I Had A Brainstorm

I've been wanting to knit a sweater out of that Cuzco yarn I bought at Loops' final sale. I have 10 skeins, 1300 yds., that should be enough, right?






First I thought I'd make a hoodie from a pattern I got from DD but the yarn isn't bulky enough. Dang. Into the frog pond it went.








Then I cruised Interweave Knits' website last week. They let you narrow your search, so I told it I only wanted to look at patterns that used bulky yarn. I found one. It's the Cross-Cultural Pullover by Norah Gaughan. No hood, but it'll be my first color work. I'm excited.








I figure I'll use the red for the sweater body but I was thinking I'd have to order some more Cuzco in this pretty charcoal color I saw on their site, but then after Friday Night Knitting last night I had that brainstorm I mentioned. I've got over 3 skeins of gray marled yarns I bought last fall at a fiber fest. And it's the right thickness. It's fate, it's meant to be.







I made a hat from it but it really should be part of a sweater. Hooray!







And finally, Durwood has been picking tomatoes. He's very thrilled, and usually has juice running down his chin and fingers. He's a happy Tomato Boy.

Purple And Green Look Good Together, Right?

I finished my purple Spring Fling Wrap tonight. I never did make up my mind whether I liked the green mohair better or the purple, so I did waht I said I'd do and knitted one ruffle green and the other one purple. They really curl which is to be expected of stockinette stitch. I might block them and smush them down but I think it might be futile so maybe I won't. I like the way the purple Nashua Daylily worked up. It's got a real glimmer to it. (I don't have a shawl pin so I just dug out a chopstick. Not very pretty but it did the job.)













A bunch of knitters went to the GB Bullfrogs baseball game last Tuesday night. It was a heck of a deal. For $10 we got a seat on the third base line, a hat, a hot dog, and a soda. It was hot and sticky and buggy, but we had fun. I'd do it again.









I picked up 198 yds. of Mochi the other day and added a few rows. It's easier the second time around. Imagine that! This is not something I can take to work or a baseball game or even knit night. It needs concentration. It's pretty and very soft.

Yarn Stuff

I am having yarn dreams. I see patterns that I want to make and finally I can see that I might actually be able to make them. Holy carp.


I've been knitting on the purple Spring Fling Wrap, still not able to decide whether to make both of the ruffles in the dark green mohair. I do wish that I could find an actual photograph of a wrap because I'm not at all sure where the ruffles go. It says on the pattern to pick up 45 stitches which would make a ruffle barely a third of the width of the shawl. I took it upon myself to pick up stitches all the way across the narrow end and I think it looks pretty okay.




It's been kind of busy at the dive shop (amazing!) so the sock is growing slowly. When I chose yellow as the color to purl when ready I didn't realize how many yellows there were: school bus yellow, yellow green, lemon yellow, yellow orange. It can be confusing but I'm purling every once in a while.

Garden Pix

It's the middle of July and stuff is finally ready to pick and eat.



Durwood picked his first Early Girl tomato yesterday and ate it immediately. No time for a photo. These three are almost ready.




I spied a few Sweet 100s nearly ready to pick. I like a few of them in a bowl with a little Vidalia Onion Salad dressing on them.





I haven't been checking under the big beautiful leaves of the patty pan squash plant. Might have been a mistake. (see pint jar ring for scale)

The Stargazer Lilies I got last fall when the grocery store parking lot greenhouse was clearing out are blooming. They smell like a mixture of baby powder and honey. Intoxicating.






We have a lot of Monarch butterflies in our yard. Why? Because I learned which of the "weeds" along the lot line are milkweeds and let them grow so the butterflies come to visit.





A few years ago I planted a daisy plant. One. Now look at what I have. Good thing I like daisies.










Sunny Hill Farms corn is ready! I don't know if it's the soil they grow it in, the seed variety they buy, or the fact that they live a good, clean life, but SHF corn is the best.

A-a-a-a-and, Presto!

We have a hat. Not that anyone's in a hurry to wear this hat today since it's supposed to hit about 85 degrees F., and it's dead calm, and humid. But now I've got a nice soft, toasty warm hat for when it's 25 degrees F., windy, and so dry the hairs in my nose crackle when I breathe. Maybe I'll crank out some gloves to match. Or mittens so I don't have to knit all those fingers, but I like gloves better even though they don't keep your hands as warm... I'll have to see how I feel when this idea comes back up to the top of the pile.

Today's model is the lovely Durwood who was minding his own business playing a computer card game and eating a banana when I pressed him into service this morning. He's a good sport.

Flitting and Cringing

I spent yesterday, the whole of my weekend, flitting from project to project, and making an unpleasant late-night discovery downstairs. More on the cringing in a moment, but first here's what I worked on.



I finished the first ball (of 3) of the Daylily for the Spring Fling Wrap, so I'm 1/3 done. I also went downstairs into the stash and resurrected the green and purple mohair to start thinking about which one I want to use (maybe both).






After getting some help from Zoe, the Yarn Whisperer, at Friday Night Knitting Circle on using Magic Loop to knit in the round, I finished the crown of the Sun Visor Cap. One wag at knitting suggested it looks like a McDonalds hat but I stuck my tongue out at her and didn't respond. Next I need to pick up 99 stitches around the edge and knit the band and visor. Should be interesting.




At the bottom of the knitting basket I came across the Rolled Brim hat I had frogged and restarted because it was turning out too big even for me. I realized that I could finish it fairly quickly so I knit on it a bit. I do love the yarn. I bought it at a fiber show in Valders and got to see the sheep it came from. Very cool.










I've been working a bit on the next 198 yds. of Mochi shawl. The yarn is DK weight so it's thinner than what the pattern calls for. That means that I'll definitely be adding repeats to make it bigger than a hankie. But I love the yarn (so soft) and the colors make me smile.










The mailman brought a package during the week. Interweave was having their annual "hurt" book sale and I couldn't resist, so two slightly damaged sock books came to live with me. I don't know if I'll ever knit any of the socks but I sure love looking at them.









Late last night I shortened a couple of broomstick skirts so they don't drag around my ankles anymore,









and that's when I saw the dead mouse in the basement. Ugh.

I lay in bed wondering how many more were down there, alive, and if any of them are aspiring to move upstairs to live with the humans.

Durwood will be buying mousetraps today. Ick, ick, ick.

Look What I Made

I knitted on my 198 yds. of Crazy shawlette on Wednesday night until I was falling asleep. Thursday morning I did the knitted bind-off,




and then I soaked it and blocked it, so it was dry and ready for modeling and showing off today. Ta-da!




It's not perfect, not by a long shot.

And I'm not sure I like how it feels all stretched out and blocked to within an inch of its life.










But it's pretty and warm and I'll love it come chilly fall and winter nights.










I think with a little math (and a consultation with the Yarn Whisperer) I could make a bigger one.

Shawl Daze

Hi, my name is Barbara and I'm addicted to knitting shawls. I shift from one to the other to the other like some demented machine.



Last night I knitted the first 3 rows of the border of 198 yds. of Crazy. It's going well. 13 more to go!







I've found out on 198 yds. of Mochi that it's addictive knitting to find out what color comes next and how it'll look with the ones that came before. I also discovered that it's easier the second time.









And the Spring Fling Wrap is much more pleasing to me now that I've frogged it and reknit it on US17s. I fear that it won't be very long since I only have 261 yds., it'll be more like a necklet than a wrap, but I'm anxious to get done so I can knit the fuzzy ruffles onto the short ends. Ooh, I just had an idea; I could knit one of the ruffles in the green and the other in the purple Filatura di Crosa. Tres cool.


Now it's time to write an article about sinking a ship in Lake Michigan. Later, dudes and dudettes!

Learning

You know you've ripped and restarted a pattern too many times when you don't need to get out the pattern until the 4th row the next time you make it. I have been eyeing the bag of 3 skeins of Mini Mochi I got from Dusty all the while I worked on the 198 yds. of Crazy shawl and now that I've finished the body and am starting on the border, I thought I'd cast on another one with the pretty, rainbow-y yarn. It's DK instead of worsted so I went down a needle size, but it's going to be gorgeous, I can already tell. And I can also tell that I'll make fewer booboos that I have to either frog or fix. I also want to hurry to knit to the next color change. Teehee, it'll go fast.










See my 198 yds. of Crazy? 56 rows done. Yay! I'm anxious to knit the border (only 16 rows!) and then soak it and block it so I can see the wonderfulness that is my first lace project.

First Harvest

The other evening Durwood was out on the patio and when I walked into the kitchen he motioned for me to look at the sky. Oooh, ahhh. The sunset was reflecting on the clouds breaking up after the storms. Very pretty.



On my way back from the parking lot taking the above pictures I saw these, the first few ripe raspberries.






Seems like time to dribble a bit of bleach in the fountain to eradicate the algae. Most of the sparrows have adopted the fountain saucers for bathing rather than the birdbath. The chickadees like it too. I keep hoping to catch sight of a hummingbird flying through the drips.

Drat!

I think I'm so smart sometimes--and then knitting rears up and slaps me in the face. I found a hoodie pattern in a book DD has and borrowed it. Then I found this yarn on sale. It's alpaca and wool, it's red, I love it. I cast on the required number of stitches and I got gauge. But it looks too small to cover me, way too small. I closely examined the yardage per skein of the suggested yarn vs. the yardage of the skeins I have. Grrr, my beloved yarn has twice the yards per skein as the suggested one. Which means I have to rip out what I have (fortunately only an inch or so of ribbing) and figure out a way to make that red hoodie that I'm dying for. It was just too good to be true. *sigh*











I am making big headway on my first lace project. The 198 yds. of Crazy shawlette is knit through 2 repeats of the rounds, I'm going to do another full repeat instead of the half in the pattern because it's pretty small and I've got a whole 'nother skein of the wool so I won't run out two inches from the end of the border. Dusty, whose idea this whole thing was, decided that it wasn't the pattern for her and is moving on to other projects. I don't mind, I'm enjoying the challenge




I decided to keep going on my Sun Visor cap even though it's looking pretty big. You knit an i-cord onto the back that you use to adjust it so I'm figuring that I've got a pretty big bean anyway so I'll just knit away and see what happens. I think the yarn's a bit more worsted than the suggested one so that explains that.







And I cast on yet-another project the other day. It's a Spring Fling Wrap using the pattern I got in Goshen and some of the yarn I bought at Loops on its last day. Once again the yarn's thicker than the suggested one but I like it so I'm keeping on. It'll be pretty with the mohair ruffle on the ends. I've got some forest green with a hint of purple that I think will be just the thing. See? I have purple too. Maybe I'll use that.






I'll decide when it's time to add the ruffle.