Not really about knitting
OK, so I've knit, tinked, and knit the same row on the flower basket shawl about 3 times now. (I'm up to 200+ stitches so it takes a while.) First, I thought I screwed up because I was watching tv and just skipped a part. The second time, the first half of the pattern was fine but then the second half ended one stitch too soon. I have tinked back to the beginning and need to count the stitches again and figure out if (a) I can't knit and watch tv at the same time or (b) I just dropped a stitch somewhere along the line. Unfortunately, I've been feeling moody lately so I'm not up for it.
The other two current projects, hubby's sweater and my niece's poncho, just aren't calling to me. I had major startitis this weekend and really just wanted a new project. I started Knitty's ribbon Xback but frogged it after a few rows. Although the ribbon looked very pretty when knit, I didn't have the patience for keeping the ribbon straight while knitting. Even though I adjusted for gauge differences in the ribbon I was using vs. what is in the pattern, I didn't like the way it was going to look on me.
I've finally got my Interlacements shipment (via a yarn coop so I ordered this a while ago). The yarn wasn't quite what I was expecting. I thought it would be more of a solid color but its more heathered than it looked in the photo. Apparently, I also wasn't paying attention to the stated gauge because its heavier than I thought. I wanted it for a summer sweater/cardigan but now I'm not so sure. When I get the camera charged, I'll post a photo for your viewing pleasure.
The only thing that is coming along these days is my idea for a tank top design that I am submitting to Glampyre's contest. I've been rethinking some of the design details but I'm hoping to submit it in the next week or so. I've been obsessing over tank top patterns for the last few weeks and then started thinking that I should design my own. I saw Glampyre's post about having a guest designer so I thought, why not go for it?
Hopefully, there will be more progress for the next post.
27 April 2006
19 April 2006
100 things
OK, I have been knitting but just on the flower basket shawl and hubby's sweater. The progress does not make for very interesting photography so I figured I would take a shot at the "100 things" list. I know I like reading them on other people's blogs so hopefully you'll enjoy this one.
1. I'm the second child out of five.
2. Most people assume I'm the oldest when they hear me talk about my family.
3. I hate arguing with anyone, it will literally make me start trembling and I almost always immediately regret anything I say. (I can be quite mean when I get going.)
4. I'm 14 years older than my youngest sibling. She doesn't realize that many "new songs" are remakes from the 80s.
5. I only started seriously knitting about 1.5 years ago although I originally learned how to while still in high school.
6. My favorite color is dark, forest green.
7. I went to an all-girls school from 7th grade through 12th.
8. I didn't live in a coed dorm until my junior year in college. (Where are you supposed to look when the guys in the hallway are wearing nothing but boxers?)
9. I always wanted a pet cat but discovered as an adult that I'm deathly allergic to them.
10. We got a dog instead. (Genny is a somewhat neurotic, now 5 years old GSD mix.)
11. I wanted to be an artist for many years.
12. I quit taking art classes in high school after a "creative" disagreement with the school's art director and have never taken another art class since.
13. I love acquiring things that people I know have made (like jewelry or artwork)--it makes it personal in addition to being lovely.
14. Although I would never buy one and barely drive past the speed limit, I love cars that go really, obnoxiously fast.
15. As I've gotten older, I find that I like having "alone time" despite the fact that I grew up in a large family.
16. We have a four bedroom house: one room for me (crafts and movies), one room for my hubby (computer and books), a guest room, and our bedroom. I don't think I can go back to
having less space.
17. I have always been overweight--not huge but just enough to give me a complex.
18. I have a very hard time losing weight although I can build muscle pretty quickly.
19. I wear a bikini anyway. (I figure it will only get worse as I get older and if you don't like it, don't look.)
20. I stress out about my siblings' futures.
21. I managed to get through college without playing a single drinking game.
22. I dated my HS boyfriend until my junior year in college.
23. Despite my feminist tendencies, I really thought I was going to marry my HS boyfriend. (Thank goodness that one didn't work out.)
24. I didn't date again until I was in grad school.
25. Did I mention that I was a late bloomer?
26. Over the last year, I have become a yarn snob but am trying to get back to my yarn roots because it is way too expensive.
27. These past 7 months is the longest I have been unemployed since I was 16.
28. I once worked for an acupuncturist.
29. The following year I worked for the only female in the antique oriental rug industry in NYC. (She was a hoot.)
30. I've had some friends longer than my little sister has been alive.
31. I love to drink coffee, not just because of the caffeine (which is key) but also because I enjoy the ritual.
32. I grew up in NYC, Manhattan actually. This seems to really freak people out who are not from the northeast. I once had someone tell me that they didn't think anyone actually lived in Manhattan.
33. I have two tattoos--neither one of which I have told my parents about even though I've had them for many years.
34. My mother cried when she found out I had pierced my tongue. It led to a very ugly argument regarding "how I could do such a thing". Then she begged me to never tell my father.
35. I think my dad actually knows about the tattoos and peircing and just chooses to never acknowledge them.
36. I was scared of dogs as a kid and never really was a "dog person".
37. I wish I could be as cool as Cesar Millan.
38. One day I would like to open my own store that sells handmade crafts and, of course, beautiful yarn.
39. I would like to wind up in North Carolina to live.
40. I have most of my adult live in the south (North Carolina for college, Texas for grad school, DC for a few years, and now Florida).
41. #39 is a little scary to me.
42. DC is a southern city, I know people like to think that it isn't but it really is. Talk to the people who actually live there as opposed to the transitional, political types and you'll see.
43. I wish I could knit faster to keep up with my dream list of projects.
44. I hate bugs. I mean really hate bugs.
45. I never thought I would have to learn to do yard work. The bugs and I are trying to work out a truce.
46. I bake when I'm stressed out.
47. One of the first things I learned to bake was cookies (not the cut and drop on the baking sheet kind) because I felt cheated that my mother never baked cookies for us when we were kids.
48. My paternal grandmother lived with us from the time I was two.
49. I was devestated when she died and regretted all the mean things I had said to her when I was a kid.
50. Despite 20+ years in the US, my grandmother never learned English so we all had to speak Spanish to her.
51. My Spanish skills are deteriorating since the only people I ever talk to in Spanish are my parents. (My parents speak English, they just prefer Spanish. My siblings and I all speak English to each other.)
52. I miss having my family near but at the same time I'm glad they are not too close.
53. I never thought that I wanted to have kids. Now that I'm married, I'm not so sure--I keep going back and forth about it.
54. I love other people's kids.
55. It was a shock to my family that I wasn't married by the time that I was out of college and that my older sister got married years before I did.
56. In college, I guy I liked told me that I wasn't the kind of girl guys dated but rather married.
57. Despite having my heart broken a few times, I'm glad I didn't marry any of the guys that came before my husband. Obviously, I love my husband to pieces but I can also look back and see why those other relationships would not have made me this happy.
58. My husband and I eloped after dating for about 7 months. (For context, I averaged about 4 years with a boyfriend beforehand.)
59. We didn't live together until almost a month after we got married.
60. We were long-distance throughout our entire dating relationship and after we got married we were worried that we would get on each others' nerves when we finally lived together.
61. I used to joke about trading him in after a few years. I was mostly kidding. (I don't joke about it anymore.)
62. We didn't tell anyone we'd gotten married until almost 2 months later.
63. I don't really have any girlfriends here.
64. The knitting events I have checked out are all attended by women who are older than my mother.
65. My immediate neighbors are retired and have kids older than me.
66. I dislike going running but always feel better after I've done it. (Now dragging myself out of the house is the tough part.)
67. I always wanted to be tall but maxed out at 5'3". My little sister is 5'8"--so not fair.
68. I'm only about an inch taller than my older sister but look much bigger than her because she has a petite build.
69. When my older sister was pregnant, I still weighed more than she did. (talk about depressing and bad for the self-image)
70. I have naturally curly hair that I have finally come to accept. It also helps that the beauty products people have started making decent stuff for curly hair.
71. When I was a kid, my mom got tired of straightening my hair and fighting me to get a comb through it and cut it real short--think butch-short which can be kind of traumatizing when you're an 11-year old girl.
72. I was glad when I my boobs started to come in the following year so the neighborhood boys stopped saying that I looked like a boy.
73. My mom thought I just wanted glasses, so she didn't take me to the eye doctor until the teacher sent home a note saying I couldn't see the blackboard.
74. I was recently diagnosed with high-blood pressure and I'm not quite 33. Its very depressing to realize that you will have to be on preventative medication for the rest of your life at this age.
75. There are almost no pictures of me from the time I was about 13 until about 22. I still hate to be in photos.
76. There are no photos of me and my husband from our wedding day. (We showed up at the courthouse in street gear and didn't even have rings to exchange.)
77. We are not a very romantic couple but are very much in love.
78. I am very organized about work but not my personal life.
79. The summer I spent in New Mexico for field work was one of the loneliest times of my life.
80. I get very worked up over people who present statistics as hard facts without telling you how they have arrived at those numbers. (I have a statistics background.)
I know that I still need 20 more things to complete the list but nothing else comes to me right now. I'll revise and repost when I can come up with more stuff.
ETA on 2 May 2006
81. I'm ABD (all but dissertation) in Sociology. I defended my proposal, got my data, and even wrote a few chapters. Then, I left to start working full-time.
82. I don't regret not finishing and I don't plan to go back.
83. I would be willing to go back to school but definitely in a different field.
84. I played field hockey in high school and really liked it.
85. I was too scared that I wasn't good enough so I never bothered to try out for the college team.
86. I learned to row while I was in grad school and thought it was great. It was the only thing I would happily give up sleep for on a weekend.
87. Although I am not an outdoor person, I find that quiet moments in nature are breathtaking.
88. I've been camping once and would really be OK if I never went again. (Did I mention I don't like bugs? Also, I'm not real good with the whole "roughing it" concept.)
89. I love cheesy movies--we're talking seriously chee-zee and the teeny-bopper ones are the best. I figure life is hard, I want my escapism to be complete brain candy.
90. I was a co-founder of the Latino student organization that still exists today at my alma mater.
91. I took French, Italian, and Latin at various points in my life and remember almost nothing other than my professors.
92. I have always wanted to read Paradise Lost but in a classroom setting so I don't miss any of the nuances.
93. I hope to run a marathon before I turn 40.
94. People often think I'm introverted or shy but I'm not. I just like to take my time to assess a situation and figure out how I fit in.
95. I become horribly mortified if I think I have done something wrong or someone points out that I have done something wrong.
96. I prefer tech-y gifts (think TiVo or PDA) to traditionally sentimental ones (like roses or candy).
97. I believe Valentine's Day should be celebrated as an affirmation of all the people in your life that you love-friends and family, not just lovers.
98. Whatever I do in life, I hope that I enjoy it and make a positive impact on others in the process.
99. I cry over sad stories and hate that I can't stop the tears.
100. What does it say about me that it was so hard to come up with 100 things to post?
OK, I have been knitting but just on the flower basket shawl and hubby's sweater. The progress does not make for very interesting photography so I figured I would take a shot at the "100 things" list. I know I like reading them on other people's blogs so hopefully you'll enjoy this one.
1. I'm the second child out of five.
2. Most people assume I'm the oldest when they hear me talk about my family.
3. I hate arguing with anyone, it will literally make me start trembling and I almost always immediately regret anything I say. (I can be quite mean when I get going.)
4. I'm 14 years older than my youngest sibling. She doesn't realize that many "new songs" are remakes from the 80s.
5. I only started seriously knitting about 1.5 years ago although I originally learned how to while still in high school.
6. My favorite color is dark, forest green.
7. I went to an all-girls school from 7th grade through 12th.
8. I didn't live in a coed dorm until my junior year in college. (Where are you supposed to look when the guys in the hallway are wearing nothing but boxers?)
9. I always wanted a pet cat but discovered as an adult that I'm deathly allergic to them.
10. We got a dog instead. (Genny is a somewhat neurotic, now 5 years old GSD mix.)
11. I wanted to be an artist for many years.
12. I quit taking art classes in high school after a "creative" disagreement with the school's art director and have never taken another art class since.
13. I love acquiring things that people I know have made (like jewelry or artwork)--it makes it personal in addition to being lovely.
14. Although I would never buy one and barely drive past the speed limit, I love cars that go really, obnoxiously fast.
15. As I've gotten older, I find that I like having "alone time" despite the fact that I grew up in a large family.
16. We have a four bedroom house: one room for me (crafts and movies), one room for my hubby (computer and books), a guest room, and our bedroom. I don't think I can go back to
having less space.
17. I have always been overweight--not huge but just enough to give me a complex.
18. I have a very hard time losing weight although I can build muscle pretty quickly.
19. I wear a bikini anyway. (I figure it will only get worse as I get older and if you don't like it, don't look.)
20. I stress out about my siblings' futures.
21. I managed to get through college without playing a single drinking game.
22. I dated my HS boyfriend until my junior year in college.
23. Despite my feminist tendencies, I really thought I was going to marry my HS boyfriend. (Thank goodness that one didn't work out.)
24. I didn't date again until I was in grad school.
25. Did I mention that I was a late bloomer?
26. Over the last year, I have become a yarn snob but am trying to get back to my yarn roots because it is way too expensive.
27. These past 7 months is the longest I have been unemployed since I was 16.
28. I once worked for an acupuncturist.
29. The following year I worked for the only female in the antique oriental rug industry in NYC. (She was a hoot.)
30. I've had some friends longer than my little sister has been alive.
31. I love to drink coffee, not just because of the caffeine (which is key) but also because I enjoy the ritual.
32. I grew up in NYC, Manhattan actually. This seems to really freak people out who are not from the northeast. I once had someone tell me that they didn't think anyone actually lived in Manhattan.
33. I have two tattoos--neither one of which I have told my parents about even though I've had them for many years.
34. My mother cried when she found out I had pierced my tongue. It led to a very ugly argument regarding "how I could do such a thing". Then she begged me to never tell my father.
35. I think my dad actually knows about the tattoos and peircing and just chooses to never acknowledge them.
36. I was scared of dogs as a kid and never really was a "dog person".
37. I wish I could be as cool as Cesar Millan.
38. One day I would like to open my own store that sells handmade crafts and, of course, beautiful yarn.
39. I would like to wind up in North Carolina to live.
40. I have most of my adult live in the south (North Carolina for college, Texas for grad school, DC for a few years, and now Florida).
41. #39 is a little scary to me.
42. DC is a southern city, I know people like to think that it isn't but it really is. Talk to the people who actually live there as opposed to the transitional, political types and you'll see.
43. I wish I could knit faster to keep up with my dream list of projects.
44. I hate bugs. I mean really hate bugs.
45. I never thought I would have to learn to do yard work. The bugs and I are trying to work out a truce.
46. I bake when I'm stressed out.
47. One of the first things I learned to bake was cookies (not the cut and drop on the baking sheet kind) because I felt cheated that my mother never baked cookies for us when we were kids.
48. My paternal grandmother lived with us from the time I was two.
49. I was devestated when she died and regretted all the mean things I had said to her when I was a kid.
50. Despite 20+ years in the US, my grandmother never learned English so we all had to speak Spanish to her.
51. My Spanish skills are deteriorating since the only people I ever talk to in Spanish are my parents. (My parents speak English, they just prefer Spanish. My siblings and I all speak English to each other.)
52. I miss having my family near but at the same time I'm glad they are not too close.
53. I never thought that I wanted to have kids. Now that I'm married, I'm not so sure--I keep going back and forth about it.
54. I love other people's kids.
55. It was a shock to my family that I wasn't married by the time that I was out of college and that my older sister got married years before I did.
56. In college, I guy I liked told me that I wasn't the kind of girl guys dated but rather married.
57. Despite having my heart broken a few times, I'm glad I didn't marry any of the guys that came before my husband. Obviously, I love my husband to pieces but I can also look back and see why those other relationships would not have made me this happy.
58. My husband and I eloped after dating for about 7 months. (For context, I averaged about 4 years with a boyfriend beforehand.)
59. We didn't live together until almost a month after we got married.
60. We were long-distance throughout our entire dating relationship and after we got married we were worried that we would get on each others' nerves when we finally lived together.
61. I used to joke about trading him in after a few years. I was mostly kidding. (I don't joke about it anymore.)
62. We didn't tell anyone we'd gotten married until almost 2 months later.
63. I don't really have any girlfriends here.
64. The knitting events I have checked out are all attended by women who are older than my mother.
65. My immediate neighbors are retired and have kids older than me.
66. I dislike going running but always feel better after I've done it. (Now dragging myself out of the house is the tough part.)
67. I always wanted to be tall but maxed out at 5'3". My little sister is 5'8"--so not fair.
68. I'm only about an inch taller than my older sister but look much bigger than her because she has a petite build.
69. When my older sister was pregnant, I still weighed more than she did. (talk about depressing and bad for the self-image)
70. I have naturally curly hair that I have finally come to accept. It also helps that the beauty products people have started making decent stuff for curly hair.
71. When I was a kid, my mom got tired of straightening my hair and fighting me to get a comb through it and cut it real short--think butch-short which can be kind of traumatizing when you're an 11-year old girl.
72. I was glad when I my boobs started to come in the following year so the neighborhood boys stopped saying that I looked like a boy.
73. My mom thought I just wanted glasses, so she didn't take me to the eye doctor until the teacher sent home a note saying I couldn't see the blackboard.
74. I was recently diagnosed with high-blood pressure and I'm not quite 33. Its very depressing to realize that you will have to be on preventative medication for the rest of your life at this age.
75. There are almost no pictures of me from the time I was about 13 until about 22. I still hate to be in photos.
76. There are no photos of me and my husband from our wedding day. (We showed up at the courthouse in street gear and didn't even have rings to exchange.)
77. We are not a very romantic couple but are very much in love.
78. I am very organized about work but not my personal life.
79. The summer I spent in New Mexico for field work was one of the loneliest times of my life.
80. I get very worked up over people who present statistics as hard facts without telling you how they have arrived at those numbers. (I have a statistics background.)
I know that I still need 20 more things to complete the list but nothing else comes to me right now. I'll revise and repost when I can come up with more stuff.
ETA on 2 May 2006
81. I'm ABD (all but dissertation) in Sociology. I defended my proposal, got my data, and even wrote a few chapters. Then, I left to start working full-time.
82. I don't regret not finishing and I don't plan to go back.
83. I would be willing to go back to school but definitely in a different field.
84. I played field hockey in high school and really liked it.
85. I was too scared that I wasn't good enough so I never bothered to try out for the college team.
86. I learned to row while I was in grad school and thought it was great. It was the only thing I would happily give up sleep for on a weekend.
87. Although I am not an outdoor person, I find that quiet moments in nature are breathtaking.
88. I've been camping once and would really be OK if I never went again. (Did I mention I don't like bugs? Also, I'm not real good with the whole "roughing it" concept.)
89. I love cheesy movies--we're talking seriously chee-zee and the teeny-bopper ones are the best. I figure life is hard, I want my escapism to be complete brain candy.
90. I was a co-founder of the Latino student organization that still exists today at my alma mater.
91. I took French, Italian, and Latin at various points in my life and remember almost nothing other than my professors.
92. I have always wanted to read Paradise Lost but in a classroom setting so I don't miss any of the nuances.
93. I hope to run a marathon before I turn 40.
94. People often think I'm introverted or shy but I'm not. I just like to take my time to assess a situation and figure out how I fit in.
95. I become horribly mortified if I think I have done something wrong or someone points out that I have done something wrong.
96. I prefer tech-y gifts (think TiVo or PDA) to traditionally sentimental ones (like roses or candy).
97. I believe Valentine's Day should be celebrated as an affirmation of all the people in your life that you love-friends and family, not just lovers.
98. Whatever I do in life, I hope that I enjoy it and make a positive impact on others in the process.
99. I cry over sad stories and hate that I can't stop the tears.
100. What does it say about me that it was so hard to come up with 100 things to post?
13 April 2006
Knitting instead of housework
What a concept, ignore everything that needs to be done in the house and you can get quite a bit of knitting done. Well, after looking over all my wonderful new books, I have an idea for a shawl that I want to try out. However, I'm making myself finish at least 3 of my WIPs before I can cast on for my first original design. I did manage to work on 2 of the 3 WIPs yesterday.
First, hubby's sweater since he keeps making cracks about his project always falling to the bottom of the priority list. I don't know what I was smoking when I thought I was up to the armhole shaping but all I can say is that I'm glad I measured one more time just to be sure. The back was supposed to be 17" before starting the shaping and I only had 14". So, after some more ribbing, I could start the shaping. Here is what I've got so far:
Next time, I should really do the front and back at the same time because now I'm starting to worry that I won't get the same exact number of rows for the front and back. I'll definitely do both sleeves at the same time.
I also worked on the flower basket pattern. I think I have enough yarn to make a shoulder shawl. I need to buy a scale so I can start weighing how much yarn I've got leftover. Then I would have a better idea of how many yards I've got to work with.
Tha'ts right people, I'm being wild and crazy and there are currently no lifelines in the work. I know, I'm tempting the knitting gods but I've found that I usually only need to tink back a row or two since I am constantly counting the number of stitches on the needle and can pick up fairly quickly where I have missed a stitch.
Today, I need to do some actual housework. meh.
What a concept, ignore everything that needs to be done in the house and you can get quite a bit of knitting done. Well, after looking over all my wonderful new books, I have an idea for a shawl that I want to try out. However, I'm making myself finish at least 3 of my WIPs before I can cast on for my first original design. I did manage to work on 2 of the 3 WIPs yesterday.
First, hubby's sweater since he keeps making cracks about his project always falling to the bottom of the priority list. I don't know what I was smoking when I thought I was up to the armhole shaping but all I can say is that I'm glad I measured one more time just to be sure. The back was supposed to be 17" before starting the shaping and I only had 14". So, after some more ribbing, I could start the shaping. Here is what I've got so far:
Next time, I should really do the front and back at the same time because now I'm starting to worry that I won't get the same exact number of rows for the front and back. I'll definitely do both sleeves at the same time.
I also worked on the flower basket pattern. I think I have enough yarn to make a shoulder shawl. I need to buy a scale so I can start weighing how much yarn I've got leftover. Then I would have a better idea of how many yards I've got to work with.
Tha'ts right people, I'm being wild and crazy and there are currently no lifelines in the work. I know, I'm tempting the knitting gods but I've found that I usually only need to tink back a row or two since I am constantly counting the number of stitches on the needle and can pick up fairly quickly where I have missed a stitch.
Today, I need to do some actual housework. meh.
10 April 2006
Don't look behind that curtain...
It has been quite a while since I posted. This past weekend my in-laws came and they brought my husband's aunt and uncle with them. I was not expecting so many people so I was caught off guard. I've never been much of a hostess so I usually need advance notice to gear up for guests. However, the visit went well and we went to this wonderful restaurant that had the best food. We'll definitely be going there again.
OK, the weekend before we were in the DC area and were able to catch up with friends. It was so much fun to see everyone and just take it easy. Our friends' baby is getting so big (will be 1 in May) and he is so happy all the time. Every parent should be so lucky!
This trip also meant that I got to catch up with Trillian briefly. Her new spinning wheel is way cool, although a little intimidating. I definitely don't think I'm ready to try spinning. Of course, I say that now...who knows what the future holds. I keep trying to convince her to move to Florida and open up a yarn shop with me but so far, no luck. She did, however, gift me with a lovely skein of KnitPick's Shimmer in "Morning Mist", a pretty blue variegated yarn. So I had to buy the latest IK with the Trellis Scarf pattern since it uses just one skein of the KP Shimmer. While I was at Stitch DC, I also purchased a skein of Rowan's Kid Silk Haze in white. I have never used KSH but have noticed that many knitters in the Knitty Coffeeshop are quite pleased with it. (I bought a couple of other yarns but I think I will save those for the One Skein Secret Pal Exchange.)
So here's the yarn, the Shimmer on the left and the Kid Silk Haze on the right:
Did I mention that I picked up the Debbie Bliss Number 3 pattern book while I was there? Yep, that's on the right, next to the IK.
I've also spent some of my "yarn money" on new yarn books. Since the lace bug has bitten me, I got Meg Swanson's "A Gathering of Lace" and Sharon Miller's "Heirloom Knitting"--both fabulous books that make me want to run out and design my own lace shawl.
Because no knitter should be without the wisdom of Elizabeth Zimmerman, I got these two EZ classics:
There had to be more yarn, of course, with the "yarn money" so here is the cashmere from ColourMart. It is exactly like the photo they had on eBay (a combination of pink, taupe, and grey-brown plies) so I'm please with the 2300yds. There will definitely be some lace in my future.
Have I sufficiently distracted you so that you haven't noticed that lack of progress on any of my projects?
It has been quite a while since I posted. This past weekend my in-laws came and they brought my husband's aunt and uncle with them. I was not expecting so many people so I was caught off guard. I've never been much of a hostess so I usually need advance notice to gear up for guests. However, the visit went well and we went to this wonderful restaurant that had the best food. We'll definitely be going there again.
OK, the weekend before we were in the DC area and were able to catch up with friends. It was so much fun to see everyone and just take it easy. Our friends' baby is getting so big (will be 1 in May) and he is so happy all the time. Every parent should be so lucky!
This trip also meant that I got to catch up with Trillian briefly. Her new spinning wheel is way cool, although a little intimidating. I definitely don't think I'm ready to try spinning. Of course, I say that now...who knows what the future holds. I keep trying to convince her to move to Florida and open up a yarn shop with me but so far, no luck. She did, however, gift me with a lovely skein of KnitPick's Shimmer in "Morning Mist", a pretty blue variegated yarn. So I had to buy the latest IK with the Trellis Scarf pattern since it uses just one skein of the KP Shimmer. While I was at Stitch DC, I also purchased a skein of Rowan's Kid Silk Haze in white. I have never used KSH but have noticed that many knitters in the Knitty Coffeeshop are quite pleased with it. (I bought a couple of other yarns but I think I will save those for the One Skein Secret Pal Exchange.)
So here's the yarn, the Shimmer on the left and the Kid Silk Haze on the right:
Did I mention that I picked up the Debbie Bliss Number 3 pattern book while I was there? Yep, that's on the right, next to the IK.
I've also spent some of my "yarn money" on new yarn books. Since the lace bug has bitten me, I got Meg Swanson's "A Gathering of Lace" and Sharon Miller's "Heirloom Knitting"--both fabulous books that make me want to run out and design my own lace shawl.
Because no knitter should be without the wisdom of Elizabeth Zimmerman, I got these two EZ classics:
There had to be more yarn, of course, with the "yarn money" so here is the cashmere from ColourMart. It is exactly like the photo they had on eBay (a combination of pink, taupe, and grey-brown plies) so I'm please with the 2300yds. There will definitely be some lace in my future.
Have I sufficiently distracted you so that you haven't noticed that lack of progress on any of my projects?
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