann & Kay were charming, funny, and entertaining. They liked my scribble scarf (in progress)! And my Celtic keywork knitting. Or, if they didn't like it, at least they pretended they did. I will scan images of both of these soon. I hope to have the scarf done before the reception for the art student show on Saturday night, but I don't know if that will happen - I have a research paper and presentation due on Monday that I haven't started yet.

I took a second look at Loop-d-Loop after seeing it in the back of Mason Dixon Knitting (I think) and I think I do want it. I had passed on buying it earlier but have now changed my mind. I also want Unexpected Knitting, but the local bookstore didn't have it, so I got a Readers' Digest stitch dictionary and the WendyKnits book. Unexpected Knitting goes on my Amazon list.

Hopefully I will get my schoolwork done and I can turn my UFOs to FOs and post some pictures soon!

Famous People in the Knitting World

I got to meet KNITTING CELEBRITIES! More to come on Thursday when I will have time to post... but for now, look at this:



That is Ann Shayne on the left, me in the center, and Kay Gardiner on the right. This would be the Ann & Kay from the knitting blog Mason Dixon Knitting and authors of the new book Mason-Dixon Knitting. More on the 12 year old in front later - we plan to get her knitting blog up when she pickes an alias and gets her dad's permission. And see how the night ended:




We had a great time. More details on Thursday.

Knitting, of Course

I have decided to go with the (k1, k1 tbl, k1, k1 tbl, k1 all into same st, slide 4 sts over the last) popcorn. It's a little larger than the others, but I think it looks better and stands out more, and doesn't try to pop through to the back.

I am trying the scribble scarf from the Mason Dixon Knitting book. Black crochet cotton and a thicker knitted fuzzy copper yarn - I forget by who. Bernat, maybe? I tried it on size 15's but it didn't look right. I'm up to 19's now, largest I could find, and it still doesn't look right. What did they knit those on? The book picture shows scarves that look like they were knit on 3" dowel rod. The largest I could find at the craft store was 1". Hmmm...

I was hoping to have it done so I could wear it when I go to see them at Yarn Expressions, but it will have to be a WIP. Maybe I can have it done in time for the reception for the Student Art Exhibit Saturday night.

Also, after being inspired by some blog pictures, I have graphed a Celtic key pattern to try in fair isle. I have been wanting to do some for a while, since my trial project turned out okay. I have begun a hat, no swatching so who knows who it will fit. Black and purple wool ease - it was all I had upstairs in the bedroom and I didn't want to wake everyone up by going on a yarn hunt at midnight.

Here We Go...

Okay, so I'm going to try the knitting blog thing...

I have this scarf / shawl thing that I designed a pattern for. Problem is, I put it aside for the Christmas present production rush, and when I picked it back up, I'd forgotten some things.



The most pressing problem is the popcorn. On either side of the Norwegian Fir in the center is a 5-stitch section of stockinette with a popcorn every fourth row. I think I was trying to get over my fear of popcorn when I designed this - not fear of making them, but fear of how they look in a finished garment. Anyhow, I forgot how I was making them, so I looked up 'popcorn stitch' in a couple of my reference books. The result was WAY HUGE! So I'm stuck. I'll try to sit down and figure it out when I have a little more time. Maybe someone out there knows. Maybe someone out there will read this...someday. I'm not holding my breath.

My second problem is that I didn't diagram the rows I begun the scarf with. That shouldn't be too much of a problem. I do realize now that I'm going to have to start the other end and graft the two pieces somewhere in the middle... Oh, well.