Knitting at Starbucks

Can it get any better? I knit at Starbucks with a few nice gals on Friday nights. I met them at the Starbucks just a few months after I moved down here, and they noticed the wonderful felted project bag that my friend Hannah in WA had made for me before I moved. They asked if I were a knitter, and invited me and Corinne to knit with them. Since then I have enjoyed having some friends here to knit with. Having my favorite coffee available while we knit is a great thing, also!

Last night I wore the Aeolian shawl to knitting night and showed it off a bit. Love wearing it. It makes me think of the book Confessions of a Shopaholic. If you have read that book, one of the cutest things about the story is the lead character, Rebecca, keeps buying clothes. She always thinks that the clothes that she buys are going to be her "trademark" and people will admire her and think of her as "the girl in the green scarf", etc. Maybe I will be "the girl in the lace shawl", right?

Zoning Out

I really thought it would be nice after knitting the Aeolian Shawl to knit some garter stitch, right? And it is...I am loving it. But you know that expression? "Mindless Knitting"? I have been a bit too mindless.


Yes, those are live stitches there. The ones I have had to rip back a couple of rows twice now, because I can't remember to yarn over those two times in the middle of the rows. Only two little yarn overs. Then when I go to fix it without ripping back the entire rows, it stretches the yarn too much and makes it all wonky. UGH!

How is it that I can knit intricate lace without more than a couple of problems the whole time, but a garter stitch shawl trips me up twice already? I think I just zone out while I am knitting it.

Here is my Birthday Present, Lila. She is wondering if Mom is going crazy since I'm muttering to myself the whole time I am ripping.

A New Shawl...New Friends

This is the Multnomah Shawl I began last night while at A Good Yarn in Prescott. The store has a Shawl KAL that began last night. I met some new folks that are wonderful Knitters and enjoyed myself very much. It is nice to have a shawl to work on that isn't too complicated. Something to enjoy without having to pay close attention, really. This shawl was already in my list of "shawls to do", and the store was featuring the pattern. The sample they have there is very pretty. I chose to make it from Elsebeth Lavolds Silky Wool in color 12.

Here is a photo of the progress I am making on the Mystery Stole 4, Serendipity.
You know, I am oddly enjoying this now. I had it in hybrination for a long, long time and really thought I may never finish it. I didn't like working with the Malabrigo lace weight, it's a bit like cotton candy. And I wasn't crazy about the pattern once it was getting along. But I have come to appreciate both and now I am just hoping that I have enough yarn to finish the project. I am well over half way done, but it is making me nervous since you knit both halves from the ends to the middle and then graft. I have nightmares about running out of yarn just as I need to weave the thing together!

I have had more time for knitting since moving to the Southwest. (No job yet) One thing that has done is given me more time for finishing things. I have had a longer attention span, and have been finishing all my UFO's. The Mystery Stole is the last UFO in my possession. Isn't that a hoot? So, 3 projects on the needles, and that is it! A new record for me, I think. I realized that I am more excited about knitting if I am finishing things. For a time there I think I was pretty "scattered"...having projects all over the place and in different stages. I didn't finish anything very often since I had so much going. Some knitters are really motivated by that, but I have found that I am better off with only 2 or 3 things on the needles, with only one of those projects taking the front seat.

Like a Broken Record

Well, same old song...computer was pretty much dead. Thanks to a co-worker of my husbands, it is finally usable, but I still keep getting the Blue Screen of Death every now and then. Need a new hard drive, I think.

Anyhow, here is a couple of my latest accomplishments, knitting wise...


This is the Aeolian Shawl designed for Knitty by Elizabeth Freeman. Isn't she brilliant? It is difficult to see what color this is in the photos. It is a light sage green in Jagger-spun Zepher wool-silk laceweight yarn. I liked using it very much. Also impossible to see is the beading on this shawl. I didn't count, but according to the pattern, you use 2250 beads on it! (Felt like twice that!!) I chose a clear bead in order to create the impression of dew drops on spring leaves. It is stunning, but if I ever knit this pattern again, I think I will leave the beading off of the main part of the shawl and just add them on the edging. Here are some more pics...

A new skill learned from this adventure, nupps, which are like loose bobbles.

Here are some photos of another project finished this spring, the Cabled Confection sweater by Deborah Newton. Leisure Arts book pattern. I absolutely loved making this sweater for my Mom, who models it here. It is the first cabled sweater I have ever made. The pattern called for a very expensive mohair yarn, which would have been beautiful, but I say with enthusiasm, Thank God for Knitpicks!!! This is the old standby, Wool of the Andes yarn in Tidepool Heather and it couldn't have been more perfect for about $45 dollars. Whew!

Isn't she cute?

Well, guess this will do for now. I am really out of practice with blogging. Bear with me while I get it going again, if anyone is reading this. Thanks for checking back with me!

Back from Tacoma

I went to Tacoma to visit my daughters and son-in-law last week. It was wonderful. We had a bit of fun celebrating an early Christmas and I went to each of their Starbucks stores and had wonderful coffee. I got a bit of knitting done, too.

The swatch for Mom's sweater is done. Don't have a picture...didn't take one (how interesting can a swatch be?) But here is a sock that I spent some time on.

I was a bit worried about maybe being a clutz and dropping the needles on the plane, but it was all good. While Corinne, Lizzie and Nicole (Corinne's roommate) and I were in the theater watching "New Moon" during my trip (yes, they conned me into it), Corinne pulled out a scarf she is knitting and in a quiet part of the movie her acrylic knitting needle dropped to the floor! A bit of panic, wondering if it would roll up under the folks in front of us, but no. It was safe at her feet. Just a little distraction, that's all. Next time Corinne...the word is...........Circulars!! Ok? LOL

In keeping with the Christmas spirit, this is an interesting shot of all My Favorite Things. Hard to see my new Samsung Rogue and my iPOD against the black desk, but they are there. My wonderful Kindle is there too. Danny gave it to me for Mother's Day and I love it!! The photo on my monitor is one of Lizzie and myself in Seattle when we went to the Burke Museum and then to downtown Seattle last summer.

Hello? This is me, is that you?

Well, I was wondering if I would ever get back to blogging at all. With my last blog back in February, I really did think I might just give it up. My job had gotten to be "all consuming", crazy hours and high stress. When I was home the last thing I wanted to do is get on the computer. But finally we decided that I should just quit the job and move down here to Arizona. It was a tough year being apart from my hubby and I was glad to be here because we are able to be together again! We visited each other and texted and called every day, but of course that isn't the same! :)



Anyway, I came down here at the first of November and have been getting used to being in the Southwest part of the US again. I miss the rain and the Canada Geese, the coffee stands on every block, and Teriyaki in every strip mall. But I am growning accustomed to it here and have found it to be pleasing in many ways. (no traffic!!!)



Ok, gonna talk knitting now. Above is a swatch of the sweater I am going to knit for my Mom. She bought a book by Leisure Arts called Deborah Newton's Cable Collection . It has a beautiful car length hooded sweater in it called Cabled Confection. It is stunning all in Classic Elite "La Gran" yarn, a beautiful mohair. BUT too expensive for our budget. I am swatching (of all yarns) Caron Simply Soft in Lt. Country Blue. Normally, you know that I am a big yarn snob and would be buying something with natural fiber. But really, I think Mom will like this yarn, and it has a lovely drape that will feel somewhat light and soft as the original yarn, which has this angelic halo. Of course, I am swatching now, so Mom can get together with me and approve the yarn/color. I only bought one skein to swatch with. Figure I will have to buy about 7-8 of them for the sweater since it takes 22 skeins of "La Gran" (that would be a $200 sweater). That is 1980 yds. I am getting gauge with size 10 Denise needles, and hope that continues when I begin swatching the cables. So far only having done some stocking stitch.



Let's get reaquainted, shall we? Forgive me for letting the blog drop. I am thankful that I once again will have the time to devote to it! Also to knitting.

All thumbs!

The first mitten I did, as I said, was way too small. I also had followed EZ's instructions for making an afterthought thumb by snipping a stitch at the thumb joint and exposing 13 stitches to place on needles. Then, picking up two more stitches on each side, knitted round and round on the 15 stitches to make a thumb. I didn't like the way it turned out. It pulled to the side and was uncomfortable. Some of that was probably the fact that the whole mitten was too small, but after doing a Ravelry search of the pattern, found that a lot of people were using a gusset created by Kathryn Ivy to place the thumb in the seam on the side of the mitten. I am using that technique now and am pleased with how it looks so far.

Began a shawl last night, also. I saw the book in Yorkshire Yarns, one of my favorite LYS's. It is Wrapped in Comfort: Knitted Lace Shawls by Alison Jeppson Hyde. The shawls caught my eye because they are very different from what you usually see in shawl patterns. They are shaped to drape in a lovely way around your shoulders in a similar fashion of EZ's Pi R Squared shawl. But these are rounded. Each shawl is absolutely beautiful. I finally bought the book for myself and enough yarn to make a shawl. I began it last night. It is the "Michelle's Shawl". Every shawl in the book has a story behind it of who Alison designed for. There is even a beautiful shawl that was inspired by 9/11.

I am using Pagewood Farm fingering weight hand-dyed sock yarn for this shawl. It is truly a beautiful color and lovely to knit. More on that next time.