Sunday, October 27, 2013

There Was This Yarn, You See,

... and it was 40% off and there were 8 skeins of it (eight!) and I just happened to have enough cash in my pocket so it came away with me out into the fresh air and sunshine.

It's eight skeins of Classic Elite Lush which is wool and angora in a lovely green.  How could I pass it up?





While I was sitting in the Lodge at The Clearing yesterday afternoon soaking up the peace of the place I finished the second Cloud 9 bootie.  Now all I need to do is weave in ends and sew them together, probably later today.

Friday, October 25, 2013

Widdle Sockies #2

I bought that ball of Cascade Fixation in South Carolina and immediately cast on a second pair of sockies.  I freaking love the colors, they're so bright and cheerful.  I'll be knitting my very own anklet out of the remains of the ball.



The other night I cast on a pair of garter stitch booties out of the Cloud 9 left from the blanket, got one done and the second one cast on pretty quickly.  I'll finish the next bootie today and then sew them up this weekend.  Then I have to finish a few other baby things because the shower's a week from Saturday and I refuse to be scrambling at the eleventh hour, as has been my habit.  I need to remember to go buy some wrapping paper before then too.


Next I'll be finishing the Khaki Cardi.  Yes, I will.  *nods firmly*  It's getting chilly out there. 
 

Saturday, October 19, 2013

How Much Did I Knit On Vacation?

Not as much as I thought I'd do, it's true, but I did some and it counts.  I even un-knit some, I frogged that white baby sweater I started before we left.  The white yarn I was using is called Soft Yarn but it wasn't particularly soft, not once I got it knitted, so out came the needles and I made the knitting turn back into a ball of yarn.  I'm thinking of starting over with a part wool/part acrylic yarn in a creamy white color, that little bit of wool makes it feel so much nicer than all acrylic.  

 
Not that I need to knit another sweater, I finished the green 5-Hour Cardi on the trip.  All I have to do is weave in the tails, then wash and block it, and put on a pretty button and it'll be ready to keep any random grandbaby that comes around warm.







I bought another ball of Cascade Fixation, that cotton/elastic yarn that I made the first pair of Widdle Sockies out of and cast on a second pair right away.  I finished sockie #1 in North Carolina and completed the leg of sockie #2 in the car yesterday.  Intelligently I declined to embark on knitting the heel flap, etc. while on the highway.



I also worked on the first sleeve of the Khaki Cardi that I've had on the needles (OTN) since June 2009 (holy moly! that long?), adding about 6" over the 2 weeks we were away.  At Friday Night Knitting last night I decided to cut the khaki 2" sooner than originally planned and make the white and black stripes wider because I'm afraid I'll run out of the khaki yarn before I get to 9" like sleeve #1.  The whole thing looks short and very wide to me but when I put it on it sorta fits.  Guess that means I too am short and wide.  *sigh*

Friday, October 11, 2013

Shopping, Shopping, Shopping




Vacation money's not like "real" money, at least in my wallet/mind, so there has been yarn and fabric shopping, mostly yarn.

In Lexington, KY on Saturday DD took me to "her" fabric store (well, she works there anyway) where they had a couple bolts of linen poly blend so I made off with some of that for... I don't know what for but who doesn't need more linen?









On Sunday we went to Rebelle yarn shop for stitch 'n bitch for the afternoon.  She and I were the only ones there besides the owner but we had a lovely time chatting and knitting.  I bought a skein of pale gray Cascade Eco because I have 2 darker grays and dark red that I hope to make into a cardi for me one of these days... after the intensive baby knitting slacks off... when I get my two OTN sweaters done.





In Knoxville, TN we went to Loopville where I found the superwash in ivory that I wanted and then they were having a "bag sale" which meant the more skeins (all the same) in the bag, the bigger the discount.  Sooo I dug around and found a bag of 10 skeins of SWTC Therapi in an odd charcoal, brown, purple color which was 75% off.  I had to take it.  HAD.  TO.  You would've too.  You know you would have.








Yesterday we went to an alpaca farm and yarn shop outside Greenville, SC where a knitting group was meeting and they were friendly and fun.  The friendliest and funniest was named Barbara too, we got on like a house a-fire.  She was hilarious.  I found 3 skeins of homegrown alpaca in a gorgeous brown and Guyton, the producer, was in the pen next to the shop so I went out and got my picture taken with him.  I picked out a skein of Fixation to start another pair of widdle sockies (which I did last night), and a pattern for a cute cardi which I think I'll make using all the onesie skeins of souvenir yarn I have on hand.  











 









And there were babies in the next pen, not close to the road, true, but they were visible.  Ooh, too cute.




Wednesday, October 2, 2013

Baby Sweaters Galore

frogged this version
Remember all those high-minded words about finishing the 2 sweaters I have OTN last month?  Yeah, well they're packed and ready to load into the van for our trip and I needed (wanted) something to knit so I cast on one 5 Hour Baby Sweater, got 26 rows in and discovered an error I was too frustrated to work out so I frogged that attempt.  I printed off another version of the pattern to use to try to make the first one right but decided to just knit that one.  I cast it on night before last.

second try











In looking at baby sweater patterns I found this Spud & Chloe Hello Baby Cardigan pattern.  I like it.  I like that it's white (not that I can't knit any sweater in white yarn) and I like the I-cord edging.  Since the grandbaby's supposed to make its appearance around the holidays I thought a white sweater with red piping would be a good thing.  Red Heart Soft Yarn's on sale at Michael's this week.  I stopped on my way to work for a skein, although it's not feeling as soft as I'd like now that I've got a bit knitted up, maybe Lion Brand Wool Ease would have been a better choice.  I can always do one out of that if this ends up being too acrylic feeling.

D'you think I've cast on enough to prevent me from having to work on those sweaters-for-me yet?  I'm not sure, but suspect I'm getting close.