A block here, a block there

Just add another block, and then another. You'll get there eventually.



I'm about half way.

And now a word from our sponsor

Not exactly. But I do want to let you know about an upcoming event. My friend H (of L&H fame) is participating in a craft show and sale that's happening in just a couple of weeks. You can read all the pertinent stuff over here. Personally I can hardly wait.

Progress continues on the topographical scarf. Another skein added yesterday. I'll be working on it today while I'm at A Stitch in Time. If it's as quiet as it was on Monday I should be able to get a lot more done.

Topographical

scarf. Sitting around the table at Unraveled and admiring the textures and colors of this scarf, we all agreed that it really looked like the hills that surround the area where we mostly live. At any rate it's more descriptive than just plain Entrelac.

This is turning out to be pretty rustic. Even more than I usually prefer. I still have another seven skeins to go then I have to decide if I want to block it or leave it all hilly and bumpy. On the other hand, it may never be finished. I do get bored when things are this repetitive.

Some scarves

Last week while I was moping around I knit this scarf. It's a pattern I found on Ravelry and it's named The Mystery of Marie Roger Scarf. I'm not sure what exactly appealed to me about this scarf but I couldn't wait to get it going. My friend Mendy had three skeins of Kureyon that looked like they'd work well together even though they were different color numbers. So I bought those last Tuesday. I finished the scarf on Friday night.

The stitch pattern is pretty easy and the scarf is knit lengthwise. I taught myself the Lucy Neatby loose cast off. It's in her book Cool Socks, Warm Feet. I like it and will probably use it a lot, especially for scarves and shawls.



I started my stash reduction project on Sunday. It's not going very fast. I found nine balls of this unknown yarn. Hmm. I wonder what that is and how it would look knit up. (Mind you, I was only in the first box.) So I went to my Ravelry queue and found this pattern for an entrelac scarf. I've never actually made anything in entrelac even though I have done it as a teaching exercise.

I'm not sure what this yarn is as I seem to have discarded all the labels. I think it might be some KFI Kureopatra. Not sure if that's available anymore. I'm going to check with L (of L&H fame) and see if she knows. Her memory is encyclopedic for stuff like this. She'll probably even know the color number. Anyway, the yarn is rustic, a sort of contrived wabi sabi. I like it a whole lot. But I have to start over as my swatch is way too wide for a scarf plus there's not a lot of yardage in the individual skeins and I'd probably not have enough if I kept going.

Happy Easter

"they're never too cute to eat!"

One of the things I like about my daughter is her sense of the irreverent. Hope you're all having a great holiday weekend whether it's Easter of Welcome Spring.

Why yes, I'm still here.

Why do you ask? I'm just off taking care of other stuff. And I'm still dealing with the residual effects of that cold I had a couple of weeks ago.

There is some knitting going on but it's kinda minor stuff. A scarf here, a sock there. Nothing you could really get too excited about. I'm in the early stages of sorting through all my stash, getting rid of yarn that I know I'll never knit. I moved most of the boxes of yarn into my living room so I have to look at it all the time. The cat is most distressed by this but we're both coping. I'm not sure if putting everything on Ravelry is worth the effort. Do you ever look there to find yarn? Is there a separate section for books that are for sale?

Anyway, I'm still here and will get back to blogging on a more regular basis soon. Or at least that's the plan.

Simply Knitting

Sunday was an incredibly beautiful day. The sky was so blue and the clouds so white that it almost hurt your eyes. The California poppies were in bloom, strewn along the side of the highway in painterly abandon. Well, of course, I forgot my camera.

My friend L (of L&H fame) and I went to see a new-to-us yarn shop in Santa Clarita, about a forty five minute drive from where we live. Simply Knitting is a relatively new shop. About four years old I think. I had worked with one of the founders a while before that, helping her hone her knitting skills. I didn't quite believe her when she told me she was going to open a yarn shop. But she did and it's a really nice place.

I got some Mirasol Miski Baby Llama. And the knitting bag that it's resting on. Karen, the other original owner, gave it to me as a souvenir. I'd say that most of the yarns they stock are on the upscale side but the prices seemed very competitive, even a little less in some cases. It was a longer than usual drive but definitely worth it.

Back, kinda

Patrick doesn't get daylight savings time. His own internal clock still functions on regular time. That's great for me. He thinks it's 4AM but it's now 5AM so I've been sleeping a bit later than usual. Only an hour, but still, it's an hour I wasn't getting before. And right now I need plenty of sleep.

This cold, the worst I can remember, has been hanging on and on. All I can do is sleep when I can. I try to knit but I go to sleep. I think I'm getting better and then I have a day where I'm just totally out of it. Still plenty of coughing. But that's how it goes, or at least that's what I hear from others who've already been there.

So that explains why I haven't been posting. And also I've not been doing any hardcore knitting. I've started several things, socks mostly, but haven't been happy with how they look. So there's been lots of frogging and starting over. I think because I'm just fuzzy headed right now that I've made some poor choices in yarn and pattern combinations. So I'm just sticking with an Irish Hiking Scarf, a pattern I've used before, so there are no unwanted surprises. And it doesn't require any thinking at all.

It's been quite warm around here. But that's changing again and we're supposed to get some rain this weekend. That'll be nice. I'm working today and expect to be busy. There's always my Friday morning group coming in for their weekly catch-up on each other. And I have a couple of new knitters who'll probably be in for some tutoring. Tomorrow I'm going to hang out at Unraveled, or as we refer to it locally, UR. I heard there would be some sock yarn on sale.

86 the 196!

I tried to get a picture but it's too early. No sun as yet.

I've been working on a pair of socks for a couple of months now. Socks that I've simply called Stansfield 196 since that's the name of the stitch pattern I was using. The first sock was finished a couple of weeks ago. The second sock should have been done yesterday.

I was about eight rows of gusset decreases when I noticed a split yarn sticking out near the end of the heel turn. No problem. I'll just ladder down when I get there and fix it. Big mistake! The offending stitch was actually part of the final SSK of the heel turn. When I laddered down the whole thing came apart. Not really but it was mess just the same.

So I tinked back and got the offending stitch repaired and continued on my way. I'd been a little uncomfortable with this stitch pattern all along. There are some yarn overs that fall right at the edge of the pattern as it goes down the foot. These yarn overs really stretch open in a most unattractive way when the sock is on. So much so that the laciness is lost and just becomes a distorted mess. But I kept going thinking that the socks would be okay if not great.

Then about mid-evening I decided to check the second sock against the first one. That's when I decided I'd had enough. There's about half an inch difference in the leg, the second sock being longer. After studying the first sock I realized that I has missed some rows in the pattern as well as starting a new pattern repeat at the wrong point.

I don't like these socks well enough to keep going. I'd have to rip the first one anyway if I wanted to fix the discrepancy. So I'm just frogging the whole thing. This is my second sock disaster in a row. The last pair has one sock that's a half an inch short. That I can fix. This pair though has too many issues for me.

I am not well, but I am better.

First of all, thanks to everyone who wrote with good wishes and ideas for treating the most ferocious of all colds. The margaritas with chips and salsa was an especially tempting remedy. But I couldn't manage the stairs or the drive. I'm still at the point where the least bit of exertion wipes me out.

I was able to knit yesterday, between naps. I hope to finish the Stanfield 196 socks today. We don't have knitting group this week but I would probably not go even if we did. I think I'll be okay for going to work tomorrow.

It's a cold.

Yesterday I thought I might be coming down with a cold. Today it is a definite. It's been at least four years since I've had a cold and this one is really making up for lost time. I'm groggy. My eyes burn. And I'm hoping I have enough tissue on hand to last the day. So I probably won't be doing any knitting today. And I'll miss seeing my peeps this afternoon. Altogether it's not a fun day.

Shih Tzu!

Gesundheit! I think I'm coming down with a cold but it could just be the aftermath of an evening at my friend Robert's. I went over there yesterday to meet his new shih tzu puppy. Her name is Susy and she's really the cutest little thing I've seen in a long time.

I've never seen a shih tzu this color, medium brown with brushing of charcoal at the edges. Her eyes are not really that blue but you know how it is with cameras and flashes. Throw in a few glasses of wine and this is what you get. I told Robert he was too old to handle a puppy with this much energy but he still wouldn't let me bring her home with me.

It was a very quiet weekend otherwise. I spent some time at Unraveled on Saturday them come home and worked on my Lehmus shawl. Progress is good. I'm only one repeat behind my plan. There have been a number of adjustments to the stitch pattern along the way. Mostly missed y/o's. I have the pattern well enough in my mind that I can pretty much ignore the print out, except for the start of the rows. And I'm up to about 120 stitches per row now.

The yarn I'm using is a bother. It splits easily and snags a lot. Possibly not a good choice for a shawl but I like the color and I needed to find a use for the yarn. I used a Russian join when I added a new ball. It's okay, better than a knot, but still not as discreet as I would like.

Pictures maybe next weekend.

Too much of a good thing?

I have 72 patterns in my Ravelry queue. How many do you have? There's no way I'll ever be able to knit all these things. I probably have even more than thay in my Knitting Patterns folder. And the number keeps growing.

I could just delete some of these and get back down to a more realistic number. I have more than a plenty of pattern books. I just printed out a new free Berocco pattern this morning. There's something almost gluttonous about this. A frenzy. I wonder if it might even be a bit unhealthy.

Of course I buy yarn the same way. No one needs this much yarn. But it's so much fun to acquire it. It's like not wanting to be left out.

How am I going to deal with all this? How am I going to decide what actually gets knit and which yarn I'll use? My friend Bess has an idea that I think I can adapt. She has a creativity jar that she filled with things she wants to accomplish. Each week or so she draws something from the jar and goes with it. Maybe if I wrote the names of some these patterns on little strips of paper and then drew one out and matched it with something from my stash and then packaged it all in one of those heavy zip top bags. Maybe that would at least give me some idea of where I'm going.

On the other hand I could just delete some of the patterns and give away some of the yarn. But where's the fun in that?

Inevitably

Yesterday we went on a yarn shop hop to a couple of our not so local shops. Mendy was taking me for my birthday treat since we hadn't been able to get our schedules to align until now. Thom went along to make sure he was certified as a member of yarn stashers anonymous. Never pass up a chance to go to a yarn shop.

We got to Velona's a little after ten. If you've been there you know how overwhelming it can be. My plan was to just get a couple of skeins of Brown Sheep Nature Spun so I could finish my zigzag scarf. Well, they didn't have the two colors I need. (Rose is placing an order for me.) So, what could I do but have a look around? I'd already checked for a couple of colors of Rowan Handknit DK that I had been commissioned to buy. Inevitably I wandered over to the sock yarn. That's how I ended up with two skeins of Colinette Jitterbug in the color Cinnabar. FYI, their price is a dollar to a dollar and a half less than I've seen in other shops.

Since it was time for lunch we hurried over to Alamitos Bay in Long Beach so we could have it at Buster's. We like that place not only because it has interesting and tasty food but it's also right on the water and you can watch the sail boats skipping along. A couple of margaritas, a nice pork sandwich and some Death by Chocolate cake got us ready to visit Alamitos Bay Yarn Company which is right next to Buster's.

ABYC gives you a discount on your first purchase during your birthday month. Both Thom and I qualified. So what was I to do? Of course I bought sock yarn. It was inevitable. That's the Lorna's Laces Tuscany. I almost bought some Camouflage but then I remembered I'd already bought that twice before.

I also picked up a copy of 2-at-a-time Socks, a newish book by Melissa Morgan-Oakes. My friend Susan said it would change my sock knitting life. Let's hope so. I have a lot of sock yarn.

Lehmus begins

So I decided to start another shawl. When I saw the Lehmus shawl on Rick's blog I knew it was one I would enjoy making. And because he made his using a heavier yarn than the pattern called for I knew I could use some of my Estelle Mystik DK. I've had the yarn for a while. It's some I got in a yarn stash redistribution. It's not on their site anymore so I guess it's discontinued. It's a cotton/viscose blend that's nice and shiny. It does snag if you're not careful. The color looks like gray sometimes and at other times it's a very pale teal. I have to figure out a good way to join the yarn as it's pretty slippery. There may be knots.

My plan is to work a pattern repeat every day. Right now that's not so hard as there are less than a hundred stitches per row. Unfortunately most of my plans get sidetracked by other things that catch my eye. I've been adding to my Ravelry queue lately. A lot. I wound some Classic Elite Lush last night, and some Manos del Uruguay. So I can already tell that I'm going to get distracted.

A couple of FOs

Finished this on Sunday morning. Finally. This is the Palindrome Scarf. It's completely reversible, a rarity when it comes to scarves with cables. I used some old Brunswick Germantown that I've had in stash for ten or more years. The fabric is a bit stiff so I'm hoping a good soak will help.



And the Plain Vanilla Socks were finished on Sunday evening. I'm not sure about the size though. I didn't bother to try to match the stripes this time. I think fraternal works well with this yarn. The yarn is probably Regia but that's just a guess.

I have another project that I was going to show you but Blogger has suddenly gone weird. I have updated my Ravelry projects page though. I'm knitdad over there.

Tulips on Friday

I've been waiting for these tulips to open. They're still not quite there. These are the ones that Renee gave me for my birthday. They're supposed to have bright but indirect sun. We haven't had all that much sun this week. There's supposed to be some tomorrow morning for a while. Maybe I'll put the tulips closer to the window and see what happens.

The administrative part of my life has taken over for a few days and there's still more to come. I'm dealing with homeowner association stuff that is time consuming and not fun at all. Plus some of it means spending a ton of money. Money that I'd rather use for other stuff. So anyway, I'm going to be here perhaps even less often than I've been this week.

Nothing has been finished this week. Not the socks, nor the hat, not the scarf. On the plus side though, I haven't started anything new. I did print out a few patterns and my Interweave Knits finally arrived. Is it just me or is this issue really boring? At least there's a sock pattern and a couple of nice shawls.

Rain!

The sun was out for a few seconds a little while ago. Now it's back to the gloomy overcast. I was at the Honda dealer earlier today and was watching TV while I waited for my car. The weather people were all agog with this unexpected weather. Looks like we're going to have rain for the next few days. Nothing spectacular but still, since this was supposed to be a very dry winter, it's a good thing.

People say this is good knitting weather. I'm not so sure. I've had to rip and redo the gusset on my plain vanilla sock three times. And then when I was ready to work on it yesterday at Tuesday morning knitting I discovered I had left one of my needles at home. So I worked on a hat that I'm making from the Rio de la Plata yarn I got on Sunday. I hope to finish the sock and the hat today. But since it's already noontime I may not.

I have some errands to do but I'd really like to take a nap. The cat woke me at a little after three this morning. He was sick. I think he has a reaction to his anti-flea ointment. I have to put it on his once a month. It takes a couple of days before he's feeling good again. I did go back to bed after I cleaned the floor. Fortunately it was on the tile, not the carpet. But he woke me up again an hour or so later. So, yes, I'd really like to take a nap. Maybe after I get back from Trader Joe's.

Twofer

Today is my friend blogless Thom's birthday. I can't give you his email address though. So if you want to wish him happy birthday you can email me at knitdadatsbcglobaldotnet and I'll be pleased to pass the wishes along. He's a great guy. Charming, witty and generous. And he'll try most anything when it comes to knitting.

Yesterday another friend (L of L&H fame) and I went on a twofer yarn shop hop. We only had a couple of hours to spend before the shops closed. There's a relatively new shop in Glendale that was celebrating its one year anniversary. It's called Itza Knitterie. What a great little shop it is. I didn't see any handcrafted yarn though. But they do have an extensive selection of commercial stuff, including brands that we don't see much around here. Queensland, Mirasol, Kelly and more Araucania than I've seen before. The shelves were full and everything was as tidy and trim as it could be. You got to draw a number from the glass candy dish to see how much your sale discount would be. I only got 10%. L got 15%. But I was happy with the skein of Ranco and the three skeins of Mirasol I bought.



One skein of Araucania Ranco and three of Mirasol Hecho. Add to museum of yarn.

Next it was back to an old favorite, Unwind in Burbank. Stephanie, the shop owner, was there. She's such a sweetheart. Always makes me feel welcome and she also had some great yarns. Especially sock yarns! I got a couple of skeins of the new-to-me Panda Silk from Crystal Palace, two skeins of Lorna's Laces in the color Forest (an old color but one I'd never seen) and one skein of Rio de la Plata multi-colored worsted. It's an odd lot mill end that is being sold as a charity fund raiser. Unwind has several different fund raiser deals going. Pick one or support them all!

One of the Kewl Kids

I could hardly wait for the sun to come up this morning. I knew this yarn was going to be beautiful but I couldn't see all that well in the dim light of Paco's Mexican Restaurant. (That's where my friend the other Lisa took me for dinner last night.) It's absolutely gorgeous. I know what I'm going to make with it but that'll come later. I feel like such a kewl kid having my very own Hand Maiden Sea Silk.



And that wasn't all. I dug down through the layers of tissue and found this Socks That Rock medium weight sock yarn. Bella Coola. All I can see is swimming pools and ocean beaches. Or maybe shady pine tree glens and clear skies and deep water mountain lakes.



I can't get a decent picture of this Yarn Place Graceful. There's 2400 yards of frog hair weight. Sometimes it looks jade, sometimes teal and there's some dark beige mixed in that I can't quite capture. I've been instructed as to what I'm supposed to make with it but I haven't found a pattern yet.

I think I need to go away for a couple of months to some place where there is no internet, no yarn shops and maybe no Mexican restaurants and try to get some of this knit up. I love it all. It's been an incredible birthday week, or two weeks really, and there's still some to come but that won't be for a while. I thank you all for the good wishes, the incredible gifts and for stopping by my blog. It's just so kewl!



p.s. I forgot to mention the new Berroco sock pattern book. Have you seen it yet? I need to make the Cork sock right now! Just as soon as I find a shop that has the Berroco sock yarn. And then maybe the tabby socks, Aberdeen or Newcastle.

Lisa, you've really outdone yourself. Thanks so much for your friendship and all the things you do to brighten my life. And Hannah too!