No wonder I was complaining

Last Wednesday was the hottest day since July 1977! I was living here then in an apartment with no air conditioning. The building was old and the systems had never been updated. The electrical service could not even support a window unit. In order to sleep, I would put a box fan on either side of my bed and drape a wet washcloth over my face. I was in graduate school then so I probably spent my days at the studio where it was somewhat cooler.


Finished the first sock from Mary's yarn. One more to go and I can begin the I Love Gansey socks.


Also finished the first sleeve of my Tangled Yoke cardigan. I have really been enjoying the Plain & Fancy Sheep & Wool yarn. To keep the variegation subtle, I switched to using two different skeins once the ribbing was complete.


I've been spending lots of time uploading pictures to Flickr for my Ravelry page. This little EZ February Baby Sweater is from several years ago. It is my favorite baby pattern - what a classic.


Peach says pay attention to ME!

Progress, purchases & a favorite bag

After a fair amount of tinking (for some reason I kept dropping YOs), I have finished Clue 3. I am enjoying this KAL so much that I ordered Hanami and Spring Tootsies from Melanie.


Even though my Sidewinder wasn't in Time Out long enough for me to truly forgive it, I bit the bullet and finished it. This time, there was no unpleasant surprise.

Sangeeta, sadly blogless these days, had a Yarn Swap and Sale party at her house this past Saturday. I took three grocery bags full of yarn and only came home with one. That one was mostly yarn no one wanted plus enough for two pairs of socks that I got from Mary. With the money I made, I bought two books that have been on my wish list.


Knitting for Peace combines history, contact information and patterns in a well written and designed format. There is a great sweater pattern that uses odds and ends of yarn in an interesting and clever way.


So far there are two sweaters and a scarf from Knitting Nature on my Want To Knit list.


This bag from Obey The Pure Breed makes me laugh every time I use it. Check out the extensive list of breed, mutt, baby, cat and peace items available from this hilarious site. My only gripe, nothing with Deerhounds.

Hound News & Knitting

Important Deerhound News!
Extra! Extra! Cleod, a Deerhound, stars as Sirius Black's animagus in Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. Read about it in Christie Keith's entry over at the Pet Connection blog.


Clue 3 of Mystery Stole 3 comes out tomorrow. I have completed Clue 1.


And Clue 2.


Just one small problem. I absent-mindedly repeated two rows so the reverse chevron has a bit of a detour. At least it is symmetrical. I am still loving the Malabrigo Lace Weight. The Yarn Lounge got a shipment today of lots of delectable colors.


Laura attends Sunday Yarn Church. She has had fun making the Bubble Pullover from Knitting Nature by Norah Gaughan. Laura's enthusiasm inspired me to take another look at the book and now it is on my wish list.


This shot shows the hexagon sections a bit more clearly.

Jennifer, I couldn't figure out how else to contact you. I don't teach weaving but theVisual Arts Center of Richmond (formerly The Hand Workshop) offers weaving classes.

Knitting without electricity

I was going to take a picture of my Mystery Stole 3 after Chart A and post it last night. Instead, we had an intense thunderstorm and the power went out. Usually the outage is fairly brief and the only thing to do is wait a few minutes before the lights flicker and come back on. Last night I lit a candle and wondered how on earth any fancy knitting got done after dark in days gone by. It was only about 8:00 pm, way too early for bed, and my knitting neurons were twitching. I dug out my very bright camping lantern, put it on the table, and had just enough light to continue with Chart B of Clue 1. I kept going until after 10:00 when I finally felt sleepy enough to go to bed. The power finally came back on at 2:30 am. How do I know? My alarm system horn was going off and wouldn't let me sleep! I hope it didn't wake the neighbors. After some knitting this morning, I am about 1/3 through Chart B. It is an enjoyable project so far. The Malabrigo Lace Weight is a dream to handle and stands up well to tinking.


As soon as Clue 1 for MS3 was available, all knitting on the Horcrux socks halted. Because they are so very dark, they are almost impossible to photograph well. You may just be able to see the little light flecks which are actually subtle sparkles. Laura, from Sunday Yarn Church, saw the socks and said they reminded her of the dining room ceiling at Hogwarts. And she didn't even know I was knitting Horcrux socks! Speaking of HP, I splurged and ordered the audio version of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows from Amazon, even paying for delivery. The plan: wear my Horcrux socks while I knit the latest MS3 clue and listen to Jim Dale read.

Lace Mania

Teri-Kay's Birthday Socks are finished!

Can you tell they are lace? She is wearing just the sort of shoes I had pictured for these socks.


Victorian Lace Socks designed by Lorri Ann Romesberg for the Six Sox Knitalong at Yahoo. I used the Fleece Artist Sea Wool sock yarn (70% merino, 30% sea cell) on US#1 dpns. Begun June 9, completed June 17. The chart was easy and interesting to follow. The yarn felt silky and smooth. I enjoyed this project.


The Yarn Lounge received some of the new Malabrigo 100% baby merino laceweight yarn on Friday. I saw it, felt it and lusted after it yesterday but had no excuse to purchase any. Last night I signed up to participate in Mystery Stole 3. When I downloaded the introductory instuctions I discovered that 1200 yards of white or black laceweight yarn was recommended for the project. Just the excuse I needed!


This is my unblocked gauge swatch using US#3 needles. The single ply yarn is very soft but still quite sturdy. I am looking forward to beginning my stole on June 29.

Frog Pond, FOs & Fools

This pattern in the Winter 2004 Knitters inspired my first attempt at lace. It was to be my next door neighbor's 2005 Christimas present.


UFO completion is related to stash shopping but when I pulled out my half finished scarf, I knew it was destined for the frog pond.


Mistakes that might have been okay two years ago just aren't acceptable now.


These are only some of the more obvious flaws.
She got a store bought present that year.


Marge used to come to Yarn Church. She recently finished a scarf she had begun there and sent me this picture.


While waiting for the a/c to kick in yesterday (I gave up waiting until June 1), I finished these socks.
Details:
Basic sock pattern from A Knitter's Handy Book of Patterns. K5, P3 ribbing. Forgot to do the sl1,k1 heel flap.
Sock one - leg on 2s, foot on 1s. Second sock - forgot to switch to 1s.
2 skeins Regia Silk Color yarn. 55% merino, 25% polyamide, 20% silk. Machine washable.
Didn't really like the color combo until Teri-Kay saw it and declared it Retro. She was right.


As soon as I finished the socks, I cast on for the somewhat lacy Fools Rush Sock, a free pattern by Cassandra Thoreson. I'm using more stash, this time some handpainted Wildfoote from Brown Sheep.

Blocking

Every single mistake just screamed at me while I was pinning it out. I know they won't really show when I am wearing it. It will be dry and ready to unpin when I go to teach my class tomorrow night.