henry surveys the situation

We're not sure if he approves, but he does check things out frequently as the bathroom renovation continues.

shop model sweater

Here's the baby sweater. It's made from a Cindy Walker pattern, and it's knitted in one piece starting at the back ribbing, going over the shoulders, and ending at the front ribbing. Stripes are optional, but since I didn't do any stripes, I added embroidered spirals. I used Cascade Sierra for the sweater and Muench Bali for the spirals.
See Margaret's crocheted devil hat in the upper left hand corner? I wish I hadn't cut off the little horns..........

there goes the neighborhood

It's a big day at our house. You know your contractor is making progress when you come home and see this scene in your front yard. We have new tile in the bathroom! It's setting up, so the toilet isn't going back in until later this afternoon. Until then, our neighbors will cringe!
I forgot to take a picture of the new baby sweater, but I'll take one tomorrow when I'm at Cozy..........

Sigh

No pictures today, but I can report that I've finished Ben's socks. However, they fit Ben's mom Krisann better than they fit Ben. Sigh. Will get started on another pair for Ben very soon!
Also, the baby cardigan is finished, it just needs buttons and embroidery. I may have a picture tomorrow.
There's not much knitting going on, but there sure is a lot of show playing. Last week it was "The Light in the Piazza" and this week and next it's "Jesus Christ Superstar." For Superstar we are not in the pit, we're in a room in the basement of the hall. An enclosed room. A room that has nowhere for all that sound to go. I'll be lucky if I have any hearing left on March 4th when this is all over. Again---Sigh.

project status

Uh oh, I just remembered that I need to learn how to resize my pictures. Hopefully, all the pictures in this post will load up anyway. Otherwise it's going to be a lot of yammering without anything to look at. This first picture is my secret freeform project. I'm really unsure about whether it's going to be a success, so I'm not putting out much information other than it's purple, and so far, it's all crochet.
No progress on the freeform bag. Maybe soon.
There are some more doodles for this freeform project. It may become a vest so that it can be finished more quickly!

These Koigu pieces are part of a project from the new Koigu book. I've had them listed in "Current Projects" for a long time, but I haven't knitted on them in a while. They are the modules from the cloak, but I'm going to alter it to be a regular jacket. That cloak project is just too big!
Talk about abandoned projects---this Noro Sakura has been sitting around for a long time. It's a log cabin style sweater, but I haven't figured out any details. Probably it will be a loose Spring cardigan.
This one is for Cozy, it's the easy baby sweater from Cindy Walker. It's knitted in one piece starting at the bottom of the back, ending at the bottom of the front. We have a couple of these in the store already, but this one will be our sample for Cascade's Sierra, 80% cotton/20% wool. I have the back and the beginning of the sleeves done so far.
The stalled Trekking sock--Henry decided he would check it out.
Hey, here's something that's almost finished, the socks for Ben. I really hope Ben has some seriously large feet for a kid, because these socks almost fit me. Hopefully, this project report will help me finish something soon. I'm sick of some this stuff!

trip to the Triad

Yarn crazed kitty reaches for new yarn! Luckily, no yarn was harmed.
I had few hanks to wind from my impromptu trip to the Triad area last week. It started in Burlington at Needleworks, continued in Greensboro at This And That. It's a small shop that packs in an awful lot of yarn and some jewelry, too. They had Colinette, Artyarns, various other yarns, and a nice selection of Cherry Tree Hill. I had already bought one hank of sock yarn at Needleworks, but This and That had variegated colors. I had no choice but to get this blue/purple hank.
Very subtle color changes, but more noticeable than the picture shows. It'll be a while before I knit with it, but it's going to be wonderful.
The trip continued with a visit to Stitch Point, where I didn't find anythng I had to have. But since it was only 1:00 or so, I decided to go on to Winston-Salem to visit KnitPicky and Much Ado About Knitting, which I've already mentioned a few days ago. KnitPicky was a very cute shop in an old house. One of the rooms was called the yarn lounge, great for classes and hanging out. The "dining room" was where most of the yarn lived, and the selection was lovely. I found a discounted kit for a felted poinsettia wreath from Pick Up Sticks. The kit contains directions, enough yarn for the project, and a plastic coated wire wreath form. I'd seen a similar project in a crochet magazine and liked it, so I snapped up this bargain.
It was a real luxury to spend a day visiting yarn shops. When I got home, I felt a bit guilty for all the little household things I should have done that day, so I did as many of them as I could very quickly in an hour. Made me feel better!

Quatro mitt

More mitts. This is my 9th pair of mitts this year. They are seriously easy and addictive!
This one is Cascade's 220 Quatro, knitted on 5's and 6's. Finished the mate today at Cozy.

kid socks

Well, I made these socks take much longer than they should have by working on lots of projects at once. Their total knitting time was fairly small, I'm sure. I used Sensational Knitted Socks by Charlene Schurch to get measurements for little Baylee's feet. What a great sock book! I'm looking forward to delivering these next week.

new color trend

My collection of green yarns is starting to rival the blues, but it doesn't come anywhere near the purples or the multi-colors. Why are these green yarns calling out to me? I'm not sure. Isn't this one pretty?
It came from my recent yarn trip to Greensboro and Winston-Salem. Much Ado About Knitting, in W-S, was a friendly shop. They had lots of this yarn, Nature Wool by Araucania, also some Berocco, some Noro, generally nice stuff. The knitter on staff that day was very helpful when it came to winding this hank (I have a swift and winder at home, but if I can get it done in the shop, I will). This hank was really difficult, and that nice lady wound the whole thing by hand. When I got it home, I rewound it into a yarn cake on my winder just because I like yarn in cakes. Won't this be nice in freeform projects as stems and leaves?

Here's my souvenir from a yarn shop I just discovered in Burlington called Needleworks. They have some good basics, some novelties, but mostly I noticed they had lots of needles, gadgets, and books. They also had a couple of skeins of Cherry Tree Hill sock yarn. I got a purple hank, breaking a trend of buying mainly variegated or self-striping sock yarns. With a solid color, maybe I can try a stitch pattern. The photo was even worse that the one of the gauge checker, so I didn't include it.
This gauge checker is brass, and it's cuter than the regular ones I have already. It's very hard to resist toys.

Malabrigo worsted mitts

Malabrigo is wonderful! Here it's knitted on #6's at 5 sts to the inch, and these are good feeling mitts. Also, at 22 grams each, you could get 2 pairs from just one hank with just a little bit left over.

Lisa needs.....

Someone else's blog had a funny entry the other day. You go to Google and you search on the words "Lisa needs," insert your own name. Here's what I got:
1. Lisa needs braces
2. Lisa needs a tree
3. Lisa needs to more clearly communicate
4. Lisa needs to handle lower conditions
5. Lisa needs help
6. Lisa needs a bigger grin
7. Lisa needs to get a life
8. Lisa needs to have a short meeting with Mr. Groenig's eraser
9. Lisa needs work
10. Lisa needs to think

I have a few comments on these!
1. Lisa certainly did need braces, and she got them when she was 8 years old. 8 years later, she didn't need them anymore.
3. Probably true
5. Definitely true!
7. Hope it's not true
8.Simpson's, anyone?
9. And she's got a lot this month. 2 shows!
10. Lisa likes to do this while knitting

Not once did it say, "Lisa needs yarn." Very telling.

a freeform idea takes shape

The freeform squares are finally finding a home! Ms. LaGran suggested that they become a bag, and when I found some denim tote bags in Michael's over the weekend, I decided that I agree with her.
The funky looking stuff on the bottom of the bag is plastic canvas mesh. It will be attached to the denim on the bottom and sides to give the bag a little bit of structure. Working on it is awkward, but I think the final product will be a success.

knitting on a snow day

Today's a great day for knitting--it's snowing! No violin lessons today. Can you say "winter weather wimp?" That would be me.
This Malabrigo mitt is one thing I'm working on today. I've made these before, but in the 4 st gauge. I thought that the yarn might work better at 5 sts, so this is the test pair. They are really nice looking, and I think they'll wear better and longer. They take longer to knit at this gauge, but I'm a fan.

This sock will soon belong to Baylee. The other sock is underway, and I noticed something really fun about the Lion Brand Magic Stripes: the color pattern repeat is quite long. It doesn't repeat until that blue section close to the toe. Long pattern repeats are so much fun to work with in sock yarns.
Henry decided to get involved in the freeform doodles. He's so helpful.