Grab your knitting needles and come relax with me.
Tuesday, April 28, 2009
The Pretty and the Ugly
This is Isobel:
Isn't she pretty?
I am knitting with Debbie Bliss's Pure Silk. Ah, it is so nice. Hang around me long enough and you learn that I have a raging selfish need/craving for silk. I will push you out of the way in order to get to the silk bin in a yarn shop (most LYS I have been to keep their yarn organised by fiber, so yes there is a bin or a cubby or a table just for siiiiilllllk). Yum!
Anyhoo I have been saving this silk and this pattern for a year and I finally started it this weekend at WHIBSIB. It's goin' fast, however I have Super Secret deadlines so she'll prolly be ignored till June. Insert sad face here.
Speaking of Super Secret. I lost a whole days worth of work when I realised I had accidently attached a size 4 needle and a size 6 needle to my KP interchangeable cable. (I thought the fabric was looking looser than it ought to). Sigh, so I had to frog and curse and fix the problem. Bleh. (You may have heard me curse on Twitter)
I have about 2 or 3 things (maybe 4) in the Super Secret queue (okay FIVE! The bunnies are jumping!!). So lot's of hinting and tip-toeing and holding of the breath. I can give a hint--they will be scarfish and or stoleish (so shoot me, I LOVE scarves! I love things I can wrap around my self and twirl around myself)
WHIBSIB (What Happens In Buda Stays In Buda), my yearly Knitting Retreat with my beloved gals pals from Lone Star State Knitters was this past weekend. MUCH hilarity ensued and a nice recharge was had.
Pictures!
Flip through that...
My mates and I only went to one yarn shop, Hill Country Weavers. But it's my favourite in that area and I never get to go to it. THIS is yarn heaven. Yarn coming out of bins and shelves at you--it's just the best. And of course I FORGOT to take pictures of the yarn shop. Sigh. But I got stopped by nearly everyone to comment on my Clapotis (rav link). It was cool. I fell in love with some lace weight and of course I took it home.
It's Prism, lacewool...in ember. It screams Autumn! I love what it looks like in the yarn cake as well.
Yes that IS David Tennant...grin.
I also fell in love with this lace weight bamboo from Habu Textiles.
It's GOLD. This is gonna be a FUN lace project to design. It's gonna have to take it's place in the ever growing queue, but it'll be brilliant to work with. My head is dancing with the possibilities.
We also ate lunch at my favourite pub IN THE WORLD. Whose Guinness, I imagine, is comparable to any pub in Dublin--it is THAT good. Smoooooth as silk. They also have fantastic burgers and fries. I already miss it. I also took a few snap shots of my first apartment (it's next door to the pub). Dreary dreary place.
Folks demanded to see the Flit N Float live, and I got many oohs and aahs. I also got to see one of the gals knitting up hers (such a thrill) AND she had me sign her pattern. Grin, I felt like such a rock star. I had a few gals try to nick my Aegis as well... Well, why not it's gorgeous (if I saw so myself). Smirk.
I finished a washcloth--to add to my collection (I need to take pics of all the one's I finished...4 now?) and I started knitting the Isobel (rav link). I haven't taken pics yet, but the link goes to the one that inspired me to use the same yarn, Debbie Bliss-Pure Silk. I need to take a piccie of it--I finally have enough done that pictures make sense.
I am also working on a brand new Super Secret Project. Right now I am swatching--bleh! I swatch ONLY if I ABSOLUTELY have to. But so far so good.
If you find it can you talk to it kindly and tell it to please go home?
I am feeling pretty blase about my current projects. Blah. I can't find my second needle for my ribbon scarf, and the other projects just feel boooooring. The knitting bunnies are still being difficult--pouty I think.
Right now I am knitting a dishcloth (my goal is 5 or 7--I am on the 4th), but I decided to shakes things up a little and knit it continental. I need the practise.
WHIBSIB (my yearly knitting retreat is this weekend) and I am hoping it's the recharge I need.
Happy Earth Day--if you feel so inclined to celebrate, might I suggest knitting up on of my Swiffer Cloths? I also just learned that you can knit two swiffer cloths and a grandmother's favourite dishcloth out of two skeins (2 oz) Sugar 'n Cream cotton.
Man I had so much fun and I didn't wanted to come back so soon. Apparently, Mic thought I was never coming back. Poor kid.
Lot's of hilarity ensued!
Here's the super cute Alpacas and sculpture garden from Old Oaks Ranch in Wimberly. I especially loved the bears sculpture and the mice and books sculpture.
Jamey made a bunch of stitch markers for me to sell to my fellow knitters (I am a terrible enabler)...he was very surprised how few I brought back. He didn't realise how special his dual use stitch markers are.
I also finished my Neverending Socks! See that little bit of yarn that was ALL the yarn I had left--including the yarn ends I wove in.
I finished them an hour before we went out for the day on Saturday. I even stayed up to 2 am trying to finish them. I had to stop three rows from bind of because I kept seeing things and I found out that I can't count past 1.45 am. It was such a fun high to finally finally be done with these socks. I didn't manage to take pictures of them on me, but I will pluck some pictures that my friends took.
One of the girls made me a sweet, beautiful market bag for making all the WHIBSIB badges. AND gifted me a Pooh Bear dressed up as a bee. I feel loved!
I also bought some yarn...of course! At Old Oaks Ranch I bought some beautiful Claudia Handpainted Silk lace weight. Ooo I have plans for this pretty little hank (ha! little it's 1100 yards!!).
It's so incredibly soft.
We decided to go west from Wimberly on the way home and stopped at Blanco for lunch. Yummy yummy HUGE plates.
We stopped at Yarnivore before we reluctantly agreed it was time to go home and end our Yarny Adventure. I bought some alpaca sport weight for Skinny Lacey scarves for the shop. And for some reason although I am allergic, I bought some mohair for some filmy scarves--also for the shop.
And since I finished my socks, I started Micci's tiger socks.
These were started minutes after I finished the Neverending Socks--on Saturday morning.
This weekend was a nice recharge and a great affirmation amongst friends.
NOTE: It did rain, QUITE a bit...but only at night when no one was out and about. So it (the buying of the super cute polka dotted umbrella) worked--sort of.
It's forecast to rain this weekend...so I bought a new umbrella. Hopefully NOW it won't rain. In any case--it's got a super cute pattern.
I am all packed up, I think. Now I need to make brownies and do some tidying up. I also need to make sure Mic's soccer stuff is in plain sight.
I plan to do a lot of knitting and picture taking. So hopefully I'll have lots to show and tell this next week. (The sock still isn't finished yet--but it'll get done)
Enjoy your weekend and I leave you with one of my favourite wild flowers. It's always amazing to me the beauty and delicacy of this flower when its stem and leaves are so thorny and intimidating. Before our lawn was mowed, we had two in our yard.
I so totally and completely need this weekend away from my kids. WHIBSIB is going to be such a sweet vacation. The kids have been driving me nuts today. Doesn't help that I am feverishly trying to finish the Neverending Sock in time for WHIBSIB.
I was up very late last night painting more badges--that also doesn't help my mood. But it will be SO worth it--no more forgetting names and being placed in awkward situations. Grin.
In any case--I am one more repeat away and an inch of ribbing away from being DONE with the sock--after a year...I am almost done. Of course this is making me think of the NEXT sock. Either Mic's tiger socks or a sock made from this Tofusies.
Mic's socks are easy peasy I can start right away, the tofusies are going to be made with Cat Bordhi's new sock-tecture and will incorporate lace in the arch increases. Yeah, Mic's socks are next--but I reserve the right to start the tofusies while I am still working on the Tiger socks--which will be completely stockinette---eewwww.
Three days till WHIBSIB!! (Knitting Retreat for Texan female knitters) No kids, pets, husbands! Just knitting and friends! Can not wait. I came up with a great idea to make name badges--I am doing it really because I am so horrible with names--the fact that'll help everyone else is an added benefit. Grin.
So here is what I did yesterday--I knitted a bit...I have three more repeats on the sock.
I am about half way done. I love how the sheep are turning out.
Unfortunately nothing will be done tonight (well maybe another layer of varnish), because I decided that TODAY I was going to get on my hands and knees and scrub all the nasty spots out of my living room carpet. Folks, I am embarrassed to admit that my carpet is more dirty/sticky spots than blue carpet. Now my arms are incredibly sore. I am not sure if I have the strength to knit on aforementioned sock. However, my carpet looks so much better.
I was on the couch most of yesterday and I really want to continue to sit on the couch today as well. My allergies are kicking my butt. My head is horribly stuffed, ick. I did knit a bit on my sock--I am feeling better today so I am up to more knitting than I was yesterday.
I have a little more than 4 repeats to go--and they are twelve row repeats, then of course the cuff. Here's a comparison pic of both socks.
See, almost finished. I really want them done so I can wear them at WHIBSIB. Speaking of which, here's a pic of some of the name badges I have been working on for the retreat.
All the sheep needs is the hardware and the dog still needs detail work. I bought the rest of the badges and string and such. I have a lot more to paint, but it goes fast. The plan is to drill a wee hole in the wood and then attach jump rings and the string satin cord through the rings. And voila a use-able keep sake. I made myself a bee...of course.
Saturday we had our monthly knitting meet up/pot luck.
And really, although there was wine available, I did not imbibe. That's just me all the time. LOL
We had lot's of fun. And lot's of great food! Leah made some awesome Cuban dishes. She made a great rice pudding and if I didn't have texture issues I would have eaten the entire bowl.
I also finished Lorelei's socks. Finally! It was supposed to take me a week or two. But no-it took me two MONTHS!! Sigh, I think sometimes I knit so slow, I actually knit backwards.
Lorelei loves them! She told me she wanted to wear them forever-day and night.
She almost wore them all day (which would have meant I wasn't going to be able to show them off at my knitting group), but when she went to put on her running shoes-they wouldn't fit in the sneaker. They are brand new Disney Princess sneakers she got this past week. Princess trumps Mommy's homemade socks. So she settled for thinner socks.
I had lot's of fun making them--I am almost tempted to make myself some--but really, I want to do something different!! Maybe in a few projects. I have lined up a test knitter and I expect the pattern to be released early summer. Fingers crossed.
This weekend I also finally started work on painting the name badges for WHIBSIB. I am making them out of those thin wooden shapes you can get at the craft store. So far the sheep look awesome--the other's well we're working on that.
We set up our new brick and morter "shop" today (it's a wee booth-a wall really-at a local popular craft mall). I wish I had pictures for you (I did take bunches--I am very proud), but Jamey needed the camera for Final Four happenings (really how is a dumb sporting event more important than my blog!). To be fair it is his camera. But when I see him next and tackle down for the camera (which may be tomorrow evening)--I'll add pics to this here post.
I also finally finished knitting the garter for Anne. I blocked it and starched it and Anne approves. Then we both realised Anne's fingers weren't going to be up for the Anne sewing involved. So I'll be putting it together as well. Give me a cookie!
Lorelei's second sock is coming along well...4 more repeats to go.
This week is going to be very busy. My FIL is coming into town and once again the house is a mess (busy working elsewhere--ignoring it completely), so gotta clean up. I have neglected the badges for WHIBSIB and all of a sudden I have just two weeks or so really to finish them up. YIKES! Then there's the knitting bunnies. Seriously they are stressing me out. I have all these new ideas, but I still need to reknit some old ideas for the shop. I just want to do it all--that's my problem.
For 4 months I will spontaneously dance around and whisper WHIBSIB is almost here! FREEDOM!!!
My knitting group had a yearly retreat in the Buda area--it's pronounced beeeeuuuuuda. I kno, but it's a Texas thing. Anyhoo--the retreat is called "What Happens in Buda STAYS in Buda" hence WHIBSIB. This year we are staying in cabins (like last year) in Wimberly (a bit outside Buda). It's three days and two nights with no kids and no husbands! Just the girls and lot's and lot's of knitting!! And maybe some yarn shopping at the Alpaca farm.
Because I am SO excited--I am also making every one name badges. Every one is excited and thrilled I am doing this. LOL I am totally doing it for me because of my swiss cheese brain. I need help putting faces to names. I bought a bunch of wooden shapes and paint yesterday and ooo I get to be crafty!
So expect the random snoopy dance as I look forward to my retreat.
Last night, I escaped the house to knit with adults--I had little kids hanging on my legs as I tried to reach the door, so it was a definite escape. Most of the gang couldn't come, but heck I would have been happy to knit by myself with in kids...but luckily Enid came and we gabbed and knitted and had a great time. Afterwards, I spent my Borders' giftcard on a neat knitting reference book, The knitter's Companion. Normally I don't buy books at those big boxes (I prefer used books stores), but this book is normally used until it's in pieces...or pried from some one's cold dead fingers.
