Riding the Bike with One Pedal.

Category: knitting (Page 3 of 5)

Jugglin’

I’ve got 3 (THREE) WIP’s (Work In Progress) right now. I love them each in their own special way.

First we have Jeanie. The beautiful cabled-drop-stitch stole from the current Knitty. It’s gotten way more logical since those first ten rows, when I contemplated chucking the entire thing across the room, deterred by the fact some of my favorite stitch markers on the dang thing. (Cupcakes and penguins from Good to Be Girl!) It will be de-gorgeous, but that requires me getting back to working on it:

Jeanie Stole

Loooove dem cables!

But then I got distracted. Shiny things off in the ditch. Oooo! Looky, looky! And teetering off I did a-go.

I Love Traveling Stitches!

These are the Very Terhi Wristwarmers, from Yarnissima. I love them. LOVE THEM. The yarn is Nashua Handknits Julia, in “Coleus”. I am fascinated by the traveling stitches and their progression and logic and order somehow click in my brain, way more than standard cabling does. I love the switchy-switchy. I’ve learned a few things on this, just after the first complete set of rows, and I’ve even done crazy hitchy things like, go back and undo some stitches that were a-travelin’ the wrong way, without undoing everything. These are complex, and I am unable to watch tv as well while working on them. And because both my active projects seem to involve cables, I decided, yes, I need a third project in the air (not counting all those “started yet hibernating” projects) – I cast on for some toe-up socks using ShiBui yarn, in the brightest, happiest colorway you could imagine (“Spectrum”).

Shibui Sock

I always knit my socks (and apparently, wristwarmers) 2-at-a-time, but when you’re doing toe-up, it just makes sense to make each toe and THEN start sailing along with them on two circs. (Or magic loop.) I was initially thinking these would be my basic, mindless knitting – standard ribbing & whatnot …. but then I caught myself designing something in my head… something involving…. traveling stitches? 🙂 I dunno! We’ll see. I’ve got a ways to go before I have to commit, but I do like the idea of trying something a leetle different. Seems to be in keeping with most things of late.

ISE Angel Delivery

Wow!

I had notification that I had a package, and I signed the little form & left it in the mailbox, checking all the appropriate boxes. The next day, the form was back, and another box circled where I needed to sign. DANGIT! No fear, no worries, back out to the mailbox it went, and when the doorbell rang bright & early this morning, part of me knew – my package had arrived! (Part of me panicked, as I looked a bit Bride o’ Frankenstein.)

Wonderful angel Kina, from Taiwan, pitched in when my secret pal for International Scarf Exchange didn’t send anything. (James joked, “From Taiwan? Isn’t that where the Thai food is?” If you watched this last season of Amazing Race, you’ll get that joke. We know Taiwan is in China!) My package was wrapped securely and felt very solid. After getting the paper and bubble wrap off, I was greeted by this cheerful box:

Beautifully Wrapped Present!

Kina can wrap presents, let me tell you. I was impressed immediately! After unwrapping the cheerful gingham, I saw this:

Vintage fabric box

A very, very cool box covered in vintage kitchen fabrics. I’m not sure if Kina made this herself, but it wouldn’t surprise me! It’s fabulous!

Then I opened up that box, and I have to admit, I got distracted from picture-taking & just started unwrapping. I got so excited! But trust me – everything in the box was fabulously wrapped as well – mulberry rice paper and a brown ribbon encased my scarf – a beautiful lacey wool-polymide blend in all my favorite colors. A wonderful bag was similarly wrapped – made of soft, vintage fabric, lined, and will make a great knitting project bag. She also enclosed a fun beaded fob shaped like bells, made of beads, and a sweet letter.

ISE5 Scarf & Gifts

What a wonderful, caring package, from a person who pitched in without a reciprocal pal herself. Thank you, thank you, thank you, Kina. May your kindness and good karma be returned unto you tenfold.

Thank The Friggin’ Sheep.

The Mermaid Socks are FINALLY DONE!

Noro Socks

I was looking at various needles for the next pair of socks, and after slogging on these darned socks for so long, on DOUBLE ZEROS, I am not kidding when I say #2 US needles felt like large sticks. These socks seriously warped my reality of sock knitting. It will be a while before I snatch up that other skein of Noro and make a different pair of socks. Hell, I think I only used half of the first skein. I will be putting these on tonight to test out how scratchy they actually are, and then I’ll wash ’em and report back on bloomage. I’m counting on the yarn to bloom!

It’s been a…challenging week. So when I went to World Market to get some King Cake mix, I became transfixed, caught in the tractor beam of this:

Emergency Rx

Yeah, it’s chocolate. And you think you’re looking at a normal-sized square of Ritter. Oh no.

Xtremely Large Ritter Sport

Look! A Nielsen Media ruler for scale. Five & a half inches square of milk chocolate. If I put it directly on the keyboard, and align the left side with the letter “A”, it obscures all of the letters in that row, leaving only the colon peeking out (a phrase never to be taken out of context). That’s nine keyboard letters of chocolate, friends. And even though I love all kinds of chocolate, milk is always my tried & true go-to. What was really crazy is that the signage said it was $2.29. I was sold. Of course, it actually cost $4.99, it wasn’t placed by the correct price, but at that point, I really didn’t care.

This size is good for at least 3 crises, maybe 4, depending on their size. I am prepared!!!!

Now, back to knitting & making a dent in the non-Noro sock yarn!

Choppin’…. Broccoleeeeeeee……

I recently hosted a small figurine, in the shape of broccoli, at my home. Traveling Broccoli is his website, and you can see & read about all of his adventures. Bekah discovered he’d smuggled himself into her suitcase after a visit to relatives in Illinois, and since then, he’s been on adventure after adventure! I’ve offered to have him back during warmer weather, because not only did he not get to see the great fountains of Kansas City, but he didn’t get any barbecue.

He did get a horror show when he went into our freezer to have a little ice cream, though. Poor dude.

OMG! OMG! OMG!

Thoughtless of me, really.

So I took him shopping, where I shop best – at The Studio, of course, and Broc really seemed to like the yarn:
Broc Visits A Yarn Shop!

I thought he was going to fall asleep in the cashmere bin….who wouldn’t?

OOOOOH! Cashmere Is Softer!

We’ve had some crazy weather here – yesterday brought us insane blowing snow, plummeting temperatures, slick roads & whatnot – so it’s good that as Broc climbed back into his VIP Veggie Transporter (we don’t tell him it’s a USPS Priority Mail box), he had a whole ensemble to keep him snug and warm:

Socks, Mitts, Scarf & Hat

Um, yeah. I knit him a scarf, hat, mitties & socks. Out of Claudia HandPaint, leftover from my Chevron Scarf. For my knitters, who are shaking their heads right now and reminding me maybe this is why my Noro socks are taking so long, it was super quick & easy. OH? You want to knit some for your inanimate vegetables? Well, all I did was: 4-stitch I-cord for the mitts, 5-stitch I-cord for the socks, simple garter stitch lengthwise for the scarf, and a completely made-up pattern for his hat. Since I didn’t do as many photo shoots as I wanted to, I felt the least I could do was get him some knitwear couture to have as a souvenir of his visit.

Where’s Broc going next? Why, Mardis Gras, of course!!!!

Doctor, Doctor, Gimme The News, I Got A Bag Here To Show All Of Yous!

Doctor's Bag

Wow. This was a fair amount of work, I have to say. So I’m going to pepper this post with pictures, dammit! This is the Doctor’s Bag, from “Knit 2 Together: Patterns and Stories for Serious Knitting“.

Side Shot

I finished the pieces for this bag…. last winter. (Very early ’07.) And they sat patiently waiting for me to get the finishing done. Mostly I dreaded doing the lining. But then last summer, I got motivated and bought the purse handles, the bamboo rods, and the lining. And they also sat and waited, several months, until I finally carpe diemed the damn thing. I have spent most of my evenings this past week working on this – blocking on Saturday; Sunday was for cutting out the lining & doing the seaming, which then was finished on Monday. Tuesday was for binding in the rods and sewing the lining, and last night was attaching the lining, along with the interfaced piece to the bottom, and hand stitching it all into place.

The lining is an Asian-influenced satin brocade:
Closeup of Lining
It was a challenge to get the detail without a flash, and with the flash, because it’s so shiny, it obscures some of the detail. I have marked the portion of fabric on the Flickr photo to show which part is the most representative. I ended up not putting pockets on the lengthwise pieces of the bags, but instead cut duplicate pieces of the end pieces, folded down one for each side, hemmed it, and sewed them both in to the lining. (In other words, the pockets are at either end of the bag, where the short knitted pieces are.)

The fabric base is a very rich, deep fuchsia:
Another View of Lining

Notes on the bag, overall: I used 3+ skeins of Mountain Colors “Twizzle”, in a bright turquoise-blue (variegated). If you choose to use a yarn that has variegation? The herringbone pattern will be more muted. So keep that in mind if you want the pattern more pronounced. If I were doing it all over again, I probably would have chosen a solid, but I’m not doing it again, and I love the color so much it makes up for any detail obfuscation! My only quibble with the pattern was that in seaming, you pick up stitches all along the edges, for both pieces, and then do a three-needle bind-off – but the stitch count was smaller than the actual stitches used to create the piece, so I had to re-do the stitching several times to get the correct number of stitches and have them all evenly spaced. If you’re going to make this bag, save yourself some of this headache and mark the pieces at the halfway point (or more) and divide the stitches accordingly. That way you don’t get to the end only to discover you can only put three more stitches on and it looks wonky. And, I only used one layer of heavy-duty interfacing to stabilize the bottom – it might be worth using really sturdy cardboard or chipboard, or multiple layers of the interfacing to really attain that crisp, rigid bottom.

The sides do not naturally fold in for the satchel tote look. That is completely photo styling on my part. It looks more like the project and it looks way more tailored when you do it, but know that those sides don’t do it normally. I think a really dedicated person could attach a purse frame inside the lining, or you could even do snaps, which I toyed with for about half a second, and then decided that it really didn’t matter that much to me. You may decide it is, knowing this info!

All-in-all, I have to say that the time spent was worth it – the bag is very classy & classic looking, and will be a great knitting bag. I even have a sore thumb, because in hand-stitching the lining in last night, I stabbed myself at the base of my thumbnail, which is really not a good place to jab a needle, if you’re truly interested in all the advice I have to offer on this project. I can assure you it hurts far more than say, a fingertip. We may get indignant here at Passion Knit, but we also love to help and share wisdom.

One more shot of the bag, for I do indeed love it!

Doctor's Bag

Exchanges and Angels

I’ve not had great luck with swap exchanges. Back when the Ample Knitters list was churning strong, an offshoot started a spoiler exchange, that was knitting-related. I signed up, thinking it would be fun – the idea was to send something each month, I think it was for 3 or 4 months. So a relatively substantial commitment, but it didn’t need to be expensive, just a small surprise in the mail, and I think it also culminated in a larger present as the last item. So I sent off my package and waited. And waited and waited and waited. My spoilee loved her stuff, and I may have even sent her a second package, but then after all my waiting, I pulled out. (And alerting the hostess to the situation.) After all, it’s great to make another person happy, but the person who had me shouldn’t be raking it in without paying it forward, right? I did get presents from people who knew me, personally, because they felt so bad for me – lovely and kind, really, and I was overwhelmed by that, but it still didn’t let the person who had my name off the hook.

That was about three years ago, and I’ve watched other swaps come together – Kristin has done them, there’s the huge Sockapalooza, – and while I’ve read all the successful posts for those people, I still felt the burn and hesitation. Plus, hey, let’s face it. I’m a selfish sock knitter. Less so now, but at the time, I was all, “huh, no, I don’t knit socks for very many people, let alone a stranger!” So when I spotted the International Scarf Exchange on HPNY’s blog, I thought, there’s one I could do. A scarf. I’m the queen of scarf knitting. I even chronicled my own drama knitting the scarf for my recipient, Rochelle. I had great fun putting everything together for her, because we had similar tastes in yarn and colors.

Sadly, the person who had my name – and wrote me several emails, all very animated and inquisitive – has stopped communicating. Because she was so involved before the mailing deadline, I can only imagine that something bad has happened, and I just wish she’d let me know what happened – anything is better than the silence, really. That’s the one piece of advice I’d have, for swap participants, if something bad befalls you & you can’t uphold your end of the swap, just TELL the people affected – it’s so much better than what the imagination constructs. And the feeling of empty the silence brings. The ISE5 hostesses have a great angel system set up, and because of the amount of time that has passed, I have a new person knitting for me. And oh, the email I got this weekend was hilarious and adorable, because I think my angel is in Taiwan and using a translation program to email me: “I am newly assign for yours pal, I crossed period of time for you actually not to receive the scarf to feel indignant… ” Oh, it’s like we were matched in heaven. Indignant, indeed. A word I don’t ordinarily think of, but it couldn’t be more perfect, and I’m thinking about how fitting the IndignantKnitter moniker really is for me. She also picked up on my dislike of pastels (“the tints”?). Too cute.

So, I don’t know – I haven’t decided how I feel about swaps – ambivalent is probably the best word right now. You’d think my odds would vastly improve if I participated in one again – after all, the majority of people get their stuff. I just think of the other work-related “secret santa” or “secret cupid” things I’ve done, and one of those always leaps to mind – oy. The secret cupid that had me (years ago) did a pretty marginal job, and your brain always thinks, well, maybe it’ll be a nice big present at the end, don’t get…. indignant…… and then I got a three-inch resin bear eating honey from a pot for my final gift. Yeah. I did get a lot of laughs from friends over that one. Like, really, please. Tell me that in my personal style and how I decorate, I don’t exude Resin Figurines as something I’d like to have.

Indignant, indeed.

Knitting & Stuffs

Seems like most of my vacation has spent either coughing (yes, it’s still with me), sleeping, knitting or playing Guitar Hero. I am what we like to call “cosmopolitan”, but using the fourth, and little-known definition, which means “couch potato consuming large volumes of liquids.”

At least with the knitting, I have something to show for myself, eh? So buckle up, because I’m going to release a machine-gun burst of finished objects, along with the current WIPs.

Duet Socks in Army Girl
Army Girl Socks

I used Wendy’s Generic Toe-Up pattern for these, and I really like them. One thing I’ve learned about sock knitting this year is that because I am a loose knitter, I have to knit these socks on the smallest needles bearable, and I don’t need to have a ton of stitches. The whole concept of negative ease finally went off in my head. I wanted a firm, solid fabric, while still having drape, and I’m really, really pleased with these. The yarn was absolutely scrumptious, too. (Middy Duet Sock Yarn in “Army Girl” colorway.)

I had a goodly bit of yarn leftover and I thought to myself, self? That baby Kara might need a hat. So I grabbed each end, and winged it, resulting in this delightful swoosh of a hat:

Baby hat in Duet Sock Yarn

Because I happened to grab the ends where I did, the pink on each side matched up, and creeped along and around the hat in a blaze of glory. I love it!

I’m also working on a couple of gift scarves, in the lovely Colinette Giotto ribbon I snagged at The Studio this fall, when they put all their ribbon yarns on sale. (it was a heckuva deal!) I think this colorway is “Pharaoh”, and it’s a nice rich jewel-tone medley. I’m improvising a bit, just doing a basic drop-stitch pattern, and am probably going to switch over to straight needles for the next one, because the whole wrap/drop part is a PITA with circulars.
Drop Stitch Scarf
(this picture gets blurry when bigger, so apologies. I’m whacking out this update & adding photos without editing.)

I used the same yarn for a Christmas scarf for Momma Linda, but for obvious reasons, couldn’t post it. This one adapted Wendy B’s Dream Swatch head scarf pattern to a bigger neck-scarf-sized version.

Dream Swatch Scarf - close up

Christmas? Well, it just pretty well sucked this year, what with the Cough from Hell, and Being Depressed About Parents: Living, Dead, and Stepped. Usually I just focus on one of the versions, but I got the triple-whammy this year. James was so understanding, and hugged me hard while I cried like a little kid. And then he made us apple cider with Hot Damn 100, which is most definitely NOT something to give the kids. Warmed, I went off to bed and woke up the next morning to get a fantastic call from the Studio, telling me the Noro Sock Yarn was in. WOOT! I hackingly tried to squeal, but my vocal chords weren’t cooperating.

I got two skeins, and have one pair underway. I picked Lucy Neatby’s Mermaid Socks, because they’re a great pattern, and I figured with the long repeats of color, they’ll have added interest with the fishtail lace. Now. This is Noro yarn, so it has the stellar, stunning colors. Breathtaking, really. But the yarn itself does present some challenges. It’s sticky, twisty, and lacks that “sproing” that we sock knitters like to feel running through our fingers. I’ll sometimes get really wiggy about making colors line up, and skein off half a ball of yarn so I can start my socks at the same point. But I was being lazy. And I really didn’t care, and thought it could be kind of fun to knit from either end of the ball, to watch the different colors line up & then reverse themselves on the other sock. Given that I was knitting a Lucy Neatby pattern, it was actually fitting – she doesn’t really believe in wearing matching socks, and I figured her eclectic spirit would approve. (Color #095)

Noro Mermaid Socks

As you can see, I’m definitely not gonna have matching socks. And the yarn LOVES to stick to itself, so knitting from the outside & inside of the skein requires being careful, and not just pulling on the yarn willy-nilly. It tangles on itself with little effort, and I expect for the second pair, I will wind off a second ball, just to spare myself the headache. And I am definitely counting on the yarn to bloom – most Noro yarns do, once washed, and I can already guess it will bloom, from how it feels. But it’s no luxury for knitting – and because it feels so skinny, I’m using Double Zeros, (00)! But it’s so fun to watch the colors shift and meld and change.

Now, I’m behind on my daily dose of Guitar Hero, and at some point, I have to switch over to get some sewing done. Busy hands, happy heart, as my great-grandma Hattie used to say!

We’ve Come A Long Way, Baby….

I could spend time complaining about the “joy” that is this week, but I’ll spare you. At least for today.
Today? I am going to pull a couple knitting skeletons out of the closet and show you just how far I’ve come as a knitter over the years. Since I learned as a little girl, and didn’t do much with it until I was re-taught by our foreign exchange student, most projects consisted of items based on the shape “rectangle”. Sweaters (with drop sleeves), scarves, even hats. I finally learned to knit in the round, and then one winter, decided I needed to learn how to knit socks. I believe this would be the first year I knew JWo. Because you don’t make a boyfriend a sweater, you make him hats, and scarves, and if you really find yourself smitten, you tackle those double points and make him some hugs for his feet: socks.

My first sock does not have a mate. It is still around, somewhere, in all its badness and glory. I taught myself from a Threads techniques compilation, and let me tell you what, if you ever want to learn how to knit socks? HAVE SOMEONE TEACH YOU. Or I suppose, you can use one of those books that’s all about how to knit socks. My way? The hard way. But again, that’s also how I roll.

So I decided to make JWo some socks. To keep his feet warm, in his little, minimally-heated home, 72 miles away from me. And he told me he would treasure them forever. God love him.

Shrek-ilicious Socks

Do you understand how large those are? Knit out of Lion Brand Thick & Quick Wool? I could put my feet in there WITH his and we’d still have room to store bagels, loose change, and a curling iron. Sweet lord almighty. However, I did at least have the ability at this point to make them match.

Then, I knit myself these bad boys:

Enormous! But With Shaping!

Oh yeah! I put the yardstick in for reference. I even did LEG SHAPING for my shapely calves. Uh-huh. Look out, all you bitches with your 0’s and 1’s, I knit these mo-fo’s on 10.5 DPNs. With shaping.

Both pairs went into the trash last night. Their horrendousness recorded for posterity with the camera, but they can no longer be in the same space as things like this:

Baby Tulip Cardi

Baby Tulip Cardigan, for a v. special baby….
Stop lady with the flash already! I'm not even a day old!
(I owe her a sweater for all the pictures I took of her, on her first day here!)

or even this –

Knitted Helmetliner for JWo

A knitted face mask for JWo on his biting cold duck hunts… (the first one I knit is about to be mailed, so it can go to a soldier in need….)(It just irks me that we are spending ALL this money fighting these wars and yet our volunteers who are on the front lines aren’t properly equipped. It’s a nightmare!)

And of course, I’ve figured out how to knit socks. I’ve put up pictures every time I’ve finished a pair, and I have enough sock yarn to um, take me into the twilight years, so I plan to keep on knitting them….. I still am a loose knitter, and I don’t pay loads of attention to oh, uh, “GAUGE” and whatnot, so I just knit on the tiniest needles I can stand. But we discovered those shocking socks when James was going through a storage box, and it was a humor-horror moment for me. It’s good to be reminded sometimes of how far we’ve come, but to see the progress, we have to look at where we were and sometimes – it just ain’t pretty. Or even wearable. But you can laugh and notice the small things (leg shaping!) and keep on improving!

There Are Nine Stages To Fixing A Messed-Up Cable

Before I run you through those stages, let me just state for all my knitting friends who read that piece on the Yarn Harlot about fixing goofed-up cables, that works if you have just a single piece o’ cable. These cables are done across 6 stitches with K2, P2, K2, and with that rib, it’s not quite as fluid as just monkeying around with all knit stitches. Not that any of this would ultimately matter!

However, I believed I could do it. Or at least it was worth a try.

Stage 1. Problem Assessment, Solution Options, Tool Procurement
Stage 1: Optimism

It’s important to be Optimistic. It also helps to have coffee-flavored tequila. Really good coffee-flavored tequila. Have a little sip. (It might be useful to not only note the knitting, but to note the shot glass in all these pictures.)

Stage 2: Prepare for the unholy acts you are about to commit to your knitting. In other words, give yourself a smidge of a safety net & fill the shot glass.

Stage 2: Preparation

Stage 3: Courage -or- Ignoring The Screaming Knitting Gnomes of Your Mind
Stage 3: Fortitude & Courage

Ai, Bobby, we have CUT THE YARN. But fear not! We can read our knitting! We are just adjusting ONE cable, and once we fix it, we will go up and tackle the THREE other ones that are wrong! Yes! Have a sippy sip.

Stage 4: Perseverance Despite Distractions
Stage 5: Perseverence

My, that Patron tasted good. This also suddenly feels like it was all a Very Bad Idea. But press on, good knitter. You can fix this.

Stage 5: Repeat Your Mistake

Stage 6: Completely Re-do the Cable EXACTLY THE WRONG WAY AGAIN

This is when you will begin to falter. Mightily. As you look at your knitting and realize you have JUST REPLICATED the very mistake you undid. Lesser beings would weep at this point, or at least take a break. You? You have another swig and keep on truckin’.

Stage 6: Patience

Stage 6: Patience

Get everything lined back up and prepare to re-tackle the problem at hand.

Stage 7: Begin to Accept Defeat
Stage 7: Acceptance of Defeat

As you work the cable correctly, realize you have no idea how to kitchener this bitch back together and have it look good. Try numerous times, to no avail. Finish drink. Do not bother to lighten photograph because the darkness is symbolic.

Stage 8: Rip Away, Rip Away, Rip Away Dixie Land

Stage 8: Starting Over. But With A "Head Start" of About 6"!

Pour yourself a second shot. (Well, just a half-shot, but if you’re really sad, give yourself the whole one.) Commence with the ripping. Note, with amusement, that husband is singing a new version of Devo’s big song, “Whip It” only his is called “Rip It! Rip It Good!”, complete with new, made-up lyrics like
“When the knitter messes up
She must rip it!
When mistakes are made in knitting
She must rip it!”

And note this amusement, because you won’t actually recognize it, for all the rage and irritation that is piled on top of it and you might actually want to snap at said singer and take your frustration out on him, despite the fact his only transgression was being funny. Content yourself with not offering to share any of the Patron, and rip until you are in the clear. Note along the way that the smug satisfaction one gets from weaving in ends as you go thwarts the frogging process, and perhaps we should learn from that, and messy lazy knitter gnome sticks her tongue out at the OCD knitter gnome, who is far too busy freaking out about the kinky pile of wool in the middle of the kitchen table to even notice.

Commence re-knitting, and choose to take the Pollyanna route about the entire situation, telling yourself that you are at least not starting over from scratch, but in fact, have about 6″ of correctly-knit scarf, and thank heavens this project has a deadline of December 1.

(Additional Patron dosing is completely subjective at this point.)

International Scarf Exchange 5

I’m so stoked to be participating in my first EVER knitting exchange. See, there are like a bajillion secret pal type exchanges, and several hundred katrillion involve knitting something for a recipient, most of the ones I’ve seen involve SOCKS. Well. Let me tell you, I am just now – how many years later? – just now getting to the point where I will make a pair of socks for someone other than my husband or me. Making socks for a stranger? You might as well ask me to french kiss someone at random in a Target store. No, thank you, not today! Anyway, I stumbled onto ISE and waited patiently until a new one started up. Scarves? This I know. Have a gajillion myself. No need to fit to a person’s foot, either.

Anyway, I have to admit, I was still a little nervous, because I’ve done a couple secret pal thingies, and they haven’t always panned out as hoped. You know, it’s like the carnival claw that sucks you in and you think you’re going to get that enormous gorgeous pink poodle doll, but instead, all you come up with is a ten-cent rubber ball. That has that dreadful marbleization on it. But so far, I tell ya, my fears have been completely unfounded! The person who has me has emailed several times, she’s funny & has great questions, and kudos to our organizers, who seemed to match us all up impeccably. How perfect is it to get someone who doesn’t like mohair? Yippee!

So that brings me to my current knitting in progress – my scarf for the exchange. I can’t tell you anything about my recipient, except that I’m darn-tootin’ sure she’ll like this. I had several fits & starts and pattern reckoning and yarn entanglements and changed my mind several times along the way, but I am thoroughly enjoying the yarn (Knit Picks Swish, in Eggplant) and the pattern – the Miranda Scarf from SmariekKnits (free if you join the Yahoo group!) I LOVE this pattern! You only cable two out of the twelve rows, and I pretty much have it memorized at this point. It’s not reversible, but I’m cool with that. I am also totally in love with my Knit Picks Harmony needles, they are so pointy for wooden needles, they are interchangeable, I kiss my fingertips and poof them up to the sky as an homage to how much I love them!

IMG_1765

IMG_1763

A happy project-in-progress! I have to get it done before the end of Nov – no problemo!

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