There isn’t always time for knitting

So last night I’m at Ewephoria for Knit Nite.   Last night was the premiere of my good friend Pamela Beitia’s/Fiber Floozie sock yarn.  She dyed some delicious stuff and it was very hard to pick which one went home with me.  I loved nearly all of them!  I had made my selection and then my friend Laura’s daughter Kate picked up another one to show something or the other that was pretty about it and I changed my mind.  Once I get my camera back from the shop I’ll show it off.  I love it because it’s my colors with just a tiny hint of some purple and pink in it, which are hubby’s colors.  It was made for me.  And the super cool thing is that this is a one of a kind, never to be seen again.

So as if that wasn’t enough, another gal came into the shop and was showing Mary a book that she published and had just received in the mail.  I fully admit we all eavesdropped to see if it was a quilting or knitting book but we couldn’t figure it out.  So when she walked over to the group in my very shy fashion I asked her what the book was.

I would not lie if I said that a choir of angels surrounded this woman when she showed me the book.

Oh. My.

Seriously.  I opened it up and I was blown away.  First of all the creations in it are astounding.  Secondly the pictures actually do the pieces justice.  Laura and I ooh’d, aww’d, gasped and moaned our way through the book.  My new best friend, M’Lou Baber, said that our reactions were quite enjoyable for her as the author.

The book is called Double Knitting: Reversible Two-Color Designs and is available at Amazon.

But wait, there’s more.

My very own LYS is going to get in an order of the books.  Have a book signing.  And.  No wait, you aren’t ready for this.  Take a deep breath.  Ok.  AND!  M’Lou, who herself knitted every piece shown in the book with her very own hands is going to bring said pieces to the store for us to see AND try on.

*SWOON*

Seriously.  This book is a treat for the eyes.  Even if I never knitted a single thing out of this book I must own this book.  I am simply amazed that last night I actually got to talk to this woman.  I have met a knitting celebrity and actually had a conversation with her.

I will eventually knit something from this book.  I haven’t decided what yet but there were a couple of pieces that really spoke to me.

I was on a very serious roll with my lovely shawl.  I was doing pretty okay with all those lace panels with a few hiccups here and there.  I was honestly getting a little cocky because I was just 4 rows from finishing the first lace panel when it hit.  Dropped stitches.  I went to fix it and all of a sudden it all went bad.

See, I wasn’t using a lifeline.  I tried furiously over several days to fix the one issue in this section of 28 stitches and finally decided to frog even further down.

Finally I had pulled out all the rows in this section.  I went to fix it and had to realize that now I’d have to frog all the lace.

So I frogged.  If it’s worth doing, it’s worth doing right.  So I frogged back to row 127.  I counted my stitches.  I made sure I had the correct amount.  Then I got out the dental floss.  The only floss I have in my house is mint scented so that should add a fun element to my knitting.

Now I’ve become paranoid and I’m going to run the life lines I should have been running.  I’m probably going to end up running one every row because I really do not want to have to knit this panel again.  Had I only done this the first time I’m certain this shawl would have been done by now.

Live and learn.

I have spent quite a bit of time knitting this weekend.  I thought it would take me much longer to get to this point.  In truth, it was the unexpected large amounts of garter stitch that helped me sail through.

Last night though, I got to the part I’ve been not so much looking forward to.  For the first 128 rows I just had to remember to throw in some increases and then pay attention to the center panel.  Now I have to really tune in to the border, which is 43 rows long.I’ve done three of them but my lust for rushing to get this project knitted quickly evaporated in the need to count Every Single Stitch.

I’ve decided to be nice to myself and just shoot for 5 rows a day and then reward myself with some sock knitting once that’s done.

I was going to take a picture but the shawl has outgrown my 60″ circular and I can no longer lay it flat.  Hopefully I’ll have it finished soon and I can show it off.

I’m plugging away on my shawl. This is the second faroese style shawl I’ve knitted. The first was a present for my dear friend Melissa who lives in Utah. I loved the way that shawl hugged your shape, no matter what shape of knitter I tried it on. I’ll be knitting that shawl for me in the very near future.

Quite some time back I bought some beautiful Mountain Colors wool crepe. I kept telling myself I’d get to it but my first attempt made my knees quake. Thankfully I finally got the nerve up to tackle this shawl and found out that I was worried over nothing.

The pattern is quite easy to read and other than that it’s the same shaping I was used to from my first shawl with very large garter stitch sections. I was just going to knit 5 rows a day and get through this project in roughly a month but I’ve found the shawl much more enjoyable than expected. Perhaps when the shawl gets larger 5 rows will be a daunting task but by then I’ll be so far ahead of schedule that it won’t matter.

Now I’m thinking about the additional alpaca I bought to knit the original faroese alpaca shawl I planned for myself. Then I have a delicious cobweb shawl I’m going to tackle. It’s knitted on larger needles so it’s not as scary as I thought it would be. Now some progress pictures. I stopped at row 63 last night.

And just for fun, here’s the latest pair of longies I made for London. This was out of Dashing Dachs Organic Stallion in Horsie.

I woke this morning and looked at my shawl and came to the realization that I was going to have to reknit the center motif.

Something was off and I was going to go crazy looking at my crooked center motif. So I frogged it back to the 7th row. Then I realized I wouldn’t be able to just reknit the center panel, so I also frogged the sides.

Now it’s bedtime and the shawl sits, perfectly knitted, at row 26.

The color is more accurate in these.

I started this project again.

The first time I started it went fine. Then I put it down for so long that I couldn’t remember where I stopped. Since I was only between row 7-9 I frogged it and started again.

Then I did the same thing. Only earlier.

The third time it happened that day I just frogged it and left it to sit.

Well I’m happy to say that I’ve plugged away at it for a while tonight and I’ve passed where I was and I’ve finally done the smart thing and put a sticky on the paper with the stupid little tick marks that I hate to have to do.

So I’m on row 21 and it’s time for bed. I leave you with some pictures taken in some pretty poor lighting.

at row 21

a poor attempt at a closeup of the color

I have two fabulous customers that give me fabulous yarn to work with. People want to know how I can keep my stash under control. It isn’t hard when you have great yarns Noro Blossom, Dashing Dach and KY Baby coming to your door every month.

What’s even more fun is when they think of great things for me to knit. This month’s project was a great example of both wonderful yarn and a fun pattern.

The yarn was from Dashing Dachs. The color way was Granny Smith. Now I’m a huge fan of the granny smith. If there’s an apple in my house you’ve got a pretty good chance it’s going to be a granny smith. The colors were dead on. I was completely impressed with this dyer. So many times with an indy dyer you see a beautiful picture on line and what you get in the mail is more of a kissing cousin. You can see the colors that were pictured and it’s pretty close but its certainly nothing like what was pictured. Not so with this dyer. Two thumbs up.

The request was for a jester’s hat. While this wasn’t exactly what I had in mind it worked. I think the next time through the pattern will get a little tweaking. I chose to close my seams with the kitchener graft (what else, right?). You’d get a completely different look if you did the three needle bind off that was also suggested.

So we have the yarn, we have the pattern, but what tells the story best is the picture. This is where I’ve always fallen flat. I knit beautiful things but I take so so pictures. As time goes on I’m doing better. My worst problem right now is lighting. The light is really only good for a very short amount of time at my house, unfortunately for me this falls right in the middle of my work day meaning I can only photograph my FO’s on Saturday.

Enter Jessica.

Jessica makes me look good.

Really good.

So today I say Thank You Jessica. Thanks for giving me a shot, even though my pictures didn’t do my knitting justice. Thanks for spoiling me with such wonderful yarns and giving me creative freedom when I feel it.

I always get annoyed at my favorite blogs when the don’t update but I’ve become one of those people this month.

This has been a hard month for me. I’ve had some medical issues that pretty much put me out of commission and I’m just now getting back to being myself again.

While I was down I made a pair of socks for myself. This was the first pair of socks for my favorite LYS (Ewephoria) sock club with Tofutsies. I have as of yet failed to take a picture of the yarn or the socks but I have washed them several times. Loving the yarn.

I also finished a shrug that went out in today’s mail for my very good friend Suzanne. It was done in Noro Blossom and that yarn is something to behold. Winding it into a ball was a visual orgasm let me tell you. It was a bit slicker than I realized and for the first time ever I wished I had some bamboo needles. Still, I managed. I didn’t even try for pictures because it took me so long to knit due to the aforementioned medical issues so when I finished it last night it was shoved into an envelope and it went on it’s way to Utah first thing this morning. She’s promised me pictures.

I also finished up another longie set. This time I do have pictures. This was knitted up in BFL from Nurturing Threads in their Rocky Shores colorway. I had some fun with a little detail down the side. I wasn’t totally impressed with the hat pattern. It felt like it was too tall in the crown and from the pictures I can tell I was right.

Today I’ve started another set for London. This time in Ky Baby Knits Blackberry Ridge Merino in Kipper. This promises to be a fun color to knit with.

I haven’t forgotten that I said I’d be opening up for a custom slot. I’m still planning on doing that but first I need to get my feet back under me. I had hoped to offer it at the end of this month but the end of the month is here and I’m still working on things that I should have had done halfway through the month. I can’t complain too much because at least I’m here to be whining, right?

One of my dearest friends in this world is Suzanne Dunford, usually referred to here as Soozy. I have been privileged to call her my friend since 2003. Of course when I was introduced to her I thought, why on earth would I want to be friends with her?

I quickly found out that there were many reasons and we became very good friends. When we first met she was pregnant with child #4 and I had just recently discovered that cloth diapering had become quite a different animal from when I tried it in 1991. I asked her if she planned to cloth diaper and she laughed and told me there was no way she would do it.

Her opinion of cloth diapering quickly changed and before I knew what was happening she was a cloth diapering addict and I was knitting wool soakers. I give Soozy full credit for me becoming the knitter I am today. She called me on my mistakes when I made them and urged me to always be better. Because of her I eventually developed my own pattern. Currently it lives inside my head but I’ve been giving some thought to putting it down on paper because I’ve had requests for it lately. I’m not sure that I’m a pattern writer though so that idea is simmering on the back burner for now. But I digress.

Just like I was not entirely happy with any pattern out there for soakers, Soozy wasn’t entirely happy with any diaper. Soozy being Soozy there was only one thing to do. Make her own pattern. I’ve been proud to have a small peek into the evolution that has followed and today her diapers are in high demand. She’s gone huge but she’s done it the right way. I have so much admiration for her because of so many of her business practices. Rather than explain those to you I’d have you read her words.

I’ve always been proud to call her my friend and even prouder to knit for her. Many projects I’ve done for her have been featured here. I knit things for her I could never wear myself because she’s got A Body whereas I’m more of a shape (round). I’m even prouder of what she’s accomplished in such a short amount of time with nothing but her own ideas and ambition. Everyone should have a friend like her.

I leave you with her campaign. These pictures make me want to buy a few diapers but Pa clearly is too large for them and the dogs are too small.

Well I was going to leave you with it…I can’t seem to make it work. Go look.

I have been going back and forth on opening occasionally for a custom slot like the old days. I do miss my babies and knitting for London has been quite fun. Speaking of London, check out the last set.

I love the longies!!!

So, I’m thinking I might open for a custom every now and then. I still have to think it out.

How could I *not* want to see more pictures of my wool like this??