Handspun yarn

Did a little spinning this week. The green one is cormo with some BFL corespun randomly through it. A bit of an experiment for me, which mostly worked.  The other is merino, cashmere and mulberry silk in the Cathedral colorway from Frabjous Fibers. Yum!

Color Affection

So, summer has barely begun, but I am looking forward to the fall, so I can wear my Color Affection Shawl.
I knit this in Lotus Forest Dew, an angora, merino, tencel and cashmere blend yarn, which was so wonderful to knit, and I did something that fell between the laceweight and fingering weight version to get the size I wanted.
I definitely understand why people are in love with this pattern, it is both simple and beautiful and has a ton of possibilities.  I may even knit another one.

Mindless knitting

Finished my color affection shawl, which is blocking right now and in the meantime an working in a nice and simple striped scarf. I love these colors!

Cabled baby vests

Knitting baby things is so much fun.
Here are a few new items. The first one is definitely inspired by Gryffindor colors.

Baby hat extravaganza

One of my co-workers is having a baby girl. She's due on July 6th. I made her a few hats. Making baby things is addictive.

A work in progress - Spectra

Originally saw a sample of the Spectra pattern while shopping at The Woolpack a few months ago and fell in love. I knew immediately that I wanted to do a rainbow colored self striping yarn with black contrast yarn, so when I found myself at Webs a short time after that I picked up the perfect yarn. By the way, this may be one of the only times I have ever bought yarn with a pattern already in mind. :)

After a few tests of the pattern, I decided to go with more of a capelet style, rather than a scarf, and this is what I have so far:



As I started to see how the striping pattern was working up, I thought it would pretty for the color changes to be mirrored on each side, but now I am thinking that I am going to run out of black yarn before I get back to the color I started with. Not sure yet whether I will buy more yarn, or just leave it mismatched. I guess I will see how it looks as I get closer to the end.

Home from seeing the Nutcracker.  It's been years since I have seen it and I thoroughly enjoyed myself. First, there is something charming about seeing ballet performed in a small space. I feel like I was better able to appreciate the intricacies of movement.  The choreography was lovely, the children playing the mice were just about the cutest things you ever saw, and couple playing the Sugar Plum Fairy and Cavalier were beautiful dancers.  Also, the guys had really nice butts.  Well, I mean, really...I know you all expect me to notice these sorts of things.  Also, I had forgotten how much I really like the music.  Not surprisingly perhaps, I find the Trepak/Russian dance particularly appealing and will likely be humming that to myself for a bit, which may make it difficult to go to sleep tonight.

I can take a hint

A few weeks ago, I got a text message from my niece which said something to the effect of, "I just bought this dress for the baby. It looks like it would be easy to make. Don't you think it would look cute in candy cane stripes for Christmas?"

HINT HINT HINT

I couldn't find a pattern that I liked, and after playing around for a little while, I eventually came up with this:



New skill learned: pleats.  I couldn't find any patterns for making pleats on a top down garment, so I figured it out myself.  I think I will make them more pronounced next time, but I am still proud of myself.  Overall, I like the way this came out and can't wait to see my great-niece in it.

talking to a brick wall

me: can i get [information x]?

 brick wall: you don't need that information 

me: here's an explanation of why i need this information. [explanation]

 brick wall: i can give you that information next week. 

me: here's an explanation of why i need this information now. [explanation]

 brick wall: there is no information. 

me: so you are saying there is no information?

 brick wall: i didn't say that. 

me: so can i get the information?

 brick wall: what information? 

 i am pretty sure talking to my cat was more effective.

A-ha!

Working on the semi-circular entrelac shawl still. Because in each round, the blocks are increased by one stitch, they were starting to get kind of big and funny looking. So I figured out how to switch from doing 6 repeats of a 10 stitch entrelac pattern to 12 repeats of a 5 stitch pattern. Without breaking the yarn. This may have been done before, but I figured it out all on my own, and therefore am very proud. Go me.

a conversation between me and my cat

Gwyd: Hi Mommy! I'm so glad you're home! No one has ever loved me ever. Can we snuggle? 

Me: No honey. It's hot. Here, have some gooshyfood. 

Gwyd: But I..Oooh! Gooshyfood. Nom nom nom. Hey. Where'd you go? 

Me: I'm in the living room, enjoying the air conditioning. 

Gwyd: It's nice and cool in here. You wanna snuggle? 

Me: Go away. 

Gwyd: How 'bout now? 

Me: No. 

Gwyd: Now? 

Me: Really? Can you just... Ow, that's my leg. 

Gwyd: I'm sorry. Were you using your lap for something? 'Cause it seemed lonely. 

Me: Ahhhhhh! Ow. Ow. Ow. 

Gwyd: Oh, you want me to headbutt your face? 

Me: Ahhhhh! 

Gwyd: I think I missed a spot. 

Me; Ahhhhhh! 

Gwyd: Got it. 

Me: Oh god, I have cat hair in my eye. 

Gwyd: It's too hot to snuggle. I think I'll go nap in front of the a/c.

Entrelac shawl

Started a shawl to match my entrelac hat. The beginning is a little wonky, but I am hoping it will block out ok.

Monongahela Shawl

I am thinking about making the Monongahela Shawl for my sheep to shawl challenge. The 46 pages of instructions are a bit intimidating.

Citron

Still unblocked, but I love the colors and it is soft and light as a cloud.

Slouchy Entrelac Tam

Finished this hat last night. It's a basic entrelac pattern, knit with some handspun yarn. I still have a lot of this yarn left over so I may make a matching scarf.

Sunday afternoon in Boston Harbor

Had a chance to go see Enter the Haggis again this past weekend when they performed on the opening cruise of the Rock and Blues Concert Cruise. I had already had plans to go with a friend, but then in discussing birthday celebrations for some family members, it was decided that they would join us, so we had a fun group to spend the say with. It was an absolutely perfect day to be out in Boston Harbor. Sunny, warm, breezy and comfortable. Plus, did I mention? Enter the Haggis? I always enjoy seeing them perform, and this was no exception. They were full of energy, humor, and good spirits. In addition to play a few of my favorites, including "The Litter and the Leaves" and "Another Round," they played a few of the newer songs from their forthcoming album. Can't wait for that to come out, as all the stuff I have heard so far is awesome. Had a little bit of a break after their set to socialize, refill our drinks and enjoy the harbor views. Then Carbon Leaf took the stage. I didn't really know too much about them prior to this show, having heard maybe 1 or 2 of their songs before. But they performed a couple of traditional songs like "Rocky Road to Dublin" and seemed generally to be having a good time. So I enjoyed that part of the concert as well. After the cruise, we went to dinner at the Whiskey Priest. Food was pretty good, especially the fries, which for some reason were particularly delicious. So all in all, it was an excellent way to spend a Sunday afternoon. Even though I am not familiar with the other bands that are playing the Rock and Blues Cruises this summer, I would definitely consider doing this again.

Handspun Slouchy Entrelac Tam

Left my other knitting at work. So what's a girl supposed to do? Start a new project of course.

This is an especially special project, because this yarn is spun from the very first fiber I ever got: superwash merino in the colorway "Heat Wave" from Crown Mountain Farms (I think). I think the color has long been discontinued. This fiber was a gift from Amber when I bought my spinning wheel from her, and it was so nice, I was terrified to spin it. I think it sat in my stash for about a year and a half before I finally took the plunge. The finished yarn has now been in my stash for about 3 years, waiting for the right project to come along. And I finally decided to do an entrelac project, since the yarn has somewhat self striping properties. It's much more red and deep purple than it looks in this picture - for reference, this is a better pic of the yarn:




I am excited to see how this will turn out. Back to knitting!

Citron in progress

Halfway through section 3 and I realize my gauge is off.  May need to do an extra repeat of the pattern to make it a wearable size. Hopefully I won't run out of yarn.

a visit to Webs

I went to visit a friend in western MA last weekend, and she kidnapped me and forced me to go to Webs. I fondled all the yarn and spent a lot of time mooning over the alpaca and cashmere fibers, but I resisted the urge to make any purchases....

Until I came across their display of Knitty's Citron and made the mistake of petting it. And then I was compelled to buy a hank of Malabrigo Lace Baby Merino. Seriously, it jumped off the shelf and into my hand and insisted on coming home with me.



How was I supposed to say no to that?

Mist

Hand dyed and handspun