Bizarre Market & a Surprise

Chop Suey Books held its quarterly Bizarre Market today. Look who stopped by and played for us.


Melanie from The Yarn Lounge had a table to sell some of her knitting projects.


I sold odds and ends that I have collected over the years. Made enough to fill my gas tank and pay for lunch. It was a beautiful day and I saw lots of friends. When I got home I had a package - no socks, scarf or mittens but some beautiful handspun wool - sent to me by Heather B., my Sock Wars victim.


Dogwood says - hmm, let me see what all the excitement is about.

A most perfect creature of Heaven

Sir Walter Scott called the Deerhound a most perfect creature of Heaven and I certainly agree. Cousin to the Greyhound and the Irish Wolfhound, the Scottish Deerhound is hardier and funnier than a Greyhound and more elegant and longer lived than the Wolfhound. My personal opinion, of course, but this is my blog. Known as The Royal Dog of Scotland, they were used to hunt and bring down the Highland Red Deer. They were companions as well as hunters, loving the comforts of home as much as the excitement of the chase. These giant, noble dogs are little changed since the 19th century, unlike many other breeds which have been so-called improved. If you would like more information, please visit the Scottish Deerhound Club of America website.
Thanks to Catbookmom for her question.

Chocolate

There was a package in my mailbox today. It wasn't my Socks of Doom; it wasn't my ISE3 scarf; it wasn't my mitten exchange mittens; it was chocolate! My scarf pal, Chris sent me this super delicious chocolate bar and a very nice thank you note. What an excellent pal.

The Last Knit

My friend Deborah sent this link. Hope you enjoy it as much as I did.

Oh Baby!

I can knit at this week's temp job so I finished the baby blanket. The set is from Natural Knits for Babies and Moms, knit from Brown Sheep Blue Sky organic cotton in an undyed, natural cafe latte hue. Very soft on the hands & presumably on baby.

Tonight was Knit Night but I forgot to take pictures. It was a Slumber Party theme with a 10% discount on purchases if you wore your pjs. The Yarn Lounge provided a chair masseuse. After mine I was much too dozy to knit and had to come home.

Happy Birthday, Annie

Special birthday greetings from your special buddy, Moose.

SOCK WARS! Day 3

Finished! Thanks for the encouragement. I really didn't think I would finish today but I did. My friends at The Yarn Lounge really helped keep me on task this afternoon. Sorry the pictures aren't better but the socks are dark and I'm no photographer. Tomorrow the Socks of Doom begin their journey to Michigan and my victim, Heather.

SOCK WARS! Day 2

International Sock of Doom #1 is done and Sock #2 is started. I had hoped to get to the heel turning of #2 tonight but I fell asleep instead. Tomorrow will mean a push to finish Sock #2 so I can get them in the mail on Monday morning. It is Kill or Be Killed in Sock Wars.
The pattern is actually pretty enjoyable, although I am not sure how wearable it is going to be. Knitting on #4s to get the pattern gauge, I am using Jo Sharp Silkroad DK Tweed. I love the feel but the socks are a bit sober looking for my taste.
Thank you all for your encouraging comments. All warriors need help from home.

Mastering Color

Taught a workshop today on color at the Studio School of the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts. It was lots of fun. There were only two students and they both are friends of Roz! (See Roz with her red blanket and grey sweater in some earlier blog entries)


Meet Chesley. She is also a knitter and hangs out at The Yarn Lounge.


Chesley worked hard on the color mixing exercises.


Meet Eric. We invited him to come hang out at The Yarn Lounge too. He said he had been once to see Roz. We said - come again.


After finishing his color exercises, Eric did a color study of a beautiful gourd.

Teaching color classes is satisfying because my students always seem to learn something useful. The colors are always beautiful. My students today were particularly enjoyable and we had some great conversations. They didn't mind me knitting on the International Sock of Doom either.

SOCK WARS!

International Sock of Doom


Friday at 6:00 pm EDT. First few rows.


Friday at 11:30 pm EDT. Heel turned.

NKC

Just my boy Oscar smiling. No knitting to show - I'm making the Rowan Anna knee socks but the lace scrunches together and looks like a lumpy pile. The baby blanket needs to wait until it is finished because a progress shot will be kind of boring.

Tomorrow is the start of Sock Wars! I will post progress shots to document my speed or lack of. I just hope I can kill before I am killed.

First Rant

Today I compromised my integrity and took a drug test. Just for a temp job working a total of 20 hours answering telephones at AAA. Me, ol' moderation Fitt, too scary to trust. I think businesses and the government should keep their noses out of folks' private lives. But I went along with it. I like to think I have some moral high ground but have to wonder now where would I actually draw the line? I didn't go silently to the bathroom with my little plastic cup. I objected, but I went.

And the winner is......

Polka dots!


Thanks all for your votes. It was about 50/50 but the fish wasn't orange enough in person and the polka dots just jumped.

I did get some other fish buttons to send to my pal as part of her package.



To answer a few questions, I didn't know what my pal meant by size small so I just made the mittens too small for me. The pattern is going to be published by and available from The Yarn Lounge. And if you haven't been to their blog, you should check it out.

Flip Top Mitt progress

This shows the waste yarn holding the place for the thumb.


This shows the waste yarn that is holding the place for the top of the mitten.


This shows the stitches that have been picked up to knit the top of the mitten.


Do you like this button for the mitts?


Or do you prefer the orange glass fish button?

Mittens! Get Your Mittens!

At some point I signed up for a mitten swap. I got my mitten pal yesterday and plan to make some of my Flip Top Mitts for her. She requested earth tones, yellow, red or green. I will go with bright yellow Halcyon yarn that I found in my stash.

Scarf finished

After much fanatical knitting, and knitting, and knitting, I finally finished the scarf for my ISE3 pal. It is knit with Euroflax Original 100% linen. After a hot machine wash and dry, the drape was just perfect! I hope my pal likes it. He is a designer who lives in L.A.

Flip Top Mitts

The students in my Mittens & Gloves class are making these flip top mitts. It is an original pattern, knitted in Lamb's Pride Worsted, with hand made glass buttons. The pattern will soon be available from The Yarn Lounge.

The ISE3 scarf is finished. Photos to be taken and posted tomorrow.

The leg warmers were well received and have been on a motorcycle ride. The long ago bf is being treated for Non Hodgkins Lymphoma so your healing thoughts, prayers, etc. would be greatly appreciated.

Hounds

Oscar and his friend, Goldie, in the back yard.

HRH

Meet HRH Kittywippet (Miss), mother of Moose, queen of the Ragtag Horde (Annie's gang of Whippets). Miss Kitty is waiting, rather impatiently, for a sweater she decided I was supposed to make for her. She doesn't believe in waiting so she is nagging me on a regular basis. She doesn't understand that I have the ISE3 and Sock Wars to take care of before she gets her sweater. Miss Kitty is aged and somewhat frail (although still quite beautiful) and she uses those conditions to make me feel guilty.

Moose says, What about ME? Where is MY sweater? Huh?

Yarn Church

Our new session met today and it is going to be a great class. Even though Mimi didn't make it, I am sure she will approve of the mix of six students.


Marge is finishing a sweater for her daughter.









Kate is finishing a sweater for some lucky future baby.









Stacy was sewing up her very first project - complete with intarsia skull and crossbones.



Teri-Kay worked on a shrug and Holly began her wedding capelet. I forgot to get pictures of their projects but will have them next week.

My ISE3 scarf is half way finished. Yay. Pictures to come when it is washed and ready to send.

Mozzarella

Fresh from Coppola's Deli, just a block east of The Yarn Lounge, my Saturday sandwich.

Chick

No new pictures of my knitting. I am saving the linen scarf until it is finished. So here is a FO from Stewart's pile. How could I resist when it was right there in the middle of the table today?

Chick from Rowan Classic Babies. Cashsoft Baby DK for the sweater & Louet Sportweight Mohair for the chicks.

ISE3 part 1

Got my secret International Scarf Exchange 3 pal today and he is a designer from Los Angeles. I was immediately inspired! I love the way the linen drapes after it is washed so I am making him a linen scarf. Hope he doesn't figure out who I am because I am completely ruining the surprise by posting this picture.

Flying Fingers

Jean from The Scottish Lamb is just about my favorite blogger. She has been writing about her trip to Fair Isle, Scotland. Check out her video clip of some of the fastest knitters in the world. It makes my knitting look like I am going in reverse time. The video may take some time to load but it is definitely worth the wait.

Socks Wrist Warmers

I began making socks from my favorite pattern but they seemed a bit snug. Since they were only a few inches I decided to make wrist warmers instead!



Knit Picks 100% merino sock yarn, Fly Fishing color way on 3mm needles.


Detail of beginning picot hem - CO, knit 6 rows stockinette; one row K2tog, YO; knit 6 rows stockinette; next row pick up stitches from CO as you knit & K2tog.





Detail of ending picot hem. After K2tog, YO row, knit 4 rows stockinette & BO. Then whip stitch hem.






One finished & one to go.

Rainy Day Dogs

Warm Legs

With thanks to my anonymous model.



















Tried to take a picture of Ginnie Lee in the window of The Yarn Lounge but it turned out too arty.



(Hint: if you look under the P in it's hip to knit, you can see her paw.)

Saturday Sky

Yarn Lounge Saturday

Roz showed us her nearly finished sweater.










Sangeeta modelled Susan's sock made from yarn I destashed at the Stash Party.










I made progress on the leg warmers.








And we had a feast from Thai Curry House - one of four Thai restaurants within a few blocks of TYL.